(Iraq, Brooklyn) by Danni Goldfield
First project, new photographer. Danny decided on the project before even having a camera. He purchased a camera to take a picture of children from every-country on earth living in New York City. This project, his first picture project, his first set of images, landed-on the cover of Life magazine in June 2006. Quite a remarkable achievement, quite remarkable work indeed.
I was driving cross-country with my girlfriend at the time and we met this guy from a Sikh community. We met him because we were introduced by a friend and what I knew before we met him is that three days after 9/11 his older brother was planting a tree in the memory of the victims and someone drove by and shot him dead in cold blood because he was wearing a Sikh turban and a beard. We knew this during the interview, a horribly tragic thing to talk about. What we found out during the interview is that 11 months later a second brother was shot to death while driving his taxi in San Francisco. All his money was left in the pocket; it was clearly another hate crime. Here was a guy who lost two brothers by hate crime within a year after 9/11.
He then said something that was the inspiration for the project. He said that he knew it was important for him to do the effort and get out of the house to meet his neighbors because he though that if the neighbors knew him it would reduce the danger for him and his family to be victims of a hate crime.
I said myself that when I get to New York I am going to photograph a child of every country in the world so all can meet the people through the photos and get to know the neighbors and cultures of the people living in New York.- Danny Goldfield
Photograph one child from every country on earth. Each child must live in New York City. Children from 136 countries have already participated. The outreach and photography continue as the project moves towards completion.
The NY Children mission is to help nurture an inclusive community of children, create opportunities for them to meet, learn about each other, and form friendships.
You can hear an interesting interview to Danny Goldfield at the Candid Frame podcast.
