Nuns with Noses

16x20 inch Black & White print on Epson Art Cotton Smooth 250 gram paper. From the NYC Village Halloween Parade, 1982–86.

A line of masqueraders dressed as nuns in Groucho Marx glasses marches down the street, their irreverent mockery of religious tradition captured in a moment of subversive street theater. Photographed at the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade between 1982 and 1986, the scene is rendered in the stark, high-contrast tones of black-and-white film. The brilliant burst from a portable commercial flash cuts through the New York City night, catching the repetitive patterns of the black habits and white wimples against the dark urban backdrop. Shot with a 35mm Pentax, the image utilizes the gritty texture of Tri-X to emphasize the surreal, uniform appearance of the group as they confront the camera with their comedic disguises. This black-and-white frame documents the bold, often provocative spirit that has defined the parade's identity as a space for creative and social defiance.