A Portrait of Newtown
I started this project in 1993, photographing at a small park with a dead tree (locally referred to as “The Dead Dick Tree”), located at the intersection of MLK Way and US 301, Sarasota, Florida. During this time, the park was generally considered an area of petty drug sales and use, prostitution, and dominos. While attempting to take a few portraits, I was harassed by undercover detectives doing neighborhood surveillance. After the second drive-by, one of the detectives said they were no longer responsible for my safety. I abandoned the project until twelve years later.
With newfound faith, and a blessing from the City, County, and Newtown Redevelopment Office, I began A Portrait of Newtown. During this time, I was stopped numerous times by the police, pursuing a wrongful assumption that I was buying drugs. No longer fitting the profile of a white male involved with illegal activities, the police would suggest possible photo shoots in the area. I was also ignored because the day and night shifts became aware of my intent. The frequency of my photo shoots and gifting of portraits to the residents gave me the neighborhood moniker of “Picture Man.”
My intentions have always been to create a bridge, a dialog between one man and another, growing in numbers where neighborhoods and communities would cross that racial divide together, ignoring past differences. Since the first installation of my photographs at the North County Library, I have seen such a change, where Newtown Estates is beginning to form an alliance with the greater community of Newtown, encouraging locals to be part of their library programs. It is still difficult to accept that it wasn’t until 1957, that African Americans in this community where forbidden to walk into a Sarasota library, thus preventing further education, and a lifeline to a more equitable life. It is also duly noted that this was the last library built in the Sarasota County library system.
This photographic documentary has already become a living portrait of the people in this community, and will serve as a striking visual record of an area that is on the verge of economic development and change for tomorrow’s generation. Long after I, and those I’ve photographed are gone, following generations will point to an image and recall, “that was my grandfather, that was where I grew up, this is who I am. This is Newtown.”
Steven Katzman, 2006
Epilogue:
Prior to my permanently leaving Sarasota, FL. in 2015, “A Portrait of Newtown” was removed from the walls of the North Sarasota County Library. During this time, the head librarian resigned.. This permanent exhibition was the property of the Sarasota County library system and was meant to travel to each location in the county. A Portrait of Newtown no longer exists, with the exception of a PBS documentary under the same name. I have continued to document the various “Newtowns” throughout the United States that I refer to as: Dr. MLK Photographic Survey.
Steven Katzman, 2023