Hudson Valley Art Speak interview with Tom Kavana


Tom Kavana’s intimate portraits are photographs of New Yorkers living on the streets of the city. Tom explains to Lonna that introducing himself and striking up a conversation often surprises the people he meets. Almost unseen by passerbys, they’re not used to people talking to them or asking permission to take a picture. Tom’s looking for a connection, and frequently finds one. The black and white images are honest with subject and photographer collaborating to produce a straight forward look that, as Tom says on his website “we consider their nature: we speculate their happiness and sufferings: and in so doing we practice generating compassion in ourselves.”