From the artist: These photos were taken in Room 508 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The name of the exhibit was "Before Yesterday, We could fly." More information about the artists featured in the exhibition can be found here.

Many people enjoy visiting the Central Park, either for dog work, site seeing, taking pictures, exercising, training for a marathon, picnic, and much more. However, before Central Park, a neighborhood existed on the same land and is now forgotten and lost. During the nineteenth century, the society comprised a rich cultural community of predominantly Black landowners and tenants who escaped from the dangerous confines of lower Manhattan. By the 1850s, the named village, Seneca, had about fifty homes, multiple churches, and gardens. Seneca Village represented racial harmony as the German and Irish immigrants moved in. The village symbolized peace, freedom, prosperity, and togetherness. It was a gathering where people could be authentic about themselves without facing the injustice of the American community. The image depicts the diaspora belief of how the Seneca Village would look like if it had been allowed to thrive to the present and beyond. Seneca Village illustrates being a place for excellence, determination, and harmony of an African American gathering. Designs and construction of the home in the image is powered by Afrofuturism.