“Tapestry of Space: Domestic Architecture and Underground Communities in Margaret Morton’s Photography of a Forgotten New York” by Irina Nersessova talks about the true meaning of homelessness and if the people living in the tunnels fit the description. She highlights the difference of having a home and having a stable home. The tunnel people have a home but not in the traditional sense, that is until city planers come through and demolish them. Nersessova goes on to paint New York as a pure capitalist. According to her they are so concerned with New York as a marketable image that they are neglecting the citizens that do not fit into their ideal image. It goes on to explain that in the eyes of the city if a particular area is not profitable it does not exist.

Nersessova dismisses the notion that homeless people are different from the rest of the city. Homeless people do have a home just not in the traditional sense. They have built their home on the streets. She says that people without homes experience the same stability and instability that someone with a home may experience. However people without a home are much more vulnerable because they must deal with mother nature as well.

The excerpt about a man named Bernard gives a first hand account of someone who lived in the tunnel. Bernard explains the experience as almost other worldly. He says that it is easy to find yourself in the tunnel but if not careful, Bernard insinuates, You may become the tunnel. Another resident of the tunnel was said to have been creating murals of significant works of art in the tunnels for decades. This is particularly impressive because another source describes the tunnel as being perfectly dark. The Art represents that the residents are making the space their own and creating a home for themselves.

This theme of customization of one’s home in the tunnel served as a bit of a juxtaposition of what I thought to be the overall theme of  the article. The tunnel is unlike the above ground world because materialism is not taken into account. No one really owns the tunnel, It is a shared space where those devoid of a spot in the city can survive.