Over the past three decades, Brooklyn (specifically Bushwick and its surrounding areas) has become a popular tourist area beyond the bustling conurbations of Manhattan.
But while the neighborhood on the south side of the Big Apple continues to reinvent itself, Bushwick continues to remember its people and their rich cultural legacy, with its distinctive street art playing a vital role in preserving local culture, fostering creative expression, and building community (even as gentrification continues to advance apace).
Fifty years ago, this part of Brooklyn was home to a diverse mix of immigrant families. “Between the 1950s and 1970s, Bushwick was home to Italian, German and Polish communities,” explains Celestina León, district director of Brooklyn Community Board 4. African Americans from the South and Caribbean families also came to the neighborhood in search of job opportunities in industry, she adds.
I was born in Bushwick in the 1970s, a time when the neighborhood was very different (although it was unable to escape the effects of the financial decline of New York in that decade). The Bushwick of my childhood was known for gangs, crime, poverty, and empty buildings, many of them burned and in ruins (the photographer Meryl Meisler She is known for having captured These scenes in their Bushwick collections).
But in the early 2000s, León says, artists and young professionals began arriving in Bushwick, drawn by its lower rents and more spacious housing. They were followed by gradual waves of gentrification, triggered in part by the redevelopment of the Williamsburg waterfront, which pushed people to seek more affordable alternatives.
Today, Bushwick has a very different look and feel. One change that is impossible to miss: the eye-catching street art that adorns buildings throughout the neighborhood. Bushwick has earned a reputation as the world’s center of street artattracting artists (and art lovers) from around the world. Visitors from out of town participate in daily street art tours, where selfies in front of impressive murals that in some cases cover up to half a block.
David “Chino” Villorente, a Brooklyn-born artist with strong family ties to Bushwick, says that underdeveloped industrial areas (like Bushwick of yesteryear) offer ample outdoor spaces that can serve as the perfect blank canvas for street artists. And he points out something very interesting: When an area becomes a hot spot for street art, it’s often a sign of impending gentrification. “Typically, most murals go up while there are green construction panels and cranes in the background,” Villorente says. “It seems like a very calculated way to attract young people. Construction is happening, and it does a phenomenal job of attracting young people with all these amazing murals as a backdrop to their social media posts and TikTok videos. Most of the time, when I see a street art explosion happening somewhere, it’s usually in communities that are on the cusp of gentrification.”
In Bushwick, gentrification brought coffee shops, young professionals… and higher rents. Jason Maas He has a degree in mental health and was a street artist in Bushwick in the mid-2000s. He says he and other creatives were inspired by the work of street artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey (the artist behind Obama Hope Poster Campaign) fostering “the belief that street art could change the world.”
Maas says the commercial success of Banksy and other high-profile artists made street art normalized and mainstreama mainstream trend welcomed by businesses and owners. “What was once bold and countercultural gradually became a sought-after and commissioned aesthetic, a visual appeal that raised the “cool” factor cool of the neighborhoods and contributed to their rise in popularity and, ultimately, Bushwick’s rent prices.” Those skyrocketing rents drove out many longtime residents, including some of the artists whose works contributed greatly to the neighborhood’s rise in popularity.
Although graffiti and street art have many similarities and often overlap, graffiti is more of a language that artists use to leave their mark or exchange messages, while street art tends to be more of a visual and creative expression intended for a broader audience. Villorente says the presence of street art can deter some “tagging” (or tags) random, but does not remove them. However, in some cases graffiti artists who do not appreciate the murals do mark them deliberately.
