NYC's hipster clichés come under the magnifying glass
- Text by Robin Nierynck
Brooklyn: For Real, a video project by aspiring screenwriter and filmmaker Daniel Solé, explores the lives of four archetypal Brooklyn characters: Artist, Activist, Meditator and Comedian.
Self-defined as a “curated vérité glimpse into the non-linear lives of innovators and change makers,” the new Vimeo series creates hilariously recognisable caricatures of some typical inhabitants of NYC’s epicentre of hipsterdom.
“Calling yourself an artist is so pretentious. I prefer to say I’m a poet, whose primary medium of expression is crime,” says street artist Stick in the Artist episode. Proclaiming the city is his canvas, he adds, “Where a regular person might say: That’s not a canvas, that’s my garage… To that I say: Are you my fuckin’ dad?”
Check out the episodes below.
Artist
‘Artists, they move to Brooklyn and right away they wanna make their mark… But that’s insulting to the local scene that I’ve been a part of ever since I moved here, 14 months ago.”
Activist
“My mission is to raise awareness about what happens every day out there in the wild: Animal on animal violence.”
Meditator
“I attained enlightenment a few years ago and I believe it’s a process that every individual has to discover on their own. I teach a class on exactly how to do that.”
Comedian
“I don’t believe in catering to your audience. Trying to get the crowd on your side is so hacky.”
Get the low down on Brooklyn: For Real.
You might like
Defiant photos of New York’s ’80s & ’90s queer activists
Arresting Images — Dona Ann McAdams’ photographs document the AIDS crisis, lesbian organising and civil disobedience from one of the most fraught eras in American LGBTQ+ history. A sale of her archive takes place later this month.
Written by: Sydney Lobe
New documentary spotlights Brixton’s community in the face of gentrification
Beyond Brix & Mortar — With property prices rising by 1,700% since the ’80s, the film explores the rich cultural history of the area’s Afro-Caribbean community, and the threat to the area’s soul.
Written by: Sydney Lobe
In the 1960s, African photographers recaptured their own image
Ideas of Africa — An exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art explores the 20th century’s most important lensers, including Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé and Kwame Brathwaite, and their impact on challenging dominant European narratives.
Written by: Miss Rosen
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
Lisette Model’s ’50s jazz pictures were nearly lost to McCarthyism
The Jazz Pictures — A landmark new book edited by Audrey Sands uncovers nearly 1,500 photographs from the genre’s golden age previously thought to be lost. Featuring the likes of Billie Holliday, Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong, they tell both a story of music and resistance in the face of oppression.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Greer Lankton’s dolls are more human than you think
Could It Be Love — A staple figure in New York’s ’80s East Village scene, her art shocked and confronted. Now, three decades after her death, a new monograph anthologises her work, which explores the darker sides of human life, but also finds beauty within the strange.
Written by: Miss Rosen
