Locals Only: No Fakes, No Phonies
Opening: March 18, 2011
New York City, a town glorified for its night life, towering skyline, and melting pot of diversity. A town known for its fine food, dazzling Broadway shows, eccentric and cutting edge fashions. Although New York City is heralded for all these glamorous things, there is another side of the city that is reserved for locals. In fact, most of the locals have never seen a Broadway show, been to the Statue of Liberty, or climbed to the top of The Empire State Building. In these places, locals can go about their daily lives incognito, undisturbed by the visiting crowds that define Times Square. The upscale fifth avenue boutiques are replaced by mobile entrepreneurs selling knock-off designer handbags and clothing. Starving artists and struggling street performers occupy the streets with foreign street vendors on every corner peddling savory ethnic delicacies from sushi to trendy cupcakes. This is the real city as it lives and breathes.
Locals Only: No Fakes, No Phonies is a collection of photos put together over the course of eighteen months. It chronicles many trips to New York City for the sole purpose of capturing the city in motion. From Soho to Harlem to Central Park to Times Square, this collection of photos follows and captures a glimpse of the everyday lives of various New Yorkers throughout varying landscapes and seasons. Sometimes with the aid of the locals themselves, the photos travel along the back streets to popular hidden dives and hangouts. The pictures are intended to transform and transfix the viewer to hear the myriad voices of the city, experience and feel the momentary warmth of total strangers while drinking on the steps of a building as well as embodied the different levels of life while walking through a busy New York crowd.
See more of Ashton’s work here.
