The Dear New York Exhibit, by the Humans of New York, was installed in Grand Central’s Vanderbilt Hall, from October 6th to October 19th. The exhibit highlighted people from all walks of life who reside in New York City. 

In the exhibit, there were two separate photography exhibitions, created by David Korins and his team at Korins Studio (https://dearnewyork.com). The inside of the exhibit has displays illustrating the work of eleven of New York’s photographers. These works highlight the artist’s communities, and each artist was gifted $10,000 towards their work.

The walls surrounding the inner arrangement display art from 600 of New York’s students. This installation was originally designed to hold 300 portraits, but expanded to fit 600 photographs to highlight more of New York’s amazing community. At the end of the exhibit, students will have their displayed portrait given to them, with the hopes that they gift their piece to the person who inspired it. 

The installation was created to represent all of the people who make New York beautiful. To highlight people you wouldn’t think to thank, ordinary people who truly keep the world moving. 

One of Clinton’s very own seniors, Cathryn Lee, had her work featured in the Dear New York Exhibit. Cathryn photographed Clinton community member Crystal who greets everyone with a smile on her face every morning.

When speaking to Cathryn about how she found out about the exhibit, and why she chose to portray Crystal, she said, “I found out about the Dear New York event through Ms. Mahoney’s art announcement channel. As soon as I read the announcement—Crystal popped into my head, so I entered immediately. She has always been so giving to everyone in Clinton, so I wanted to give something back as a thank you. I’m so happy that her picture got selected to be in Grand Central, [and] I hope that this becomes a lasting memory for her.”

When speaking to Crystal about how she felt being portrayed in the exhibit, Crystal notes, “I think for me it was a moment that I was able to not only appreciate the person that I was able to connect with but my own doing. I think it’s often hard for people to understand the impact they have. So it was just a beautiful experience especially to do it with someone like Cathryn.”

Many people visited this exhibit, including myself, and it was amazing to see people I know represented in such a special way. Crystal and Cathryn are both important members of the Clinton community and it was incredible to see both of them representing Clinton in this installation. It’s important for installations like this to be showcased, to bring recognition to people who have made an impact on others’ lives.