High Line Ethnography

Ethnography
Community
As the High Line now is an iconic site in New York, there is a busy and nosy scene on it most of the time, day and evening. Different communities, visitors, business, and staff are engaging in various activities here.

Visitors
It could be seen that the High Line is a miniature of New York, which is home to different groups of people, professionals, students, labors and tourists, living or visiting the city every day. As can be seen in anywhere in New York, in the High Line people’s clothes varied in a wide range: T-shirts and shorts, shirts with bare legs or with stockings on one side of the spectrum, and thin or thick leather jackets, even down coats on the other end. People carried backpacks, tote bags, a few women carried a tote bag along with a fancy small leather bag. Some of the visitors held shopping bags, ones with luxury brand logos on them, or some fancy small ones possibly made by local artisans.
As visitors’
Owing to the beautiful view, including the colorful plantation, the open sky, the shimmering Hudson River, galleries, museums, restaurants and boutique shops, the High Line is a romantic location in New York. On an afternoon in November, a newly wedded couple and their family took wedding pictures on an opening place on the High Line where the river view was not blocked by the buildings nearby. There was an artwork in the backdrop of the wedding picture. It was an aquarium, beautiful when seeing from far, but was made of trash: used fibers to represent seaweed, and discarded nails, bottle caps and dirt as the sea floor. It was supposed to arouse people’s concern of the environmental deterioration, not to arouse any romantic feelings. It was not clear if they made the choice intentionally or they didn’t pay any attention to the details of