Nicholas Elbakidze; Harlem Color Walk, 2018

For this Interrogative Studio “color walk” assignment I visited and explored the New York neighborhood of Harlem. In order to get to Harlem I, along with a group of my peers, took the A and L trains and arrived at just around 4:50 in the afternoon leaving us with the rest of the evening to explore. I started my individual walk at the corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and Amsterdam Ave. shortly after exiting the subway station. As I began my 30-minute timer I was immediately drawn to the color red as it was a very dark and gloomy day and most everything seemed black or gray. Given that I have never been to the neighborhood of Harlem I was not sure what to except so I continued walking down Martin Luther King Blvd. as it seemed to be the most populated of the streets surrounding me. The color red popped out at me mostly in the form of trash and other litter on the sidewalks. I found that bright red plastics were the most common, after photographing way too much red trash I began searching for red in a more natural form. Bright red flowers in sidewalk gardens, dark red berries growing on discarded bushes, and red flower petals lay dead in the trash. The color red was also very prevalent in light up street signs and other automotive functions. It was not until after the adventurous walk that I realized how common and important the color red is in our day-to-day lives. When you isolate something which is ordinary and began to break it down into its simplest form it becomes extraordinary.