New Haven, Revisited
May 2023 - August 2024
New Haven was once called the “Model City” of America. During the 1950-60s under the tenure of Mayor Richard C. Lee, entire neighborhoods were razed to make way for urban renewal projects such as highways, parking lots, and civic buildings. While urban renewal was meant to revitalize New Haven, in the half-century since the completion of these projects, the promised benefits have not materialized. Instead, socioeconomic inequalities have only become further entrenched and residents today grapple with still-fragmented landscapes and fractured communities.
Today, as New Haven community leaders confront the impacts of renewal and shape the future of the city, a key voice is missing: the youth, who are set to inherit the New Haven of tomorrow. What can we learn from young people? How do young people navigate the landscape of urban renewal and carve out spaces of their own?
Amid the reshaping of New Haven happening today, what future are we leaving to our youth?
Inspired by the existing initiatives in New Haven, I pitched the idea of an urban renewal workshop series at a meeting with local school district librarians, who connected me with teachers from two local high schools (HSC and CO-OP). My classmate (Fany Kuzmova) and I developed presentations and workshop materials (tapestries, oral histories, quizzes, worksheets) to engage students. I secured funding from the Yale Environmental Humanities department and also reached out to Kodak to sponsor a photo competition for the students.
Their mission: to document the places in New Haven where they feel welcome or unwelcome.
I set up a partnership with Milford Photo, a local photography business, for additional support in developing the students' film. Through a series of photo critiques and workshops, students curated their own photo books that depicted their own experiences of growing up in New Haven. I then coordinated with the New Haven Free Public Library and New Haven City Hall to set up two exhibits highlighting our students' experiences growing up in a post-renewal city.
On the day of the exhibit opening I was nervous, sleep deprived, and really not quite sure what I had gotten myself into. But as familiar faces began to trickle in — I found myself drawn into a sea of hugs and handshakes. I said hello to the students that came, many of whom had brought their families with them. I pulled them to the side and handed them another yellow disposable camera and gave them one last mission: to be photographers for one more night — documenting the opening of the exhibit and how people were responding to their work.
The rest of the night was a blur of chatting with the attendees, introducing people to one another, and listening to stories. But what I remembered most, was how during those few hours, I knew that the exhibit was no longer my own. Ownership flowed to the students — their families, siblings, that sat at the table making more books and drawings to add to those orange shelves.
The exhibit was installed at the New Haven Free Public Library over summer 2024, before being relocated to the New Haven City Hall. In the following months, it has been adopted by the students of CO-OP High School with a permanent spot in their school library.
To my delight, over the summer visitors had engaged with the exhibit, attaching little cards and notes describing their own experiences. Two local news outlets had also published articles on the exhibit:
Metrics of Success:
Engagement: over 100 students and 50+ community members (excluding exhibition visitors)
Funding Secured: $6,500+
News article features: 2
Exhibit status: adopted by Cooperative Arts & Humanities Magnet High School
Partners and Sponsors: High School in the Community (HSC), Cooperative Arts & Humanities Magnet High School (CO-OP), New Haven Free Public Library, New Haven City Hall, Kodak, Milford Photo, Yale Environmental Humanities
The thoughts that stay with me:
What does success mean to you? When teenagers are the last ones to leave. When all of the food has been eaten (except for maybe the pita), when you have friends that stay behind to help clean without your asking, when the security guards — instead of berating you for staying after hours — peruse the exhibit, saying they don’t mind staying longer, and as you leave they promise to watch over the work: “Don’t worry, we won’t let nobody mess with it. We’ll take good care of it.” When you have people come to help set up, telling you only that you should have told them sooner. When families are brought along, and when they pick and pull their work for all to see — holding it proudly on display. When the handshakes are firm, smiles are real, and excitement palpable. When new connections are made, making it both easier and harder for me to leave.
I owe a special thank you to my team, collaborators, and advisors:
Fany Kuzmova, Mark Osenko (CO-OP), Chris Randall (CO-OP), Ben Scudder (HSC), Paul Sabin (Yale), Elihu Rubin (Yale), Charlie Nixon, Tim Ryugo (Kodak), Maria Bernhey (NHFPL), Rory Martorana (NHFPL), Adriane Jefferson (City Hall), Myles Riley (City Hall), and many, many more.
And especially to all the students that shared their worlds with us.
Workshop photography by Chris Randall