Ep 12: The War for Self-Representation: The Media and The Hill

In going through the journal gathering entries concerning The Hill’s relationship to the media, G & N also discovered evidence on how life on The Hill went from light to dark without them noticing.  

The New York Post arrived first, followed almost simultaneously by The New Yorker. In an effort to control the representation, G & N decided to give access to the New Yorker. Writer Jim Lardner - grandson of Ring Lardner and a former cop, now a journalist - agreed to spend a minimum of six weeks getting to know everyone on The Hill. After securing the residents’ permission, he eventually spent six months before writing an in-depth, well-fact-checked, accurate portrayal of The Hill. 

A parade of reporters, film crews, and especially photographers attempted to make The Hill their subject. Photographers had long been chased away, even before the tipi arrived. In an effort control the onslaught, G & N decided to arm the residents with – instead of the rocks they were used to throwing – disposable cameras to catch the culprits in the act in a project they called Counting Coup. 

“To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. Just as a camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a subliminal murder - a soft murder, appropriate to a sad, frightened time.” ― Susan Sontag, On Photography 

Because G & N were constantly asked at the time what they would do to solve the homeless situation, from a journal entry, Gabriele offers her reflections. 

New York Post (4 months before G & N arrive on The Hill) -- “Squatter War Coming to ‘The Hill’”: https://thievestheatre.org/documentation-of-the-hill 

The New Yorker article (7 months after G & N arrive): https://www.intlculturelab.org/inc/hill/NewYorker.pdf 

#conceptualart #guerrillaart #homelessencampment #homeless #media #nychistory #photography #mediarepresentation 

For extensive documentation and to purchase the book, "The Hill": thievestheatre.org 

Contact Nick and Gabriele: podcast@thievestheatre.org 

@tipionthehill 

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