When I moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn, in 2012, I knew nothing about the neighborhood. I grew up in Omaha, and spent my undergraduate years as a student athlete in Storm Lake, Iowa. I came to New York City to pursue a master’s degree in social work, but photography became my calling.

I got to know the Bushwick community through its joys and hardships. I befriended a kid living on my block, Cedric, and watched him grow. I witnessed a community garden on a busy corner get fenced off, demolished, and replaced with a condominium building. My camera was always at my side—it was once mistaken for a gun, but it has also opened the door to conversations and connections.

Photography has allowed me to understand the pure joy of kids playing on the street, the special bond between a father and daughter, or the feeling of a young brother lonely in a sea of people on 34th Street in Manhattan. It has allowed me to explore what it means to be a Black individual in a Black community, but also allowed me navigate the world outside it.

I have a responsibility to this place and these individuals, and I have a responsibility to understand my place within it. New City, Old Blues is just as much about the place as it is the photographer. 

Andre D. Wagner

2014 - 2025