The piers became an emblem of my existence the world of the outsider, the loneliness and fears of those like me, the danger of life and the threat of death. ![]() Annihilation at the age of 20 compelled me to ponder my life and my environment. This period of my life coincided with the onset of the AIDS epidemic and my intimate encounters with the illnesses and deaths of many around me. Surviving on the streets, my work seemed crucial to the preservation of my dignity. My photographs became a quest for artistic expression, identity and stability. I embraced promiscuity but also sensed the meaninglessness and absurdity of my hedonism the emptiness of my reality. I came to New York in the late 1970’s and began photographing the piers in 1981 when I was 19 years old. By the 1970s it became a haven for gay men, a site for anonymous sexual freedom and an important part of gay history: legendary, though nonetheless complex. THE PIER PROJECT (1981-1984) The New York City piers, along the Hudson River in New York City were part of its vibrant shipping industry in the 18th and 19th centuries, but by the late 1960s they fell into disuse and ruin and were closed for safety reasons.
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