In this photographic series, Paradise Gray observes the erasure of visible black culture and history in shared public spaces throughout Pittsburgh.
In this series, one pair of images reveals the transformation of an outdoor facility adjacent to a North Side public school—a cracked overgrown basketball court gives way to a manicured green baseball field. In the second diptych, before and after images show the removal of a Negro League tribute from Pittsburgh’s baseball stadium—statues of players from the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords are replaced by banners and trash receptacles.
Paradise Gray is a community organizer, author, artist, producer, hip-hop artist, historian, and chief curator of The Universal Hip Hop Museum, New York. He was manager and promoter for the hip-hop club “The Latin Quarter” in New York City, a teacher of the 1Hood Media Academy, professor of hip-hop at Monroe College, New York, and a founding member of 1Hood, the Coalition Against Violence, and the Alliance for Police Accountability.
