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From the Western Door to the Lower West Side
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Eric Gansworth, Lowery Writer-in-Residence at Canisius College, and Milton Rogovin, legendary social documentary photographer, recently published a collection of their poems and photos about Native Americans in Western New York. The book is titled From the Western Door to the Lower West Side, and the interaction of the photographs and poems allows viewers a unique glimpse into the lives of Native Americans on the reservation and on the Lower West Side of Buffalo, NY.
Rogovin self-describes himself as a photographer of "the forgotten," or members of the working class, poor, and disadvantaged. Gansworth has published several books of poems and original artwork relating to his experience and vision of his Native American heritage.
From the Western Door to the Lower West Side can only be fully appreciated by witnessing it firsthand, but there are several striking poems that interact with Rogovin's photographs. Sometimes the photos speak stronger, and sometimes the poems bring the subjects across with greater intensity and reality.
For instance, there is a series of photos which follows a couple from early in their relationship through to their marriage. The constant in all of the photos are posters of Jimi Hendrix, above the intimately seated couple in each of the photos. In the first, Hendrix is flanked by nude women, and in the last is a single poster of Hendrix, and Gansworth notes the woman's new wedding ring.
Even more poignant is "Door to Door," in which Gansworth illustrates the transition from the Western Door to the Lower West Side. He describes the splintered wood of the door frame on the reservation juxtaposed with the concrete steps of the Lower West Side. "We will discover that falling on concrete comes with a different price than falling on dirt" (106). The photographs that accompany this poem depict a wooden ramshackle house on the reservation, the family members that live there, and those that have left it behind and now live in the city.
From the Western Door to the Lower West Side is a unique representation of the Native American experience in our region and it offers a glimpse into the past and present of the lives of individuals and of a people that is often forgotten.
An ongoing exhibit of Rogovin's photographs at the Burchfield Penney Art Center lasts through January 3, 2010, four days after Rogovin's hundredth birthday.
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