Fragile Dwelling

Using discarded scraps of wood, metal, plastic and any other available materials, formerly homeless New York men and women built improvised housing in the early '90s with care and a need for order, privacy and community. Morton (The Tunnel), a professor of art at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, befriended some of them and documented their structures. The result is this haunting collection of 90 stark, sharply reproduced b&w photos, with captions by Morton, an introduction by housing critic and scholar Alan Trachtenberg, and commentary from the builders themselves. ""If I don't do something here, my mind will die,"" says Hector A. of his Bushville cabin in the East Village. The homes at Bushville, ""The Hill"" and other areas, often under bridges or on abandoned piers, are shown with the wreaths and religious icons that often mark their entryways, and the pots, cookstoves, couches, beds and furniture drawn from a city full of discards. Since New York systematically bulldozed all of the camps shown (the last was demolished in 1996), Morton's book is an important testament to the will and ingenuity of their inhabitants. (Nov.)