A Scrappy Bensonhurst Childhood Inspired Photographer Daniel Paterna’s New Exhibit ‘Bklyn Downhill’

Daniel Paterna‘s new photography exhibit Bklyn Downhill: The Lost Art of Combining, 2X4’s and Wheels on the Streets of Brooklyn is a hyper-revisualization of a tradition that was at one time part of the fabric of growing up in an urban environment. Paterna has provided an opportunity for us to experience a craft that was once considered a signature of Brooklyn — and a signature of his Bensonhurst upbringing.

Paterna’s mediums go beyond photography. His background is in animation and motion design — which contributes to the style and feel of his exhibit.

“The most exciting part of motion design is being at the fringe where the literal turns visual,” says Paterna.

The subject matter of Bklyn Downhill plays out once a year in Park Slope. Open Source Gallery’s Soap Box Derby and Workshop provides kids an opportunity to “construct functional, eco-friendly soap box racers out of recycled materials,” according to the description from Open Source’s Workshop and Derby description page.

Kids scour the outside for recycled items and are then supervised by counselors as they use tools to build their own creations. The workshop culminates in a race down 17th Street.

But for Paterna, the annual event conjures memories of another time. Paterna grew up on 61st between 15th and 16th Avenues in Bensonhurst, an industrial block surrounded by chop shops. He and his friends built what he calls go-carts.

“Go-carts are more hardscrabble [than soapbox cars], less streamlined. The key to building a good one was to have the right bolt connecting the mainframe to the front,” he says.

Paterna describes the grit and need for scrappiness in his neighborhood.

“It was zoned as a light industry area. There were not many houses. We scavenged and spent summers building go-carts,” he recalls. “We lived near a textile factory. We got dry ice from the Good Humor man to use as exhaust. We were so desperate for wood, my cousin once ripped up her downstairs wooden cabinets.”

Paterna currently lives in Park Slope with his wife Audra and their 14-year-old twins.

“I heard about the camp [the soapbox derby and workshop] and wanted to give my son and daughter a chance to have a similar experience that I did as a child,” he says.

He admits he had a tough time trying to let the kids build on their own.

“I saw these kids out on the sidewalk, and was mesmerized,” he says. So photographing the derby was his way to be involved. “I wanted to capture the movement of soapboxes. I was shooting them within the context of their surroundings.”

While Park Slope certainly isn’t the Bensonhurst of Paterna’s childhood, he hopes to provide his children with a neighborhood experience.

“I grew up in an Italian-American family, and it was the inverse of that stereotypical nonsense,” he says.

Paterna’s eye is able to capture images and moments in our contemporary culture that are from another time. He mixes them together to create an extremely dynamic photo exhibit that leaves you both satisfied and longing — for another time — as well.

Paterna’s current project is writing a memoir. “It’s about cooking with my mom,” he says.

He’s been traveling down New Utrecht Avenue lately, and spending time in the old neighborhood.

The Exhibition Rundown: Bklyn Downhill by Daniel Paterna
Where: Powerhouse on 8th (1111 8th Avenue, between 11th and 12th Streets)
When: Now through Thursday, January 15, 2016.
Phone: 718-801-8375
Store Hours: 10am-7pm, all week.
Admission: Free, and photographs are for sale.