New York is a cacophonous mix of voices—from wisecracks and witticisms to activism and social commentary—and everything in between. Amon Focus captures these visual voices and has created a photographic archive spanning more than a decade, aptly named New York Said.
New York Said’s emblematic project, Visual Voices, is an artistic immersive experience for attendees to engage with a text-based photography installation inspired by the voices of New York City. Each photograph shares the voice of the city and invites the viewer to contemplate our commonalities as a community of New Yorkers.
The center component of the program includes a “Rorschach” experience, where Amon engages with visitors to Visual Voices in impromptu conversations about their New York experiences. These short conversations will be recorded and published as an independent series on the New York Said platform.
Attendees are also invited to share their voices by adding to the Visual Voices Wall installed during the program.
As of this writing, New York Said as a project is officially 7 years old, but for over 10+ years, Amon has photographed over 3,000 statements written on every surface imaginable in New York.
In addition to the New York Said photo series, Amon has recorded over 200 long-form conversations of native and notable New Yorkers. He has interviewed the likes of American cartoonist, Bob Mankoff of Esquire, Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic, Jerry Saltz, The International Center of Photography’s Curator-at-Large, Isolde Brielmaier, famed photographer, Jay Maisel, documentary photographer, Jamel Shabazz, visual artist Shantell Martin and staples of the community from all five boroughs.
Amon Focus is uniquely positioned to produce Visual Voices because through his experiences as a cultural archivist, he understands the impact of guests being sincerely seen and heard while fighting to keep your head above water in a sea of noise.
