Questioning 'Broken Windows' in New York Through Old Tax Appraisal Photos

Marked by rising property values and lower crime rates, New York City’s 21st-century resurgence has been swift and relentless. Perhaps out of a need to process the changes, photos of the city’s graffiti-covered subways, abandoned buildings, and intimidating strangers of the past are shared online regularly today. In a time when “Make New York Unsafe Again” hats exist, the scenes often trigger feelings of awe and nostalgia.

A new art project, however, uses some of the most mundane photos of that same, mythologized era between the ‘70s and the ‘90s to reframe the embrace of “broken windows”-inspired policing in the name of crime reduction and neighborhood revitalization.