Diving Deep While Skimming The Surface: Photographer Steven Hirsch Exhibits ‘Gowanus Waters’ At Gowanus Souvenir Shop

The toxic liquid that fills the Gowanus Canal today is not commonly referred to as alluring, celestial, or even downright trippy. Yet in the world of photographer Steven Hirsch, sludge, chemicals, and waste become vibrant and moving images of color.

‘Gowanus Waters‘ is a collection of Hirsch’s recent photographs currently on view through April 3 at the Gowanus Souvenir Shop (543 Union Street), the new whimsical and artistic gift shop and gallery space catering to all of your Gowanus needs.

The exhibition also doubles as an opportunity to celebrate Hirsch’s book release of the same name. So if the images strike you — as they most likely will — you can take them home in his collection of painterly photographs. (And if you can’t make it to the exhibit, you can purchase the book online).

Hirsch’s photography has covered diverse subject matter, including his project Courthouse Confessions, a visual chronicling of the defendants who passed through the Manhattan Criminal Court Building. He’s also a photographer for The New York Post.

“A lot of these people are from the underbelly of New York,” Hirsch told the Times. “Most of us don’t know them and don’t know what their lives are like. We almost never hear their stories.”

Similarly, Hirsch is telling the story of the Gowanus — a Superfund site that wouldn’t necessary be considered ripe material for an artistic project. But Hirsch’s collection calls attention to the surface — literally in the case of our local canal — and delves deeply into it. The images are so abstract that you may find yourself baffled they are actually photographs instead of paintings.

Hirsch’s interest in the Gowanus landscape began in 2011. “I was hanging out with my ex-girlfriend and she asked if I wanted to see the Gowanus,” says Hirsch. “Even though I’m from Brooklyn, I’d never been. It just wasn’t a place you went to when I was younger.”

Hirsch described the surface. “There was all this oil boiling up. I had a Lumix on me, not my professional camera,” he recalls.

The project didn’t really take off until he was approached my Niko Koppel, the photo editor of the New York Times. “He asked me if I would work on a project that has to do with something local.”

So Hirsch returned to the canal in 2014. “I couldn’t find the original place where I was taking the photos. The bubbling oil had disappeared,” he says.

When Hirsch began shooting for this project in 2014, he took photographs in the Spring. “Because of the time of year, there was runoff,” he says. “There was a lot of surface pollution because of that, which made it very interesting.”

The exhibit provides an opportunity for us to see this body of water through fresh eyes. And it’s also somewhat of a homecoming for Hirsch. He grew up at 43rd Street and Clarkson Avenue — back when Kings County Hospital was the Brooklyn State Hospital and had a mental institution.

“I grew up across from an insane asylum. I remember one guy was dressed up as Douglas MacArthur. He had a toy plane,” says Hirsch. “I’ve met a lot of characters.”

However, Hirsch isn’t one to judge his subject matter. His series “Little Sticky Legs” is a project Hirsch worked on in Nevada photographing people who say they were abducted by aliens.

In one interview, an alien-abductee named Cynthia says:

“I’ve also been on various ships. Mother ships and transporter ships. I’ve got to meet numerous types of beings. I’ve met Salamander beings and I’ve met Greys, various different types of Greys. I’ve also met the Blue Arcturians which are incredible. They all have their own personalities and their own purposes. So I’ve met Blue Arcturians. I’ve met Andromedans, the Assyrian Warriors of Light. I’ve met the Sirius Nephrons. I’ve also met the Cat People that are from Sirius. I’ve met many. I’ve actually seen people that can shape shift from human looking to Reptilians.”

“I’m not questioning who they are and what they believe,” says Hirsch. “I respect the people who I photograph.”

Hirsch treats the Gowanus Canal with the same respect.

Gowanus Waters, which was published by Powerhouse Books, was the recent subject matter of a bit of controversy.

On March 4, hours after The Daily News posted an article about the new book, that article disappeared from their website. CEO Daniel Power of Powerhouse Books was upset, calling the choice “spineless” and “unethical.” The New York Post wrote that “He [Powers] feels the work was taken down because Hirsch, a freelance photographer, frequently covers Manhattan courts for The Post.”

The Daily News Photo Editor Kevin Macdonald acknowledged “that the tie to The Post caused the story to be pulled out of ‘respect’ for the paper’s own reporters and editors.”

“I was shocked myself that it was pulled,” says Hirsch. “But not surprised. The mentality between tabloids is that they go for the jugular.”

The images are far more exciting than the newspaper controversy. For the book release, Powerhouse writes, “Vibrant petrochemical reactions in the canal, known by some locals as Lavender Lake, create fleeting patterns of color striation and orderly geometric formations.”

Hirsch captures those reactions exquisitely.

The Gowanus Canal has pulled yet another artist into its fascinating aura. “Gowanus is a character,” says Hirsch. “It’s very NY. It’s been knocked down.”

For Hirsch, it’s the composition that fascinates him.

“A lot of people see an environmental disaster. I just want the pictures to look beautiful.”

The Exhibition Rundown: Steven Hirsch — ‘Gowanus Waters’
Where: Gowanus Souvenir Shop, 543 Union Street (the entrance is on Nevins Street, and down the alley, and on the left)
When: Thursdays and Fridays, 3pm-7pm, Saturdays and Sundays, 11am-7pm. Through Sunday, April 3.
Admission: Free.
Book Purchase Information: Hirsch’s Gowanus Waters book is available for purchase in the shop or online. Price: $45.