“The idea of finding the regulars in this chaos came up – then much later in the process, finding their behaviours and rituals in their commute from A to B.”
– Peter Funch
For nine years, Peter Funch photographed the same corner of New York City – 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue – every weekday morning between 8:30 and 9:30 AM.
By capturing the same people, their habits, routines and gestures across days, months, and even years, Funch shows us the choreography, patterns and rituals of daily life.
“The idea started when I was working on another project, Babel Tales. Some of the images were taken outside Grand Central Station, which is incredibly busy during rush hour. People come out of the station in masses – thousands of them, each with their own destination. The idea of finding the regulars in this chaos came up – then much later in the process, finding their behaviours and rituals in their commute from A to B.”
– Peter Funch
As Douglas Coupland notes in the afterword to Funch’s book 42nd and Vanderbilt, the project is “a kinder, gentler kind of surveillance”.
About the Author
Born in 1974 in Denmark, Peter Funch graduated of the Danish School of Journalism in 1999 with a degree in Photojournalism. Peter currently lives and works in Paris, France, after living in New York for 13 years as a
photographer.
You can buy 42nd and Vanderbilt at Setanta Books.
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