Welcome To Crooklyn, Walking Across the Williamsburg Bridge 1996. © Vincent Cianni
Under The Brooklyn Queens Expressway, Williamsburg Brooklyn 1996. © Vincent Cianni
In 1993, photographer Vincent Cianni moved to the south side of Williamsburg, as the next generation of Puerto Rican and Dominican teens were coming of age.
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“Life was played out in so many different ways on the sidewalks, stoops, and playgrounds,” he remembers. “I started playing handball in McCarren Park and started to take my camera with me. It became part of my connection to the neighbourhood.”
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After about a year and a half, Cianni came upon a scrappy group of local kids and teens who had built a skate ramp in a vacant lot by the river at North 7th Street. They were there to refine their skills, so they could get sponsored to skate professionally. “Like basketball, it was a way out of poverty and the experiences that they have growing up,” the photographer explains.
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Sugeiry Touching Scarface with Knife, Bedford Avenue Williamsburg Brooklyn 1998. © Vincent Cianni