'Portrait of a Place: Family Over Everything' Explores Growing up in The Bronx

Jon Gray, founder of the Bronx-based community activists and culinary collective Ghetto Gastro, and creative director Ibrahem Hasan take a closer look at the youth of The Bronx in the short film Family Over Everything, a visual part of NOWNESS’ “Portrait of a Place” series.

The short follows the Public House Skating Team, a community of skaters and cultural trailblazers behind the brand that crafts “authentic hood skatewear.” Public House Skating Team draws inspiration from real-life accounts of people who grew up in the Projects, utilizing graphics based on “memories of helicopter searchlights, prison sentences, or the Bengal tiger that was raised in a local apartment.” The tenor of those who call The Bronx home is materialized through Hasan’s unique combination of still photography and stylized footage of family units, social housing and bodegas in the borough.

“This film is about family and the stamina it takes to go against the grain and break barriers. This film illustrates a coming-of-age in The Bronx. We made it so that you can feel the vibrations of the place,” Gray said. He adds, “When you’re on the grind trying to make it pop, having a solid support system is essential to manifesting the vision. This project is about honoring loved ones whether related by blood or united by purpose. We’re celebrating the diaspora and universal blackness.”

Watch Portrait of a Place: Family Over Everything above.

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