My name is Anthony Mulcahy and I am a photographer originally from Ireland but living in NYC for 20 years. Primarily a concert photographer, I started a film project in Washington Square Park two years ago. I didn't actually realize at the time that it was going to be a project, but making portraits on film is something I love doing and as I started to spend a lot of time in the park (3-4 days a week) I met some of the most fascinating creative folks and began this collection.
From fashion icons to musicians, poets to skateboarders, painters to performers, the park is a constant hive of artistic activity. Creatives seem to attract like minded creatives and as I began to see familiar interesting faces, I started making more and more portraits. Everyone has a story to tell, and most of the people I photographed expressed so much about themselves without ever saying a word to me.
Washington Square Park is its own creative ecosystem within the city, and these portraits reflect not only the wide variety of people who come to the park every day for their chosen form of art, but also the safe space created when so many people are free to express themselves. I have personally seen this community exponentially grow in the past two years and I am excited to continue this project and have a front row seat as more brilliant minds turn up and share.
This project has not been shared on social media. It’s something I have been working on to one day set up a gallery and share this work publicly.
With my Canon EOS1N (from 1994) I have shot over 100 rolls of film in Washington Square Park over a variety of film stocks, my favorite being Flic Film Vision3 250D. With a friend of mine, we have developed every one of these rolls by hand in a home darkroom.
(Click the images to enlarge)
