Rite of passage: How tender moments and acts of bravado turn boys into tough men on the streets of Queens
By JESSICA JERREAT
PUBLISHED: 11:49 EST, 1 March 2014 | UPDATED: 12:31 EST, 1 March 2014
Growing up on the tough streets of Queens in New York isn’t always easy, as a photographer has showed with her portraits of the borough’s men.
Kate Murray’s decade-long project captures moments of humor and macho behavior, as well as more tender moments.
Her portraits, showing boys and men set against the backdrop of Queens, show scenes that have been repeated for generations, as fathers interact with their growing sons.
Hard shell: One of Murray’s subjects, Scott, stands in front of a fallen tree in Queens in 2009, revealing tattoos across his muscular chest
From a tender moment showing a father holding his baby boy, and a man whispering in his son’s ear, to a gang of bare-chested young men circling a blindfolded friend in a rite of passage, the images reveal a deeply masculine community.
‘I have always felt that the landscape of Queens held something that was both tragic and beautiful. I became interested in the ways in which men inhabited this specific territory in order to mirror their own dichotomies,’ Murray said.
The photographer’s images are included in All The Queens Men, published by Daylight, which creates a narrative of male psychology.
In an introduction to the book, art historian Maria Antonella Pelizzari writes: 'Murray collaborates with her subjects to show the paradox of their lives, scratching the surface of cultural hypocrisy and showing failed rituals, moments of disconnect and disengagement.’
The book is available at Amazon.