Battlefield Bushwick

Slowly an unsuspected offensive is penetrating the interior of Brooklyn, strategic pawns are placed in battle formation, driving the natives from the current frontier of Bushwick. Here the signs of battle mark the façades of old warehouses that have fallen into disuse. Now, they are scarred by brush strokes like blood streaks of large murals announcing the arrival of the gentrifying army: the artists. The first stage of the battle is written in paint and graffiti. The infiltrators slowly appropriate the expressive building-high typical murals of the local Spanish-speaking inhabitants, claiming their part of the underused territory. And, like every battle, also this one has its war reporters, observing the movements of the next battalion dispatched to the battlefield. The main carrier for the movement was tracked down to be the L-train when the pioneering artists had to leave their strongholds of SoHo and the East Village – that they had established in the 1960’s until the 1980’s – and crossed the East River to Williamsburg in the 1990’s. These hip and creative pioneers were closely followed by a migration of young settlers attracted by the wealth of the large open loft spaces the artists had uncovered in the old industries of Bushwick. The ever more affluent settlers took over the abundant vacant industrial remnants until it now clashes hard with the homogeneous residential core of Bushwick, just beyond the Morgan and Jefferson stops of the L-train.

But, unknowingly, the creative vanguard is in fact a kamikaze force, now rebelling against and deserting their initial offensive. By revealing the dormant wealth of space of the area, they opened it up to speculation and immediately lost it to the rearguard of opportunistic developers. However, they are not alone in their rebellion. Like in every great battle, an active resistance has openly taken on the fight: community organizations reclaim their rights and take a stand for the local residents. Perhaps now, in the tumult of battle, an image emerges of what Bushwick could be, a vital and mixed community rather than a container for a succession of homogenous Dutch, German, Italian, Puerto-Rican, hipster communities. It is in the skirmishes of battle, in the blur of clashing troops, that the community regained its strength and vitality.

Thomas Willemse

April 2013