Jeffrey PalazzoCentral Park between E 88th St and E 89th StHeart Four · Location 486 · Drawn December 2001Download photograph 1Download photograph 2Download photograph 3Download photograph 4Download photograph 5Download photograph 6Download photograph 7Download photograph 8Download photograph 9Video podcast0:00To find this drawing, enter into Central Park off of 5th through East 90th Street.0:05Cross over East Drive and enter onto the bridle path and walk south.0:09You'll pass an information stand on your left immediately,0:13and if you stick to the right-hand side of the path,0:15where the path meets the bottom of the mulchy, inclining hill,0:19you will see, in approximately 40 yards,0:22rectangular metal drainage covers on either side of the path.0:26The drawing was made, carved into the path on the surfaces next to the cover at the base0:33of the inclining mulch-covered hill on the right.0:37This is Jeffrey Palazzo.0:39He was drawn in December of 2001.0:43His drawing is counting 10 people.0:46This location in particular gets flagged down because there, as a reminder, exists a photograph0:53of a very, very young girl about three, three and a half to four years old, roaming through1:01the documentation and finally coming at a quiet standstill and meditating on the drawing1:08that's been done on the ground.1:10It's winter time, everything else is white, and within this white landscape on a slightly1:18slightly sloping hill leading up to the reservoir, went in with my hands and carved out a space1:28that represented this fireman.1:30You had this dark brown leafy dirt surface permeating up through this white.1:37And I had finished the drawing and walked away from it so there was no connection that1:40I was actually the creator of it.1:42And this very young girl walked above it on a path and saw it down below and then navigated1:48her way down to look at it.1:51And the experience, my mind remains very, very intense1:54because I never had a sense of this person,1:57this angelic little creature belonging to anybody.2:01She was on her own and the moment that she spent2:03standing still and looking at the drawing2:05sort of stuck with me.2:06I remember seeing photos of this particular drawing2:10and the little girl looking at it2:12and I was really moved by this particular drawing2:14for a couple different reasons.2:16One, I think that the act of like looking at these drawings and to a certain extent2:21looking at this whole event and set of circumstances in a way I feel like we are, we're all like2:27children looking at this.2:28Like we don't really understand.2:30We have this sense of awe, this sense of just being witnesses and there's something about2:37looking at the drawing through the eyes of this little girl that's somehow representative2:42of the whole, like trying to understand the whole project and the event that it's supposed2:46And maybe with that interaction we also cut down to just the pure simplicity of the whole thing.2:52That beyond any layers of thought or information we can put on top of it,2:57at the end of the day we are just interested in the humans.3:02It's just people looking at people.3:04People looking at people.3:07Mr. Palazzo was a firefighter with a fondness for the outdoors.3:11He counted skiing, scuba diving, and fishing among his pleasures.3:16to work around the house fixing things.3:18He was tremendously sincere, said a fellow firefighter.3:21He was not only passionate about this work as a rescue firefighter,3:26but was always quick to tell you a caring story about his own family.3:30Palazzo was married.← Location 485Heart Four · Location 486Location 487 →
