Food and the Inner City: A Product Of Our Environment

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For his project “A Product of Our Environment,” photographer Will Steacy documented how food is marketed and sold in New York City neighborhoods, many of which have reported high rates of poverty, obesity, diabetes and people living without health insurance. The project was funded by a grant from the Aperture Foundation (with support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund) and was tied to a city-wide program called the Green Cart Initiative, which sought to provide affordable, healthy food options in under-served neighborhoods. Steacy writes, “I set out to create a visual record of the food options that surround the Green Carts…I want the photographs from this series to function not only as evidence of the food options and resources available, but also to reveal the everyday challenges and realities that define life in the inner city. When you have $10 in your pocket and your next paycheck is two days away, you don’t have many options—you are eating McDonalds. I believe that the project can contribute to the national conversation about health care by giving a record of the correlation between sickness and socio-economic status and resources for proper nutrition. In one of the Bronx neighborhoods where I photographed, for example, 41% of the residents live below the poverty line—one in three adults report that they are in fair or poor health, more than a quarter are obese, one in ten have diabetes, and one in three are without health insurance.”

For more information about the Green Cart Initiative, visit Aperture.org.

Will Steacy’s A Product of Our Environment is being exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York through September 5, 2011.

Closed Grocery Store On Block Lined With Vacant BuildingsLooking South From Fulton Street & Garvey Avenue, Brooklyn, 2009Will Steacy
Neighborhood Residents In Front Of Tony’s Looking West From Knickerbocker Avenue & Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, 2010Will Steacy
Crown Fried Chicken Looking South From Fulton Street & Franklin Avenue, Brooklyn, 2010Will Steacy
Will Steacy
Snow Pile In McDonald's Parking Lot Looking Northeast From Whipple Street & Broadway, Brooklyn, 2010
Upside Down Shopping Cart On Empty Vegetable Stand Looking East From Jerome Avenue & East Burnside Avenue, Bronx, 2009Will Steacy
Blueberries In The Gutter At Dawn Moments Before Street Sweeping Looking East From Fulton Street & Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, 2010Will Steacy
Soda Machine at Tire Shop Looking North from Jerome Avenue & West 181st Street, Bronx, 2009Will Steacy
Snow Cone Cart Looking Northwest From Himrod Street & Knickerbocker Avenue, Brooklyn, 2010 Will Steacy
Fried Food Under Hot Lights Looking West From Jerome Avenue & West Burnside Avenue, Bronx, 2010Will Steacy
Spilled Chicken & French Fries Looking East From Graham Avenue & Thornton Street, Brooklyn, 2010Will Steacy
Food Cart In Front Of Mexican Restaurant Looking West From Grand Concourse & Field Place, Bronx, 2010Will Steacy

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