It was a quiet, lazy summer afternoon in 1985. I’d been photographing Puerto Ricans in New York for years, going to street fairs, festivals, religious ceremonies. I went out looking for something to do and came across this communion procession leaving church and tagged along. On Good Fridays, I used to follow the stations of the cross – there would be a boy cast as Jesus who would walk to be crucified, with people crying all around him. I’m attracted to that kind of ritual. It’s not your normal day.

There was music, dancing and drums, as well as nuns and girls in frilly dresses looking like princesses. Then we came to this block that had TVs sitting on cars, with men sitting on their steps watching them. The TVs were plugged into the lamp-posts. You’d see that a lot in the neighbourhood: people used the lights to power radios, too.

I was spending a lot of time on the Lower East Side. I shot people I knew as well as people I didn’t – I’d go into their homes and share their joys and sorrows. There were some real characters in the community, for sure, such as an old poet who wore a helmet with the words “El coco habla” painted on it. It means: “The coconut speaks.” He was one of my favourites.

The area was working-class and very rundown. Buildings were abandoned, sidewalks broken. Community gardens sat where buildings once stood, and there were vegetable stands, bodegas, Italian coffee shops, mom-and-pop shops. It was shabby – there was nothing slick there – and some blocks were crime-ridden. You’d see people shooting up and scurrying all over the place to score, with drug paraphernalia everywhere. Still, I usually felt safe walking around there. I felt like I blended in.

There wasn’t much interest in my work at the time. It only became popular later, when it was seen as a history of the Lower East Side. Many of the addicts died of Aids. It’s a New York that no longer exists.

‘I felt like I blended in’ … Arlene Gottfried Photograph: Courtesy of Arlene Gottfried

Arlene Gottfried’s CV

Born: Brooklyn, New York, 1950.

Trained: Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

Influences: Brassaï, Richard Avedon, W Eugene Smith, Diane Arbus.

High point: “Having five books published.”

Low point: “Being out of work too long.”

Top tip: “Photograph what you love.”



