We recently went on an extensive hard hat tour of the abandoned Ellis Island Southside Hospitals, looking for a lot of of the JR artwork that hasn’t really been photographed or seen. In fact, our tour guide from the National Park Service came across JR pieces even she hadn’t seen before. The hard hat tour is fundraising mechanism to rehabilitate the hospitals, once one of the most advanced healthcare facilities in the world.
The whole experience is quite an adventure, as you wander through dark corridors to look for artwork pasted onto windows, chairs,lockers and walls. All the photographs are real images from immigrants who came through Ellis Island, as well as health workers.
Michelle is the founder of Untapped New York and the author of The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland, Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York, and Broadway. michelleyoungwriter.com
