Taken in the "forgotten borough" of Staten Island between 1983 and 1984, the photographs in Christine Osinski’s Summer Days Staten Island create a portrait of working-class culture in an often overlooked section of New York City.
Captured on Osinski’s large format 4x5 camera as she wandered the island, her candid portraits of strangers, vernacular architecture and quotidian scenes reveal an invisible landscape within reach of the thriving metropolis of Manhattan. The neighborhoods that Osinski captured are devoid of the skyscrapers, swarms of pedestrians and choking masses of traffic that are a short ferry ride away. Instead, she captures kids riding bikes on open, empty streets, suburban homes with neatly tended yards and the small-town feel of New York’s least populous borough.
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s
NYC’s 'Forgotten Borough' Looked Like in the Early 1980s