WRAP IT UP

Max Ryazansky

Beautifying Bayonne

By Tara Ryazansky

Photos by Stephanie Petersen and Max Ryazansky

In 2017, Bayonne put out the call to local artists to create work on utility boxes in a citywide beautification program that was coordinated by Bayonne’s Urban Enterprise Zone.

Bayonne photographer Stephanie Petersen was inspired.

“Before my life as a mom, I was working in cosmetic advertising for Macy’s Herald Square. We would sell ad space on the front of an elevator or the front door and obviously the windows, but even on the floor. We were getting creative with sticking advertisements on structures that you normally wouldn’t stick an advertisement on,” Petersen says, “I was inspired by that; by buses being wrapped and subway turnstiles. You can put a sign anywhere. I know it’s a little strange, but I love that. I thought, I take photos, so why not wrap a utility box?”

Her proposal was chosen for the project. Petersen used a photo of a train pulling out of the 9th Street Station paired with a picture she took of train tracks to wrap a utility box on Broadway and 8th Street near Bayonne Museum.

“I guess people liked it because they asked me to come and do this building in the same style,” Petersen says. The building houses restrooms in Dennis P. Collins Park at 1st Street, overlooking the Kill Van Kull in the shadow of Bayonne Bridge.

Local History

“Since I’m interested in history, I used historical photos of the bridge,” Petersen says. The result looks modern and fresh, but leans into local history, giving the work a universal appeal. “I’ve gotten a really good response from people; older people and younger people.”

Petersen completed the initial project in 2017, but last spring the building was damaged. She was contacted and asked to do it all over again after repairs were completed.

Take Two

“It enabled me to do it again and apply some new ideas based on what worked before,” Petersen explains. This means the addition of metal molding along the bottom of the building to prevent damage from weed whackers in the spring and summer. Petersen also took the opportunity to source new images for the project.

There are four photos used on the four sides of the building. Previously, the building was wrapped in one image of the Bayonne Bridge being built. The new version maintains the same aesthetic as the first mural but has more interesting details.

Petersen worked with the Staten Island Advance and the Port Authority to find archive photographs for the project.

“This is opening day in 1931,” Petersen says, indicating toward the front of the building. It shows hoards of cars taking a trip across Bayonne Bridge for the first time. “This one, I got from the Port Authority archives. It’s fantastic. I couldn’t not use this.”

Hidden Details

The image incorporates some of the building details in a clever way. Look closely and you can spot a plumbing vent lined up perfectly so that it is disguised as a car tire. Petersen worked with Bayonne sign shop Vital Signs on the printing and installation.

“Everybody loves the cop, that’s everybody’s favorite part, but I like this family,” she says of a group sitting in one of the vehicles that a cop is directing across the bridge. “That could have been my family! You’ve got Mom and some kids and there’s Dad.”

Petersen means it literally.

On the Waterfront

“My grandmother’s family has been here forever,” she says. Her Bayonne roots run so deep that she even has a connection to the location of her mural. “My great-grandfather owned a tugboat and he would work the Kill. He would go all the way around and work the waterfront. He was a stevedore, like On The Waterfront with Marlon Brando. And his name was Steven. Steven the stevedore. Steven Sekel. I’m named after him.”

She also might see herself in the 1930s family because she hopes to be cruising

around in her own Ford Model A soon. “We have a collection of classic cars, and right now we’re shopping for this exact car. The ones that we’ve been looking at are 1930, this one is probably 1931.”

Rich History

Petersen circles the building. On the left side is a marathon runner. “This photo is of the winner of a 5-mile foot race that was held in 1981 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Bayonne Bridge,” Petersen says. “I found this one as well as the one of the bridge under construction at the Staten Island Advance. They did a story about 100 years of the Bayonne Bridge so I got in contact with their art department. I am so grateful to them for sharing these photos.”

Oversized Canvas

The back of the building depicts a partially completed Bayonne Bridge and the other side shows 1960s ironworkers. Petersen enthusiastically points out wash marks and a thumbprint from the oldfashioned printing process of the original photographs. Those details are visible now that they’ve been blown up to building-sized proportions.

“I think when they redid this park, they wanted to do something unconventional here. We don’t have to do the same old, same old all the time,” Petersen says, hoping to create more mural work in a similar style. Now she sees all of Bayonne the same way that she saw the many surfaces at Macy’s: as a potential canvas. “There’s a lot of opportunity. There’s a lot of space for it here in Bayonne.”—BLP