Grateful I am for this book and its significance documenting the men of color who assemble in Prospect Park. G Winston James’ thorough essay is one of only a few long-form published non-fiction discussions about the historical, cultural, and sociological aspects of the male sexual and communal convergences in Prospect Park with focus on its community/aggregate of sexually active men of African diaspora, be they identified as same-gender loving or merely same-gender lusting. The importance of his essay frames the multiple understandings required for appreciating the photos that follow, reminding viewers of the many threats to (gay) Black men, and the determination to find each other and build spaces for themselves while also allowing visibility to be represented in this collection. This is especially important given that the population of men hanging around, cruising, and generally queerifying the Park is largely West Indian, facing extreme hostility against gays in countries and communities of origin.
Roma’s photos spanning numerous projects and publications tend to capture the undersides of life that fall outside mainstream sight lines. His street photography style adapts well to the few person-less images of barren park foliage with criss-crossing tree branches that sometimes are decontextualized to the point where I could not recognize them despite having spent decades fraternizing in beloved Prospect Park; haunting empty streets in the busy city night photos of Peter Hujar or intersections of angles seen in William Eggleston photos come to mind.
The portraits are reminiscent of street portraiture by Bruce Davidson; images are not that of celebration with long-time friends, or showing facial expression that exhibit broad emotional range. The duality of guardedness and casualness found in public anonymous sex environments and exchanges are apparent here. This is not a collection of scheduled sexualized portraits of Black men by a white men, like George Dureau’s work is. Look to Al Baltrop’s The Piers photo book for racier outdoor sex photos. The Piers is the only extensive visual documentation of New York City’s notorious 1970s/80s west side water way cruising grounds.
The portraits themselves reveal the subjects to not be professional/aspiring models who are able to cast compelling gazes and alluring poses; only a few of the men make strong visual connections with the photographer or appear remotely erotic. This collection (probably intentionally) does not record the sexual activity that takes place between men in the park, or even affection (outside of one couple shot, portraits of men who appear slightly sexually suggestive, or a man holding his dog), except for the vague connection in a photo of distant, presumed condom wrappers on the ground. Most everyone is dressed, and the most commonly exposed flesh consists of faces and hands. This approach feels supportive of the men, and not exploitative.
Many of the portraits seem to be from the cooler days of autumn, with the sun’s lowering rays cut through branches to contribute a variety of shadows. There is dynamic expression to be found in the images where men are looking elsewhere, perhaps in the act of searching for other men, or being cautious. Other times, some of the compositions seem arranged in obvious staging that registers as artificial. Occurrences of black and white tones reproducing with limited range show up with disappointment; the latter could be attributed to difficulty accommodating uneven natural lighting during prepress editing, and less-extensive adjustments to accommodate printing limitations. Personal preference also factors in.
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