The Whiles - by Cheryl Dunn (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Just as long as I have been searching for meaningful compositions and striking light on the streets of NY, I have been searching my archive to find that special shot I took 15, 20 years ago or even yesterday. I organize imagery using descriptive words, dates, names and location. For instance, I'll search " BROADWAY" or " BIRD " or "CROSSWALK". The groupings that emerge are always fascinating to me, the random connective threads sometimes disparate, tell a story a new story. These stories are about how we move within a cityscape, communicate, love, fight, dance and survive. The streets are like a canvas where a piece of wood in a trash can becomes a beautiful sculpture, where the rooftops are a spiritual respite from the streets -- yet still part of the same pulse, the same club. The way we move through public space -- walking, dancing, skating, or even fighting -- has a distinct rhythm, a pace that belongs distinctly to NYC. This is The Whiles." -Cheryl Dunn

About the Author

Cheryl Dunn is a New York City based documentary filmmaker and photographer. Since the late 80's she has spent a large part of her career documenting city streets and the people who strive to leave their mark there as well as monumental NYC events: the collapse of the Twin Towers and the black out of 2003. She's had four photography books published, ALL Roses (2025), Festivals Are Good (2017), Some Kind of Vocation (2007) and Bicycle Gangs of NY (2004). Her work has shown at The Brooklyn Museum, the Tate Modern, the Geffen Contemporary, Yerba Buena Center for the arts and the Oakland Museum of Art to name a few. Her latest feature film Moments Like this Never Last about the late artist Dash Snow and the downtown art scene post-9/11, premiered at DocNYC, followed by a theatrical release. Her first feature Everybody Street, about the lives and work of 12 of New York's most iconic living (at the time) street photographers - including Bruce Davidson, Jamel Shabazz, and Jill Freedman, won awards and played at festivals worldwide. The Whiles a new photography book will be released spring of 2026.