The Bowery, adjacent to New York’s Lower East Side, was the city’s most elegant street at the end of the 18th century. But by the time of the Civil War, its mansions and shops had given way to brothels, beer gardens, and flophouses. In the 20th century, The Bowery was known as New York’s Skid Row, a high crime, low rent area. Since the 1990s, some of it has been gentrified, and luxury condos, art museums, and upscale stores are gradually changing its face. Yet there are still ample reminders of its grim past. I made this image outside of a Bowery mission which cares for the homeless who live in the area. The body language of these men speaks for itself. My black and white rendering does likewise.