Halloween Underground is the culmination of twenty years of
photographing people dressed up in fantastical, outlandish
costumes against the backdrop of the drab, gritty reality of the
New York subway.
Seymour Licht captured revelers preening in
their outfits as the prelude to the largest Halloween parade in the
world - or some private night out where creativity is the currency
and mystery and flirtation the prize. The subway becomes the
unofficial backstage to the main events of the night, the dark
tunnels and ghastly lit platforms, the holding room of the
supernatural, eerie and phantasmagorical protagonists. It is only
on Halloween that you can enthusiastically change your identity,
and the subway is the perfect mode to transport you from the
mundane to the spellbinding.
You may dream of going out in
public dressed as a Pharaoh, a seductive witch, an axe murderer
or a mermaid.
Halloween is New York in its most heightened
state of quirky ingenuity. With his edgy, uncanny portraits, the
photographer aims to pay tribute to the outbursts of creativity
during this exuberant, spooky holiday in the iconic New York
subway.
Neurosurgical Nightmare © Seymour Licht
Three Owls © Seymour Licht
Fish's Descent © Seymour Licht
Seymor Licht was born in Germany and moved to New York City in 1990. He studied at the International Center of Photography and with privately with Arlene Collins.
Licht is an environmental portrait photographer whose work includes psychologically charged narratives and elements of surrealism. His images have been featured in the New York Times, CNN Style, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and on WABC and many other media outlets. Halloween Underground won the Bar-Tur Founders Choice Award in 2023.
www.halloweenundergroundnyc.com
@seymour_licht
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Cat Power © Seymour Licht
Pennywise © Seymour Licht
