ISSUE 15
The Labor Issue
The Labor Issue brings into focus forms of work made possible and compelled by our waterways, from the production of laborers in the holds of slave ships, to the circulation of commodities and information, to the labor of ecological recovery and repair. This issue, which marks Underwater New York’s ten-year anniversary, reflects the diverse artistic practices and relationships we’ve cultivated over a decade.
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The Labor Issue brings into focus forms of work made possible and compelled by our waterways, from the production of laborers in the holds of slave ships, to the circulation of commodities and information, to the labor of ecological recovery and repair. This issue, which marks Underwater New York’s ten-year anniversary, reflects the diverse artistic practices and relationships we’ve cultivated over a decade.
The works in this issue make visible submerged or suppressed stories. In a sculptural installation and media performance-in-progress, multi-media artist Art Jones remembers the forced labor of kidnapped Africans. Visual artist Francis Estrada imagines an alternate set of conditions and possibilities for the Igorot, a group of indigenous people from the Philippines displayed at Coney Island’s Luna Park in the early 20th century as a spectacle for curious visitors. Architect Elisa Kim maps an unseen global infrastructure of extraction in the geopolitical territories delineated along the ocean floor. SCUBA instructor Kate Sutter depicts the extractive labors indexed by the 1600 bars of silver lying at the bottom of the Arthur Kill.
These works also suggest the collaborative practices that guide our own publishing mission. Composer Jeff Tang reimagines Evie Shockley’s poem “my life as china” as a song that illuminates the burgeoning early 18th-century slave trade in New York City. Poet Arden Levine and designer Rico Frederick’s triptych of poems draw on the work of the New York City Parks Department to sustain our waterfront leisure.
The issue also documents publicly-engaged interventions by artists such as Nancy Nowacek and Cody Herrmann, whose photography and video work visualizes the unpaid labor of cleanup. Environmental Humanities scholar McKay Jenkins reflects on how volunteer efforts in our neighboring watershed bear fruit in Baltimore’s forests and community gardens. We are thrilled to share with you the work of these artists and many others in this issue.
As we celebrate ten years of Underwater New York, our list of underwater objects remains central to what we do, not only as a prompt for creative interventions but also as an archive of our attention. Underwater objects spark our curiosity and signal the compelling tendencies of our urban ecology. This matter is brisk, buoyant, penetrating, lively. It captures our imagination and organizes our collaborative practices and expansive network of writers, artists, scholars, activists, and enthusiasts living locally and around the globe. This matter prompts forms of labor in and around our waters, suggesting that perhaps we are its search engine or circuit of experimentation.
Support for The Labor Issue was provided by a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York.
