I Was Hooked – You Will Be Moved
I was hooked. Each dinner became a ritual: we’d sit down and watch another chapter unfold. Stories of living artists who spent decades in these lofts, building communities and forging connections that shaped an entire cultural movement. Over time, gentrification dismantled what they’d created. Buildings sold. Neighborhoods transformed. Many of these artists became obsolete in the very areas they helped define. Sadly, some passed away, others were priced out, their legacies fading as the city moved on without them. Joshua Charow is giving them a voice.
Moving Videos / Photography
The videos and photography are created with such grace and class. You really get to look into the lives, souls and legacy of some of these amazing people.
If you have some time, please explore the videos below and follow his YouTube to see many more. Also, I have added a link to his book below. You can get it discounted early and the price is very affordable.
No Affiliation
This is not a sponsored article, we have no affication with Joshua or his project. We were just deeply moved as artists and art lovers and wanted to share this with as many people as we can.
Legacy is important – stay tuned as we have a big legacy project coming up!
We have a thing for oversharing...
New artist interviews, articles, books and more!
Artist in Residence
Photographs By Joshua Charow
Featured on the front cover is Rudolph Serra.
Featured on the back cover is Nina Klymowska and Jay Ells.
Cover design and renderings by Lev Diamond.
Hardcover | 280 Pages | 10” x 12” | Estimated Ship Date: May 2026
Now available for PRE-ORDER at a discounted price. Pre-orders help fund the continued photography sessions and the creation of short documentaries on each featured artist.
About: Artist in Residence (Book)
In the early 20th century, New York City was the manufacturing capital of the United States. At its peak in 1947, over one million people worked in the city’s factories. But by 1980, that number had fallen by more than half. Countless industrial buildings were abandoned, still zoned for manufacturing, making residential use illegal. Artists began renting and purchasing these raw, often derelict spaces and transforming them into livable studios to create their artwork in peace.
By 1971, the city was aware of at least 600 artists living illegally in lofts between Houston Street and Canal Street. In response, the city unanimously passed the Artist-in-Residence (A.I.R.) law, legalizing occupancy in 1,000 lofts, provided tenants applied and received “artist certification” from a municipal board. Certified artists would mark their buildings with “A.I.R.” to alert firefighters that people were actually living inside the building in the case of an emergency. If you’re lucky, you can still spot a few A.I.R. signs chipping away on a building facade, left behind from an earlier chapter in New York City.
For the past five years, photographer Joshua Charow has been uncovering and documenting New York City’s original live/work lofts and the incredible artists who have lived in them for decades. His journey began in 2020, after discovering a map of buildings protected under the 1982 Loft Law. He rang thousands of doorbells in these mysterious industrial buildings, searching for the last remaining artists still living and working within them.
After three years, Charow released Loft Law: The Last of New York City’s Original Artist Lofts, a book and an accompanying video series chronicling these spaces and the artists who inhabit them. The response was overwhelming. Hundreds of artists who have lived in their lofts since the 1960s, their family members, and friends reached out to Charow to share their stories after seeing his films and book. Over the past year, Charow has continued to photograph these individuals and their remarkable studios, preserving a vanishing world of creativity and history.
Expanding beyond the original Loft Law buildings, Charow has now documented artists living in AIR buildings, former factories, flophouses, cathedrals, and other unconventional spaces, each one a testament to the artistic spirit that has shaped New York. This book is the newest and largest collection of photographs from Charow’s artist loft project. The book features an introduction by Charow, followed by 150 of his photographs of artists in the most imaginative and unique studio spaces in New York City.
Artist in Residence is the follow-up to Charow’s best-selling debut, Loft Law: The Last of New York City’s Original Artist Lofts, which topped Amazon’s photojournalism charts and was featured in CNN, New York Magazine, The Guardian, Financial Times, Cultured Magazine, Highsnobiety, Artnet, Yatzer, World of Interiors, Business Insider, Apollo Magazine, Esquire, and more. Charow’s documentary series has garnered over 50 million views in the past year and continues to spotlight the stories of the artists shaping New York from the inside out.
About Joshua Charow
Joshua Charow (b. 1998) is a New York-based documentary photographer and filmmaker interested in the unseen stories and subcultures of New York City. From an early age, Charow was immersed in ‘Urban Exploring,’ climbing skyscrapers, bridges, abandoned subway tunnels, frequently entering and photographing off-limit spaces of the city.
Charow holds his BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in Film & Television.
Charow directs a series of online documentaries which explores the unique lives of New Yorkers. He has amassed a following of over 500,000 people and garnered over 100 million views on his personal platforms. His first feature film as Director of Photography, Untrapped, is an official selection of the 2022 Tribeca International Film Festival. He has directed and shot documentary films for The New York Times, TIME magazine, New Yorker, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.
In 2024, Charow released his first photography book titled ‘Loft Law. The Last of New York City’s Original Artist Lofts’ published by Damiani Books about artists living under the protection of the Loft Law. The law, enacted in 1982, granted protection and rent stabilization to thousands of artists who were living illegally in commercial and manufacturing zoned lofts in neighborhoods like Soho, Tribeca, and the Bowery after the manufacturing industry predominantly left Manhattan. The book was the #1 best selling photojournalism book on Amazon and is in it’s third reprint. Accompanying the book, Charow had his debut solo-exhibition: “Loft Law: Photographs by Joshua Charow” curated by James Cavello at Westwood Gallery NYC in which over 10,000 visitors attended in during the two month run.
Charow’s Loft Law book and exhibition was featured in New York Magazine, CNN, Financial Times, Business Insider, Apollo, Cultured Magazine, World of Interiors, Highsnobiety, The Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, Artnet, Pix11, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Charow’s documentaries surrounding the project have received over 35 million views online.
Joshua’s commercial work includes clients such as Canon, MillerKnoll, Tommy Hilfiger, Microsoft, Gucci, New York Fashion Week, Old Navy, Reebok, Red Bull, Universal Music Group, and Omega.
