A photographer’s elegy to a divided New York community
- Text by Huck
- Photography by Al J Thompson
Photographer Al J Thompson was a teenager when he moved from Jamaica to Spring Valley in Rockland County in 1996. At the time, the town – which is just outside of New York – had a thriving African-American community. In fact, Rockland County was one of the most diverse places in the country, and host to the largest Haitian population outside of the Miami area.
“I had some issues blending in during my first year, but then I met friends around the neighbourhood and school,” recalls Thompson. “Spring Valley then became my second home afterwards. I played basketball, soccer, video games, and fell in love with hip hop music so much that I rapped with friends at times. This helped me to settle down in a community I began to accept as my own.”
When Thompson was living there in the ‘90s, there were plans to develop the land around the park with new social housing projects. However, in the years that followed, the land was sold off to developers, and families like Thompson’s were gradually priced out.
By the time Thompson returned to Spring Valley in 2017, the Black community – which once made up two-thirds of the village – had halved. When he tried to find the stores and restaurants he had once hung out in he found that they were gone and replaced by large franchises.
In 2018, Thompson, who lives in New York, decided to document the Black community still remaining in Spring Valley. These photos are now collected in a new book, titled Remnants of Exodus – a love letter to an immigrant community under threat of gentrification.
He walked around the town – mainly gravitating towards Spring Valley Memorial Park – capturing what he saw there. Thompson noticed that while the town itself had undergone gentrification, some parts had fallen into even deeper blight – a continuation of the nationwide crime and drug epidemic that had swept Spring Valley in the ‘80s . “There was a lot of violence in particular locations,” says Thompson. “I was lucky to get out unscathed.”
What saddened him was how fractured the community had become. “The situation right now in Rockland County is [that] everyone’s so divided; they’re not coming together… It’s the fact that people are being pushed out.”
“[This project] tells the story of despair and hope in the attempt to reconfigure the narratives of people of the African Diaspora,” explains Thompson. “The story isn’t necessarily about one group of people, but it drives home the idea that gentrification can touch all people.”
Remnants of an Exodus is out now on Gnomic Books.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
The last days of St Agnes Place, London’s longest ever running squat
Off the grid — Photographer Janine Wiedel spent four years documenting the people of the Kennington squat, who for decades made a forgotten row of terraced houses a home.
Written by: Isaac Muk
How Japan revolutionised art & photography in the ’60s and ’70s
From Angura to Provoke — A new photobook chronicles the radical avant-garde scene of the postwar period, whose subversion of the medium of image making remains shocking and groundbreaking to this day.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Artifaxing: “We’ve become so addicted to these supercomputers in our hands”
Framing the future — Predominantly publishing on Instagram and X, the account is one of social media’s most prominent archiving pages. We caught up with the mysterious figure behind it to chat about the internet’s past, present and future, finding inspiration and art in the age of AI.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The lacerating catharsis of body suspension in Hong Kong
Self-Ferrying — In one of the world’s most densely packed cities, an underground group of young people are piercing their skin and hanging their bodies with hooks in a shocking exploration of pain and pleasure. Sophie Liu goes to a session to understand why they partake in the extreme underground practice.
Written by: Sophie Liu
What we’re excited for at SXSW 2026
Austin 40 — For the festival’s 40th anniversary edition, we are heading to Texas to join one of the biggest global meetups of the year. We’ve selected a few things to highlight on your schedules.
Written by: Huck
Wu-Tang Clan forever, and ever
The Final Chamber — RZA, the spiritual leader of one of the most important hip hop groups of all time explains why they won’t rest until their legacy is secured.
Written by: Yoh Phillips
