While NYC experienced one of the highest outbound migrations during the pandemic, others were drawn to move toward it. In a fast-paced city made up of a creative spirit, rich histories, and the constant rubbing of shoulders, an identity crisis loomed in the air: what was New York without its buzzing traffic and diverse range of activities and cultures? With the inability to gather, one of the fashion capitals also took away a major platform for conspicuous consumption, forcing many to redirect their creative energies. However, artists like Aqua Rose (@aquarosephoto) found inspiration and a renewed sense to create where others saw limitations.
Aqua Rose is an NYC-based fashion photographer who created this series, “Beautiful Bushwick” over the span of a year in 2021. Using the graffiti-laden streets of Bushwick as the backdrop for her subjects, the photos include objects she collected from those same street. Combining the surreal nature of her work with the everyday, she reveals inspiration and beauty in overlooked spaces, transmitting the message that the only thing you need to create is the want.
2020 was a metamorphic year. Forced to re-evaluate everything that materialized from the silence, change was bound for many. This energetic force pushed Aqua to make the move to New York. Born and raised in Massachusetts, she knew Boston didn’t have the industry to back up what she wanted to do: make it in fashion and the arts. After a few visits, she knew she needed to move to Bushwick. A neighborhood well-known for its street art, galleries and studios, buzzing underground and fashion scenes, plus nightlife, it makes perfect sense as the first stop for any creative transplant attempting to navigate a new reality.
“It was colorful, gritty, heavy, and unsuspecting. So, I thought Bushwick was perfect.”
“It was colorful, gritty, heavy, and unsuspecting. So, I thought Bushwick was perfect.”
Exploring Bushwick is like walking through a multitude of portals. An amalgamation of a post-industrial landscape, blatant gentrification, large Hispanic communities, artisanal coffee shops, and a flourishing artist community makes Bushwick… well, Bushwick. Blocks of factories and warehouses still serve as the base infrastructure of Bushwick, some operational, some not. The post-industrial character of Bushwick uniquely transmits a mechanical tone in some parts. But, these massive walls serve as open canvasses, informally turning Bushwick into a walking outdoor art gallery. Besides the various street art and graff tours available, “hole-in-the-walls” and warehouse parties are also part of the Bushwick charm.
Post-WW2, factories started to pepper the neighborhood. Well-known for its breweries at the time, the local economy eroded when they closed. Consequently, so did the residential buildings. According to The New York Times, Bushwick was “a neatly maintained community of wood houses” by the mid-1960s. Within five years, it had become “what often approached a no man’s land of abandoned buildings, empty lots, drugs, and arson.”
Soon after in the early 2000s, young professionals, musicians, and artists started flocking to Bushwick due to rising rent in Manhattan and nearby artsy Williamsburg. Converted warehouse lofts, brownstones, limestone-brick townhouses, and other renovated buildings corresponded with the trend. The mid-2000s is when neighborhood renovations started to take place, attributing to today’s gentrified accents.
Local businesses conducive to graffiti and street art started to sprout thereafter. In Bushwick lives The Sampler, a beer bar decorated by NYC graff writers; Extra Ketchup, a gallery boutique that hosts airbrush tee pop-ups; Low Brow, a graffiti art supply store; The Bushwick Art Collective, founded by Joseph Ficalora to beautify Bushwick’s industrial streets; and plenty of art meant to defy The Collective. It’s also common to see airbrushed storefronts and advertisements in Bushwick.
When Aqua first moved to Bushwick, she didn’t have enough money to get her own studio space. But, inspired by being surrounded by a diversity of art, she used her limitation to her advantage, using murals as her backdrops and random strewn objects as her props. This instinctive ingenuity was present early on in her career as she worked with what she had in order to create art that she liked and resonated with. The fact that she eventually went to art school would’ve surprised young Aqua.
Aqua always felt she was meant to create, but photography was the first medium that stuck. She realized two simple, but life-changing things:
She… 1) Is good at it 2) Likes doing it
Aqua always felt she was meant to create, but photography was the first medium that stuck. She realized two simple, but life-changing things:
She… 1) Is good at it 2) Likes doing it
Aqua’s work transmits a surreal tone, “creating a new world that is more concerned with our truths and freedoms.” She unapologetically snatches human subjects and environments, wringing them through the vessel of her lens. As the viewer observes the final product, we witness what she sees with her hidden extraterrestrial eye, peeking into a different world, like putting on a pair of 3D glasses at the theatre. Celebrating the idea that no one possesses one true identity, fabricated stories in the form of editorials allow both her and her subjects to toy with self-expression.
Finding power and confidence through her newfound talent, she started playing around, shooting anything and anyone. It wasn’t until she got to art school that she honed in on her personal style, being forced to consider elements down to every minute detail from the framing to the color to the props. Using the subjects of women empowerment and feminism as her starting guides, she used color as a tool to allow her work to take on a more surrealistic character.
“I found a few car doors that I was just like, only in New York you get, like, a car door. One time I went to a local car shop and asked them if they had anything they were throwing away, and they were just like, oh, yeah, you can have this motor.”
What would compel someone to advance towards a place during a time when many were fleeing? The allure of contrast. No shade to Boston, but coming from there, Bushwick simply seemed like a cool and interesting place. And… it’s New York. Anything that may seem a little out of the ordinary, like dumpster diving for photoshoot props, is acceptable.
“I found a few car doors that I was just like, only in New York you get, like, a car door. One time I went to a local car shop and asked them if they had anything they were throwing away, and they were just like, oh, yeah, you can have this motor.”
Location scouting required minimal effort, remaining largely instinctive – walking around the neighborhood, she’d take a photo on her phone of a particular wall she thought was sick and then plan the rest of the shoot elements from there. After casting the model(s), she’d loosely communicate the color scheme to respect the street artist and the unique essence they put into it while giving the model the creative freedom to inject their own styles.
Model: @thejayangel
Wall: “Grattan Street” by unknown artist
“I think graffiti was inspiring to me because it’s art without any sort of attention, because people that do graffiti, they do it under a code name, and they’re not seeking major validation from the world. They’re just kind of doing it for themselves.”
A similar approach was taken to props – some days she’d come across something and take it because she liked it. Other times, she would drive around specifically looking for objects because she knew she had to shoot that same day, which drew out an innovative vigor. On missions like this, it struck her how many objects seemed to be abandoned, prompting the idea that all these people and the things they left behind communicated their trace on the world. She then tied that concept with the idea of graffiti, which are physical markings that people make for everyone to see.
When asked what she wants people to see or feel with these images, she wants people to feel like they can do anything. Emphasizing the lack of budget, she explained the energetic allure of the wall pieces she chose.
“I think graffiti was inspiring to me because it’s art without any sort of attention, because people that do graffiti, they do it under a code name, and they’re not seeking major validation from the world. They’re just kind of doing it for themselves.”
Model: @drewwaustin
Wall: “Jams Rip” by unknown artist
“And that’s why I think they get really amazing results… because they’re not playing games. They’re artists.”
In fact, she feels these artists deserve more spotlight than some of the art she sees being pushed to the forefront in the art world. Boiling it down to intention, she acknowledges how Instagram has contributed to commercialism and just pumping out what’s hot. So, she appreciates the idea of selfish art, which she sees in graffiti. She commented, “Maybe they work a truck driving job, and this is their only breath of fresh air that they get to experience.”
Having a partner that code switches between fine arts and graffiti was also a source of inspiration because, through him, she better understood the effort, criticism, and time that goes into certain pieces.
“And that’s why I think they get really amazing results… because they’re not playing games. They’re artists.”
Model: @shivanymehta
Wall: Wall art by Spot KMS
“I feel like when I was younger, just wanted to sort of save the world. And then I was like, oh, that’s really hard to do [laughs]. And there’s so much that goes into that and so many things you’re responsible for. And then I think that idea got overwhelming. But, I think by just creating for the purpose of yourself and expression can uplift your energy, which then inspires someone else to do the same for themselves, creating a chain reaction and thus… saving the world.”
Just as she was inspired by the selfish nature of graffiti, she hopes to similarly inspire others with her art.
“I feel like when I was younger, just wanted to sort of save the world. And then I was like, oh, that’s really hard to do [laughs]. And there’s so much that goes into that and so many things you’re responsible for. And then I think that idea got overwhelming. But, I think by just creating for the purpose of yourself and expression can uplift your energy, which then inspires someone else to do the same for themselves, creating a chain reaction and thus… saving the world.”
