Lawrence A. Krayn Jr.
”Where Children Play” – photograph, framed on Matte, 19.5” W x 14.25”W, 2023, $200,00

   Photography has always interested me as a way to capture the minutia and fleeting moments encompassed within our existence and the human experience. My primary focus is on urban scenes, and specifically on crevices and corners that may not have appealed to someone at first glance. I also have an interest in the layers of erosion, development, and generational marks made on urban structures and environments.
   “Where Children Play” was taken near downtown Paterson. The “school zone” sign, in disrepair, and on a block littered with trash and graffiti, depicts the issues that effect our youth, not only in the sense that they literally must attempt to learn amidst chaos, violence, and turbulent times, but in the sense that we are constantly using grammar school education as a political warzone, and we rear our youth in a tenuous environment, still expecting them to overcome any number of obstacles.