Points of Reference

Working with a close friend and Indian American filmmaker, Anubhav Bhardwaj, I was interested in revisiting neighborhoods from his early childhood: Little India in Jackson Heights & the temples on Bowne Street in Flushing, Queens.

I became acquainted with Anubhav in high school, when he moved to a less diverse and more affluent suburb in northern New Jersey.

In deliberately asking my friend to revisit places from his past, it was not my intention to simply represent how this trip down memory lane was a nostalgic return to his roots.

Our collaboration was intended to expose the gaps in time and place that remain at odds with one's identity over the course of one’s personal history.

CAPTIONS
TOP ROW (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT)

1. The entrance to the Bhardwaj’s first and former store in Jackson Heights, Queens.
2. New upscale housing along Bowne Street in Flushing, Queens.
3. Anubhav Bhardwaj.  Demarest, NJ.
4. Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam Temple in Flushing, Queens.
5. Anubhav Bhardwaj. Jackson Heights, Queens.
6. An empty storefront in Jackson Heights, Queens.

BOTTOM ROW (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT)

1. An old mural by students of Northern Valley Regional High School. Demarest, NJ.  
2. Anubhav Bhardwaj.  Lower East Side, Manhattan.
3. Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam Temple in Flushing, Queens.
4. Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam Temple in Flushing, Queens.
5. Anubhav Bhardwaj.  Demarest, NJ.
6. Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam Temple in Flushing, Queens.