Introducing a new monthly photo series that points the camera towards unexpected subjects.
While New York may not be the rough and tumble place it once was, come winter, the city still manages some real grit and gray. As we continue our exploration into the world of all things Cures, we dispatched photographer Aaron Berger to the streets—where he spends his days documenting the scene—to find out if the word "cure" is even in the roughed up, scuffed up, freezing-cold New Yorker's vocabulary. Through Aaron's lens, it seems to be cured (or at least to be bandaged) is a matter of survival in our physically, spiritually, meteorologically vicious jungle. We also asked Aaron to tell us, in his own words, what he found in his purposeful wandering.
Aaron Berger further explains his search for New York City cures:Cures are rare and hard to find, but band-aids—temporary relief from that which needs fixing in our lives—are available in nearly unlimited supply. To have a problem which was once catastrophic disappear because it has been cured seems extraordinary. Whether physical, mental, or emotional, true cures for our ailments feel like special things.
When walking the streets of New York City looking for signs of cures, you find a billion souls searching for band-aids: ways to cope, medicate, to take any step forward. New York City feels united by the fact that nearly everyone here is struggling just to be, and when harsh winter weather encroaches on the city, that feeling is amplified ten fold.
I'm not knocking the band-aids. It can be tough to tell the difference sometimes. Certainly, a bit of offered help could lead to an eventual cure. And people are going to define their band-aids and cures differently: love, money, spirituality, generosity, exercise, and medicine. Cures can be dangerous, too—they feel good, just like the band-aids.
