“Bronxites”: Intimate and personal view of my community in the Bronx by Chantal Heijnen

1/24/2014 Matt 0 Comments

For more then twelve years, Dutch born photographer Chantal Heijnen worked as a refugees and immigrants counselor in the Netherlands. Eventually she decided to pursue photography and moved, together with her husband Bart, to the Bronx.

Chantal explains more about this project on her website (*):

‘Bronxites’ gives an intimate and personal view of my new friends and neighbors of my community in the Bronx. My neighborhood is known as University Heights. It’s situated in the South Bronx – on University Ave between 183rd street and Fordham Road. This photo document represents the people of the South Bronx today – the borough of New York that is mostly known as a ghetto and it’s troublesome past.

Through a mutual friend, a very unlikely but special friendship arose between Gilbert, who lives in the Bronx for almost 40 years and me, a young photographer from The Netherlands. In 2008 Gilbert gave me the opportunity to move to the Bronx, to share space in his apartment and pursue my long-held ambition to photograph individuals from communities rarely seen.