Broad Channel is my first-time collaboration with filmmaker Sarah J. Christman. Friends since childhood, Sarah and I share a fascination with altered landscapes and an expressive documentary approach. Broad Channel is a multi-channel project exhibiting our year-long exploration of a narrow strip of public shoreline in Jamaica Bay, Queens. My photographs and Sarah’s films and soundscapes closely witness the unceasing waves of visitors, the cycling seasons and tides, and the flight patterns of airplanes and migratory birds surrounding the unusual urban island of Broad Channel.

Sarah and I find that capturing the interplay between the idiosyncrasy of human behavior and the stoicism of the natural world affirming to our own place in the world. With the idea of collaborating on a project that expressed this shared view, we began to explore the areas in and around Jamaica Bay. After a number of expeditions to the area, we settled on the public beach at the northern tip of Broad Channel Island in the middle of the bay. Despite being encroached upon by residential communities, J.F.K. Airport and a landfill, the bay is a diverse and vibrant ecosystem. A litany of people are drawn to this beach to engage in a multitude of activities – fishing, worshipping, scavenging, gazing. These human endeavors are carried out in parallel with the naturally occurring processes occurring above and below the surface.

Broad Channel excerpt by Sarah J. Christman

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