Neighborhood, New York, New York is a series of five motion illustrations. Each piece depicts my memories and experiences of a neighborhood in Manhattan, postally labeled as New York, New York. The Lower East Side, East Village, Greenwich Village, Central Park, and the Upper East Side are the five locations I felt confident in centering this series around.

Living in New York City, the bustling variety across the neighborhoods remains a seat in the back of my mind whenever I commute or take strolls on the streets. Each neighborhood is orchestrated with its visible streetscape as well as invisible history and social/cultural symbols.

New York City, especially Manhattan, has been such a heavily portrayed subject in Western arts and media for centuries. Therefore, behind the creation of this project is my interest in journaling the dizzying, less glamorous, and still inspiring slices of life that I have experienced. Where I have been, what I have done, and how I have felt in these corners that seemed trivial compared to the mass that is New York. Virtually, an illustrated narrative only I can create.

A “protagonist,” stylized as genetically cartoonish to be perceived as apart from the pedestrians, is placed in each illustration. The existence of this protagonist invites the viewers to experience the emotions, senses, and atmospheres of the illustrated neighborhood through an immersive pair of shoes I was once wearing.