Lovers & Friends: the Heart and Soul of NYC

Let's start with Sophia's neighborhood. The East Village is built on contrasts and contradictions. To begin with, it wasn't always called that; for a long time, it was simply the northern part of the Lower East Side, located between Third Avenue and Avenue A, and 14th and Houston Street. By the end of the 60s, that had changed. The migration of Beatniks into the neighborhood attracted hippies, musicians, writers, and artists who had been priced out of Greenwich Village, and within a couple of decades, it became a countercultural mecca and haven for artists, misfits, and rebels. It was home to CBGB – where punk bands like the Ramones, the Voidoids, and Television got their start; Tompkins Square Park – a popular hangout for Allen Ginsberg and other Beat poets; and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe – where many explored themes related to cultural identity and civil rights.

The story isn’t new. New York is in a constant state of flux and the East Village is only one example of the neighborhoods forged on this inevitable premise. The process of gentrification began long before Izzy and Sophia were born, and although the term only recently gained prevalence in our cultural lexicon, the two natives share a sensitivity to the city’s changing nature.

Despite the hierarchies of separation that exist in the neighborhoods across the city, there is a throughline that connects every person. Here, millions of people and their universes coexist, converging into a city filled with endless possibilities. As a native New Yorker myself, born to a mother from the Dominican Republic and a father from Bangladesh, my identity and the city's are inseperable. I would not exist in the way that I am today if they were never drawn by the city's promise and although I grew up in the Bronx, miles away from Izzy or Sophia, it is hard to not feel as if we are all part of the same story.

Armando 

Ginger + family

Izzy and Sophia's project Lovers & Friends draws our attention away from the “belly of encroaching gentrification that actively disintegrates communities" to those most affected by the city's changes. For the series, they visited native New Yorkers in their home to photograph them in their bedrooms and hear their stories. Presented alongside Izzy's thoughtful writing, the series embodies the intimacy both of them aimed to capture.

The two plan on shooting more portraits through the summer to then present the complete body of work at a solo show in September. The location is currently under wraps, but when speaking with Sophia regarding the upcoming presentation, she said that the size and scale of it are unimaginable, and to expect something “massive and disruptive in a way that speaks to the block-party culture and community-building of old school New York.” As for who is invited: “everyone from A-list celebrities to our local bodega man will be encouraged to [attend] and treated as VIP alike, breaking the barrier between the traditional fine art world crowd and the everyday communities that have built the city up.”

Talya + Tyler

Twins Talya + Tyler, photographed on Bleecker St in one of the last rent stabilized apartments of the building, in the same home where their father was raised and grandmother resided in for the last 60 years of her life. The first of many of the Friends & Lovers series.

Seashell

Seashell, photographed on Vanderbilt Ave in what used to be an industrial building turned fire station turned home, the later designed decades ago by an architect for his wife. After she passed away in the early ‘90s, the architect sold the building to Seashell’s boyfriend’s parents. The building, nearly a century old, was later split into two adjacent apartments, where the four of them now live, parents and lovers separated by a thick concrete wall. Seashell spent her youth between Canarsie and Mill Basin in Brooklyn. Today, many of you may know her as the monarch of neighborhood spot Dr. Clark.

Jupiter

"upiter photographed on Malcolm X Blvd. Born on a Thursday in November at Jacobi Medical Center in Morris Park, BX, NY, Jupiter grew up all over the city, bouncing around BK from Canarsie to the Flatlands to Bushwick until finding home in 2021 in Bedstuy, where she lived first with a lover, then on her own, and now with her sister Denise. Thinking of her childhood, Jupiter recalls that "growing up in Fordham felt warm even in December,'" the chant, "coco mango cherry," stuck in her mind as she begged her mom to lick coconut gelato from a collapsed dixie cup. When Jupiter is home all she sees is memories, bad and downright ugly ones, but the joy of her loved ones in her house starts the journey of fixing them: "so truly my home is with the joy of my people."

Jupiter

Jalisha and baby Naomi

Siblings Jamont + Jalisha and baby Naomi, photographed slightly north of the Bronx. Born and raised in the Bronx, Jamont remembers long summer days running up and down Tremont Avenue with his cousins, block parties, Rucker games in Harlem, and swimming pools in the middle streets. “Watching the BET Awards on TV together was such a big thing. We really got to witness authentic uptown NY before gentrification conquered.”

Jamont recounted a childhood memory with Jalisha 

“I remember my sister, cousin & I were staying in the South with family. My family was trying to track lineage from our AA side post-slavery & we thought it would be funny to be grown and smart with the elders (they don’t play when it comes to southern manners — it’s yes sir or yes ma’am vibes).  So when my parents and aunts found out, they spent the entire day punishing us. I lowkey didn’t take them seriously but my sister & cousin were so dramatic with their reactions, it was hilarious. I was laughing but luckily nobody noticed. It was a big todo that day but it’s so funny to look back and laugh at."

Jahan Family 

Sisters Arifa (21), Israt (19), Ifrath (11), and Lisa (3) photographed on Argyle Road, where they have been living since 2012 with their two additional sisters and parents. The three oldest were born in Bangladesh, Ifrath was born in Dubai, and the two youngest were born in Brooklyn. From Bangladesh to Dubai to Flatbush, the eight person family first shared a one bedroom apartment on the first floor of the same building, living in two bunkbeds. Ten years later, in 2021, the family moved to a three bedroom apartment upstairs. NY is never easy, and the Jahan family’s move was anything but that, yet over time Argyle Road and it’s neighboring Bengali community has left an overwhelming impact on Arifa and her sisters — originally not speaking a word of English, the family would be joined by their neighbors to various appointments, where members of their block would translate from English to Bengali — creating a patchwork of togetherness that has thread a new life for each of them individually and as a unit.

Cam + Pat

Friends then lovers now friends who are more like family, Cam + Pat photographed on Canal and Mott Street, where Cam has lived alone for the past 2+ years with her and Pat’s 3 cats. Born at Mount Sinai Hospital and raised on the UWS, Pat now lives a short walk away right off Hester Street.

Pat— “I remember being in the park young as hell free to roam around and meet other kids. And I remember being able to take the train on my own for the first time and it unlocked the whole world outside of my neighborhood to me. The city has had the biggest influence on who I am and the art I make.”

Cam— “It all started back in 2012 when I became friends with a kid who said his older brother was in an experimental hip hop/punk band. Me and my group of friends at the time started going with him to all the shows. The band was called Ratking and it was a really special moment in New York City culture and anyone who was privy to it knows how lucky they were to witness it. It was so raw and old school — made up of three people; two vocalists and the producer. After going to multiple shows throughout my high school years, I ran into the lead vocalist, who goes by the name Wiki, at another punk show at a DIY spot in Soho. I was upstairs in the bathroom line when he came up to me and asked if I knew who he could cop some weed from. I gave him my reference and we ended up smoking a joint together as we watched the show from the balcony. It wasn’t until later that year, when I was a freshman in college, that I went upstate to my friend's school to see his solo show on Valentine’s Day. I was in the front row and when it ended we all got on stage to dance — it was then that he invited me to a house party at his friend's crib in town. Of course I went, but to my dismay he was preoccupied with somebody else. I went back to my friend's dorm room, upset, but he hit me up the next day to tell me he wanted to see me in the city. After kicking it back in NYC we were inseparable and it wasn’t long after that that we started dating. We’ve experienced a lot together the past seven years, and although we are no longer together, I know our friendship will always be strong.”

Cam— “Getting plopped into the city at such a formative time on such short notice was very intense for me. It truly felt like sensory overload. I am blessed to have made friends so easily and had a thrilling experience of my high school years here. It really is just like all the movies and then some. The freedom that being in a city like this gives you is unexplainable. Being able to hop on the train for $2.50 and go to every enclave of the most diverse and unique city in the world was wild, especially coming from the suburbs of Cali. Not everyone is made for NY. You have to be tough not only in the sense of protecting yourself and having your wits about you but also tough enough to witness how rapidly the city changes and not hold on too much to the nostalgia where you yourself start to break you down. There is something to be said about how New Yorkers are forced to acclimate to an ever transforming atmosphere.”

Simone + Tazha

Best friends Simone + Tazha photographed on Avenue D. Simone’s grandparents were neighbors in an apartment building on Bleecker Street. After her grandfather brought her grandmother a package that had been delivered while she was out, they ran into each other again at a James Baldwin talk and fell in love. In 1967, they moved into Village East Towers while it was still being built. “My grandfather found the building, but my grandmother had to be the one to meet with the realtors so they would not be discriminated against.” Simone now lives in the same building with her parents, and her cousins, uncles, and aunt live in the apartment directly below.

Tasmin + Arsun

Lovers Tasmin + Arsun on Avenue C.“I’ve lived in the East village all my life, Arsun was born in Tribeca and grew up in Riverdale. We met at LaGuardia highschool on the Upper West Side. Arsun was a music major and I was in drama. We’ve been in love and been best friends ever since. Growing up in the city I always hung out with my friends in parks — Tompkins, Riverside Park, Central Park, East River. Arsun hung out in Washington Square Park a lot.”

Lula + Michael

Lovers Lula + Michael on East 7th. Lula was born on Broome St. in a converted silk factory and Michael in Staten Island, his house located on what is considered the highest point of NYC and down the block from Stapleton Houses, where Wu-Tang Clan members RZA, Shyheim, and Ghostface Killah once lived. Lula & Michael now live together in the former Seventh Street Squat, a five-story tenement that historically sheltered NYC underdogs—first immigrants and their families and later squatters, who began moving into the building in the late 70s. Originally found on Craigslist by a best friend of hers, East 7th St. was home to eight women over two years.

Amy + Jules

Lovers Amy + Jules on Carlton Avenue. Amy spent the first 20 years of her life in Hell's Kitchen in a one-bedroom apartment with her mom and dad before moving to Fort Greene 3 years ago, where she currently resides with her mom. “A Manhattan girl through and through, living in Brooklyn is better for my brain now as I get older. It’s challenging to keep up with the changes of the city as people and spaces come and go....constantly distracted by what used to be. My mom and I lucked out on a larger space. I am still not able to afford to live on my own in the city but am okay with being patient until I have the stability to do so. At least I finally have my own bedroom!” Amy smiles.

Amy + Jules met briefly as teenagers in NY, but it was only after attending the same university in Washington DC that they formed a deeper connection, drawn to each other by memories of home and the kinds of people and energy they found missing at school. “We were just friends for a while. I got along with him well and we were always making each other laugh. It was easy to spend time together, oftentimes we would agree on things almost non-verbally. We have a common understanding and I will always feel connected to him. He just gets me and what I’m about with no misunderstanding.”