There is a movement afoot to bring healthy vegan food to those who are most vulnerable and in need of food assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic. A growing organization of dedicated volunteers, which goes by the name Artists-Athletes-Activists has undertaken a plant-based strategy to nourish communities with vegan alternatives and spread awareness about the power of healthy food. The group has several techniques to provide communities with fresh produce and various plant-based protein choices, including distributing produce and freshly cooked meals on the street and subways and stocking free local plant-based fridges outside businesses and in public city schools.
Across New York City, mutual-aid and civic engagement provide a lifeline. As hunger, poverty, and COVID-19 overwhelm neighborhoods across the five boroughs, the most vulnerable are left to wither. Mutual-aid programs hold a vital role in filling gaps where the city's aid programs fall short. In a city of 8.4 million, over 1.1 million residents are suffering from food insecurity. At a time when hunger and lack of living wages are at the forefront of discussions across the nation, this project's goal is to highlight the efforts of this army of volunteers and open dialogue on food insecurity impacting New Yorkers.
Some individuals become police officers to keep the public safe, others practice in medicine to keep people healthy, and I, motivated by witnessing the complications of food insecurity that lives in so many areas of this country, have chosen the camera to help open the door to this struggle experienced by many vulnerable residents in NYC.
As the function of the observer, I've been following Artists-Athletes-Activists led by activist Michael Angel Viera, as he spearheads a plant-based food initiative to underserved Manhattan and Bronx communities.
The project is a work in progress. So far, I’ve photographed Michael Angel Viera and Artists-Athletes-Activists as they delivered fresh fruits and vegetables to the community refrigerator in The Bronx neighborhood of Allerton and distributed fresh produce to students and families outside of P.S. 096 Richard Rodgers and outside of Mazzei Playground at 2462 Williamsbridge Road. In the last few months, I have shadowed the group as they prepared hundreds of grocery bags filled with produce and as they cooked and distributed over two hundred warm vegan meals to East Harlem’s neediest this past Thanksgiving Eve, from the back of a rental truck. Most recently I shadowed the group as they braved the sub 20-degree temperatures to prepare and deliver hundreds of bags of fruits and vegetables for students and families at PS 140 Nathan Straus, PS 020 Anna Silver, and M332 University Neighborhood Middle School in Lower Manhattan.
As my time with Artists-Athletes-Activist continues, I will build trust with members of the community impacted by food insecurity and embed myself with families open to sharing their stories, in order to accurately capture the complexities of this timely issue. I am pulled to stories that honor the honest and powerful determination of people. It is my goal to use this narrative to spread awareness of the mental-physical and emotional toll food insecurity has on a community and the power food, civic engagement, and community can provide to our city's most vulnerable. With the help of the Visura Grant, I will prepare the project for publication and an exhibition with the Capa Space and Bethany Arts Community, in Ossining, New York, and prepare the project to be shown publically in the Loisaida neighborhood of Manhattan.
