Brother Islands
The Bronx
New York City
project initiated 2006



Brother Islands is an experimental documentary about quarantine and its machinery, as seen through the sights and sounds of two East River islands. Shot in HD video but realized in various media and platforms, Brother Islands encompasses single channel videos, video installations and performances, and digital photographs.

Half a century since its abandonment, North Brother Island, a forgotten corner of the South Bronx, fades from New York City's map as its bleak buildings succumb to nature. This tiny island of the South Bronx was once notorious as a harsh quarantine and locus of misfortunate legends like Typhoid Mary and the General Slocum ferry disaster. After decades of frustrated schemes come to naught, developers and prospectors have given up and North Brother has gone to the birds. Offlimit to visitors, the island has become a vital resting place for herons, egrets and other migrators.

In November 2006 I was privileged to join a NYC Parks Department team to videotape North Brother for a VOOM HDLab arts commission. I was most impressed with the devotion of the team directed by Forestry Chief Tim Wenskus. Without funding or official mandate, a loose aggregate of NFPs and government departments have undertaken to protect this sanctuary against intrusion- whether human or in the form of alien plant species.

~benton-c
The Bronx, 2007

The photography of Brother Islands was supported by VOOMHD Lab.