Tivoli: A Place We Call Home

Tivoli: A Place We Call Home
February 11 - August 29, 2010

A multi-media exhibition of photographs, words and video documenting the people of Tivoli Towers, a 35-year-old apartment building in Crown Heights Brooklyn.

Tivoli is located in a neighborhood that once suffered harshly from lack of investment and the crack epidemic. Today, this same neighborhood is rapidly changing due to gentrification. Tivoli Towers is one of the few buildings in the neighborhood that has not been gentrified as yet, due to its status in the city-sponsored Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program. When the landlord recently tried to sell the building and remove it from the Mitchell-Lama Program, the tenants sued – and won. Since several NYC landlords have successfully removed their buildings from this program, this proved to be a landmark decision and important victory in 2005.

In May 2009, the tenants were informed that their landlord is going to appeal the case. If he wins, Tivoli Towers will no longer provide affordable housing for this diverse community of people. Tivoli: A Place We Call Home will put a face and identity on Tivoli’s tenants at the onset of gentrification in this Brooklyn neighborhood and will help answer questions such as: Who lives there? Where do they come from? What experiences have they had living in this building? How do they use this space that they call home? What are their aspirations for this community that they have created? What contributions do they make to society? How have they been affected by the lack of investment in their building? What does gentrification mean to them?

This project is produced by photographer/filmmaker, Delphine Fawundu Buford, along with filmmakers Scott Brathwaite and Anthony Clouden Jr. These three long-time friends and residents at Tivoli Towers felt the need to collect visual histories of their own community.