Yesterday I went back up to the Cloisters and Fort Tryon Park to double-check a few things about Janet Cardiff’s Forty Part Motet Installation. Before heading uptown I talked to my friend Chris, who told me her mother grew up near the park and about all the times she’d visited it growing up.
She talked about the stairs all over the park, many of which are much more steep than the ones in this picture. I like these though, because they seem to lead to someplace magical. I kept being lured up by one staircase after another, often getting turned around and a little lost. But the park is basically a circle going around the Cloisters, so you can only get so lost.
Chris has a picture of her mom as a young woman, standing by one of the many lamp posts in the park. I hope she sends me a copy!