Over the last four years I have studied the intersection between nature and Manhattan through the parks of New York City. This photo essay explores the idea of authenticity in nature and how composition of an image affects a spectator’s idea of nature in Manhattan. New York is thought of as a grey manufactured city, but it contains beautiful green landscapes. However, those green spaces are also manufactured and landscaped by man—in New York not even nature is natural. This photographic essay explores the feelings evoked by these unnatural naturescapes. Many of the images from the essay at first glance do not appear to have been taken in Manhattan, but upon closer inspection details such as skyscrapers and lampposts identify the images as uniquely New York. I was inspired by the William Blake quote, “Great things are done when men and mountains meet. This is not done by jostling in the street.” There is a tranquility and beauty that can be found only in nature and is not usually found in the heart of the city. These images are meant not only to make the viewer question our use and relationship to nature in Manhattan, but also the very meaning of what nature is in the City. These images show the intersection of grey and green, man and nature, manufactured and authentic—they are Natural Manhattan.
