Sandhogs

Sandhogs are miners 800 feet below the streets of?Manhattan, tunneling bedrock to construct the largest?unified infrastructure project in New York City history—the?60-mile-long City Water Tunnel #3. The future of Gotham?depends on the efforts of these unseen miners, as this?new water channel will supplement the two existing,?decrepit tunnels, preventing a potentially catastrophic water?shortage. It's imminent completion will ensure that fresh,?clean water continues to flow to every resident of the city.?Excavation of CWT#3 began in 1970. For each mile tunneled,?approximately one Sandhog has lost his life in a mining?related accident. Generations of Sandhogs have accepted?this daunting “man-a-mile” formula as part of the job, but?few New Yorkers know about this mammoth excavation—or?the story of the Sandhogs themselves.

Sandhogs is an original portal to the unseen characters and?systems of underground New York—revealing the essential?“art form” of mining in the modernized city. In 2003 Gina?LeVay was granted rare access to photograph the “hogs,” in?the tunnel and at off-site locations. “The Sandhog Project” is?a multi-faceted work of photo, video, web, and installation art,?which explores the figurative and literal overlay, and mutual?dependency of the surface city and this underground world.?With the Sandhogs book and accompanying exhibitions, LeVay?introduces the public to this vibrant and intricate subculture,?bringing their extraordinary, subterranean imagery to the?surface for the first time ever.

The three main sections of the tunnel—Brooklyn, Queens,?and Manhattan—will be activated over the next few years.?The tunnel's 40-year journey is coming to an end. Mining has?already ceased and concreting has been completed in the?areas that LeVay photographed. Soon 1.5 billion gallons of?water will flow through the channel daily, delivering water to?the entire city—a historic and monumental feat of engineering?and a testament to the power of the human spirit.

Gina LeVay was born in Chicago and holds an MFA in?Photo and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts.?LeVay works both in the U.S. and abroad, on independent?and commissioned projects. Her award-winning work “The?Sandhog Project,” was exhibited as a large-scale photo and?video installation at New York’s Grand Central Terminal in?2006. She is currently based in New York City.

Bonnie Yochelson is an art historian and curator specializing?in photography. She received an MA (1979) and PhD (1985)?from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and worked?for the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the?Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum?of Art before becoming Curator of Prints and Photographs?at the Museum of the City of New York in 1987. Yochelson?teaches a seminar in the MFA Department of Photography?at the School of Visual Arts and curates their annual MFA?thesis show.