Gallery Description
Zucatti Park was Ground Zero for the Occupy Wall Street movement. OWS was started as a call for protest against income inequality by the Canadian group Adjusters. What started as a protest became a political movement that still resonates. The park itself, only a square block, is located in the financial district of lower Manhattan. It lies directly across the street from where the World Trade Center stood.
The park was taken over by the protestors and transformed into it's own city-state. The social structure was democratic with nightly meetings to discuss governance over a very fluid time. It was as well organized as possible. The park had it's own free food court staffed by volunteers, a book store to help residents pass the time, entertainment in the form of endless drumming, a power company staffed with residents powering any manor of devices with bike driven generators, a hospital, a store with hand-made cigarettes, and a thrift store with warm clothes and blankets. They had a sanitation department, no police department (they didn't feel it was necessary because they were literally surrounded by police in riot gear) and lots of live theater.
I visited Zucatti Park on Halloween 2011, two weeks before the police moved in and forced everybody out. The day before I visited, the park was deluged with 2 inches of sloppy wet snow that turned to slush. Everyone was trying to dry out. One of my favorite images is the prayer flags and wet laundry hanging together in the breeze. As I wandered about the park taking these photos, I sensed the ocurrence of a unique moment in history.