Basement Sanctuaries
Gesche Würfel

Basement Sanctuaries explores the ways in which superintendents decorate basements of apartment buildings in Northern Manhattan, New York City by illuminating the process of migrant adaptation to the metropolis from an intimate perspective. Superintendents are caretakers that usually live in the basements of apartment buildings with ten or more units. They are in charge of the building on behalf of the owner, maintain its public areas and the bu ilding’s mechanical and technical systems, do repairs in the apartments and deal with the tenants’ concerns. Most of the supers in Northern Manhattan are migrants from Latin America or the Caribbean . During the process of apartment hunting in Northern Man hattan, Wurfel discovered these unexpected and innovative ly decorated area s. The repeated themes of cultural, national, and religious origins suggest that similar impulses drive the decoration process for different supers. However the photographs also show the diverse ways in which supers have personalis ed their multifunctional live/work spaces and have created a uniquely intimate space in the basement of New York City.