Last Stop

Over the course of a year, Brian Rose set out to photograph all the neighbourhoods at the ends of the subway lines in New York City. He had multiple reasons for engaging in such a project, but the strongest was the desire to portray New York as a highly diverse, multi-centred metropolis. Having spent a major part of his career photographing the city through often challenging times – the dichotomy of destruction and creativity of the 1980s, the mortal wounding of 9/11, and the suspended animation of the Covid-19 pandemic – Rose was perhaps uniquely equipped to document the city at this moment of political uncertainty under the increased strain of new arrivals, many of whom are refugees from around the world. For a new generation of New Yorkers, the trains roll on ceaselessly, and despite the title, Last Stop is not so much about endings as it is about reinvention.