Ready access to fresh fruits and vegetables is seen as a key factor in improving public health. In many low income communities grocery stores are scarce. The Bloomberg administration is addressing these “food deserts” with an innovative, small scale program called NYC Green Carts, issuing extra permits to fruit and vegetable vendors in targeted neighborhoods throughout the city. The program is the subject of a photography exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York, organized with the Aperture Foundation.
In Moveable Feast, photographers LaToya Ruby Frazier, Thomas Holton, Gabriele Stabile, Will Steacy, and Shen Wei document and interpret the program, using techniques ranging from still life to ethnography. The result more impressionistic than comprehensive, and viewers will need to read the wall texts in order to grasp the social impacts of the NYC Green Carts. Still, the exhibition brings attention to a laudable program, highlighting an instance when the Bloomberg administration is tackling a large scale problem in a humane, block by block way.
The exhibition also includes historic images of street vendors taken from the Museum of the City of New York’s collection.Moveable Feast is on view through August 22.
