In an interview at the back of the book Christine Osinski says she took these photos in the summers of 1983 and 1984 as a way of familiarising herself about Staten Island where she had moved to, from Manhattan, in 1982. Though part of New York she had always regarded SI as a rather isolated where the residents (Italians are the largest group) relaxed in their own utopia (of course, more than thirty years later the landscape has dramatically changed).
The fifty-one photos are a mix of community life, kids playing, street scenes and people, usually looking at her camera. There is not a suggestion that the busy streets of Manhattan are a mere ferry ride away. The photos seemed to project a gentle quietness as I turned the pages.
The landscape format works well with a photo a page and I thought the sequencing was particularly good. Christine Osinski's pictures deliver an interesting slice of suburban life from a few years ago.
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