In June I came across a call for applications for The Work Office (TWO), a multidisciplinary art project disguised as an employment agency modeled after the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
I sent in an application and picked from the list of projects to choose from, ranging from: Document a need for repairs, Record an oral history, Reinterpret a newspaper photograph, Assign yourself, among others. On my application I proposed to make a regional travel guide for my block or neighborhood. I got an interview with Naomi Miller, who with Katarina Jerinic, started The Work Office. My idea was to make a book of the businesses between 22nd to 21st Street on 5th Avenue. I thought it was be a good way for me to get to know my new neighborhood, document a part of Park Slope that isn’t as well known, and make some art!
I was selected as one of the artists for the first week of the project, between July 1st to the 9th. It was great to meet the owners and employees in the area. On July 10th, there was a Payday Party at The Work Office on 112 West 44th St in New York City (a temporary office provided by chashama and a grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation). At the party the artists were given a check of $23.50 for their projects (the weekly wage for an artist in the Federal One Project (the arts division of the WPA). For each week in July different artists completed projects, with a payday party each Friday in July. I was able to see the different projects done each week and was impressed by the range of work done, especially when everyone only had a week to complete them.
As a thank you for the businesses that allowed me to photograph them and answer my questions, I gave the nine businesses a copy from an edition of 14.
