Shreya Sahai
Shreya Sahai was the other non-native New Yorker involved in the project. As a result of that identity, they took a highly specific approach to their photography. They mostly trained their camera on where they knew best: Hell’s Kitchen. This was reflected heavily already in their responses about their relationship with New York City. In their own words:
“I moved here from Delhi, India, in September 2021 for school. I thought I was prepared for the city because 1. I am from a 'big city' and 2. I've grown up watching shows and movies set in NYC, but nothing could have prepared me for this. On most days, life in the Big Apple seems like the culmination of scenes that don't make it into said shows and movies – waiting forever for the metro, expensive cabs, no price tags in too many stores and delis, random acts of connection and violence. My first home was a women's hostel in Midtown. I figured it would be better to try to find a place in person because apartment-hunting online sitting in Delhi seemed like an impossible task – especially given the city's reputation. I had planned to shift during my winter break, but I ended up staying for about a year, when I was evicted. It was a matchbox-sized single occupancy room, but it was a gorgeous building on 34th street, it was Manhattan, I felt safe walking home at night, and it was 25 minutes from school.
I was devastated when I had to move, and right the beginning of my second year of school to boot. Despite my best efforts, I could not find anything in my meager unemployed international student budget that ticked all the aforementioned boxes, so I once again found myself at another women's hostel – this one in Hell's Kitchen. I wasn't happy about it. It was somehow both my last and only choice. I once again planned to move during my winter break, but I ended up doing my final long-term documentary photo project for school at the hostel.
I then planned to move out after graduation, but I realized that I literally could not afford to move out until I got a job – and that's been a whole other nightmare. It's not the worst life. I'm still working on my project. The connectivity is fantastic. There are cheap bars and restaurants all around us and a Target down the street. I love the neighborhood. The lack of freedom to host my friends or family or classmates or potential clients (as a photographer) still hurts, but not as much as the rent in this city. Once my lease expires, something tells me I'll find myself in front of yet another hostel.”
Shreya’s photography mirrored her love of Hell’s Kitchen through their exclusive focus on the neighborhood. They spent a lot of time documenting parks spaces, which you can see in Figure 6.2, “Jumpshot, Hell's Kitchen” and Figure 6.4, “Hell’s Kitchen Park Basketball Courts.”. The focus on features of the neighborhood like these speak maybe to what makes Hell’s Kitchen such an attractive neighborhood to move to despite its proximity to the hostile highrises of midtown Manhattan. As an individual reflecting on potential displacement themselves while involved in the project, Shreya’s eye on the street is unique.
Combined with the fact that they are the newest to the city out of all the photographers, their work got me interested in how this project could have played out had we been more specific about categorizing identity. This was intentionally not done here to let the photographs speak for themselves more than the artist, but a potential deviation of this project could compare what native New Yorkers see as themes of displacement versus newcomers.
