Raymond Murphy1st Ave between E 106th St and E 108th StHeart Four · Location 460 · Drawn July 2004Download photograph 1Download photograph 2Download photograph 3Download photograph 4Download photograph 5Download photograph 6Download photograph 7Download photograph 8Download photograph 9Download photograph 10Download photograph 11Download photograph 12Video podcast0:00There are a collection of shops on the northwest corner of 2nd Avenue and East 106th Street.0:08Coming off 106th, you'll find a bank, a deli, a copy service, a dental center, and finally,0:17Harmony Liquors.0:19This store features a big, dirty, retractable metal gate with six padlocks on it.0:25Our drawing was done on the right-hand side of this gate, above the padlock hovering above the sidewalk,0:32and the three padlocks attaching the gate to its metal frame.0:38This is Lieutenant Raymond Murphy.0:40He was drawn in July of 2004.0:43His drawing is counting one person.0:46So within all the intentions for what the site could be,0:50One of the major things that was missing from the site was the ability for anybody else0:56besides ourselves to experience the geographic locations.1:01So the whole physical, geographical and topographical connections that we made were missing.1:10They were intellectually existed on the space, you could say, oh they made it here, but there1:14was no interaction between that.1:16that the podcast serves a couple of purposes.1:19One, it does allow an individual to use it as a way of mapping all these points1:25and experiencing the same paths.1:27In the first couple of months of making the project,1:29we said, well, who's our audience by accessibility?1:32There are lots and lots and lots of design ideas and rules1:37for what defines accessibility for people with varying levels of dexterity,1:43sight, hearing1:45and to be quite1:48frank they're so voluminous1:50that we had to do what most sites do1:52which is basically just ignore it1:53the podcast brought back on board1:56my desire1:57my deep, deep desire1:59to make this stories2:01and narratives available2:03to a wider audience2:05with a particular2:08soft spot for visually2:10impaired because we are2:11are experiencing something that is visual but also very textural and there's information2:16to share that's very easy to translate as long as we use the right words.2:21So when we went by to describe all the locations we wanted to be able to give somebody the2:26ability to create a visual map in their minds of it.2:29But also a sensory map, I imagine like a touch map and a sound map.2:33You've essentially described the person.2:35You know what the drawing looks like if you describe the surface.2:38If you say it's brick, you know it is a human-scaled, outlined, bricked person.2:45A tree, a snow, a flaking paint surface.2:49We're hoping that the net result of that has some of the shades of what people who are seeing the pictures2:57and all their brightness and whatnot are having.3:02We've never seen this store open!3:05This liquor store?3:06It's like a...the drawing was done in the lower right hand corner of this retracting3:10metal gate.3:11Most notably by all these padlocks.3:14There's about five padlocks that secure this one corner.3:17Sort of a raw thrill to see it open.3:22What's interesting is that New York is so different visually, but sound wise,3:26fairly similar.3:27Just on a sort of cursory, like, walkthrough.3:30I'm sure that's not true.3:31I'm sure if I spent enough time here, I would get a real sense of how the sounds are different3:36A lot of cities sound very similar.3:40Anything he latched onto, he devoured, intellectually or physically,3:45said his brother, Edward J. Murphy.3:47He didn't take to school as well as anybody else,3:50but he grew up to be the brightest person I ever met.3:53We used to kid, if you ever won the lottery,3:56would you quit the fire department, his wife said.3:58He'd say, oh no, he loved it.← Location 459Heart Four · Location 460Location 461 →
