Alex Levers

Alex’s approach to photography is heavily influenced by their origins as a native New Yorker. In their own words, here’s what they’ve said about their relationship to the city:

I’m a native New Yorker. I was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn to two Jamaican parents. I grew up in Flatbush, and went to school on the Upper East Side - quite the contrast in wealth concentration. I’ve always been acutely aware of wealth imbalances in the city, but also that the levels of community and a sense of identity were also pretty different in the differing New York societies that I grew up in. After going to high school and college in California, then coming back to the city and currently residing in Jersey city. I’ve got a pretty unique set of lenses through which I experience the city.

You can very clearly see how Alex’s photography is framed via his native background by the areas he chooses to photograph; Alex mostly captured parts of Flatbush, Downtown Brooklyn and City Line/Cypress Hills. His photography style is influenced by his use of 35mm SLR cameras and rangefinder point and shoots, as evidenced by his shots that capture details both of architecture but humans too. This is evidenced in the photo he took in the interior of Flatbush Reformed Church during a session in service.

Although it’s easy to think of churches in Flatbush as mostly Black space, the Flatbush Reformed Church is actually one of the oldest churches in New York City,built to the order of Peter Stuyvesant, the first official mayor of the city in 1654. This church is a reflection of how institutions remain in community despite demographic change. The photo Alex took is a particular snapshot, but other photos from 1949 shows another, whiter reality. Comparing these two photos, the photo Alex took suddenly emerges as a powerful marker of what community looks like amidst an ongoing demographic shift.