AREA OF REFUGE: CAPTURING CHANGE — ISSUE 01 (2024–2025)

Last fall, I had the opportunity to lead a photography tour and a series of workshops through Bergen-Lafayette and Greenville in Jersey City. At the time, I knew we’d created something worth holding on to—but I didn’t realize how fast we’d need to move to preserve it.

The Idea

The workshops were part of Area of Refuge, a community arts program focused on using photography to document change from within. We gave participants disposable cameras, talked about resistance, visual memory, and what it means to feel safe in a city that’s always shifting.

From those sessions came hundreds of photographs. Stories. Unscripted moments. This wasn’t a photo contest—it was collective documentation.

The publication we just printed—Capturing Change: Issue 01—grew from that energy.

Kolin Mendez for Area of Refuge

The Process

This wasn’t meant to be rushed, but we had the responsibility of delivering something worthy of the people who trusted us, and grant requirements to fulfill. That meant:

Researching, culling, editing, and sequencing images with designer Marinell Montales.
Working with Jazz Peña to finalize the centerfold poster—her design is both beautiful and charged, rooted in the language of quilts and Black visual tradition.
Coordinating print production on a tight schedule, knowing we’d only have one shot to get it right

All of this was happening while I was juggling freelance work and prepping for other long-term projects. Long story short: we don’t get to wait for the perfect conditions to tell the truth.

The Result

AREA OF REFUGE: CAPTURING CHANGE — ISSUE 01 (2024–2025) is a 24-page broadsheet designed by Marinell Montales, printed on uncoated paper. It includes portraits, quotes, street photography, and a detachable 27 ½" x 19 ½" poster designed by Jazz Peña.

My hope is that it circulates. That it’s seen and reminds people of what existed and who made it matter.

WHY IT MATTERS

We’re watching entire neighborhoods get rebranded overnight. Buildings renamed. Histories displaced. If we’re not the ones documenting what was here, someone else will do it for us—or erase it altogether. Lets use 743 Grand Street as an example. We passed by an orange trailer on our walking tour which is no longer standing.

The colorful landmark fed the local community through various restaurants. It was once the home for a catering business and kitchen called The Scooter Girls, a hot dog stand, and a sandwich spot called Steak Shack.

This publication isn’t a fix. But it’s a record and a starting point. And it’s made with care.

If you want to see it or support what’s next:

→ Order a copy here
→ Learn more about the Area of Refuge

Thanks for reading—and for always rooting for the work that’s bigger than me.

Capturing Change: What It Took to Print a Community Archive