The High: A Book Review

By Brian J Pape, AIA

Albert Dépas’ photos capture the excellent design work of James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects, and Piet Oudolf that took the abandoned rail line and transformed it into a park. The first section of the park opened in 2009, after installing the plantings and walkways shown in progress above, keeping many of the features that makes it unique from other parks. Credit: Albert Dépas.

As part of the Introduction to The High (published November 2024), author Albert Dépas writes “Not too long ago, in a small village not so far away, there was a roadway forgotten by all except the Villagers who walked by day and night. This was an extraordinary railway up high, seemingly rising to the sky. When it was first constructed, most of the Villagers were very happy. It significantly changed their lives, and they felt much safer. Before elevating this mode of transportation from the street level to a railway above, the trains ran along the avenue, crossing the streets, which created some difficulties for pedestrians. It is said that sometimes, Villagers crossing the streets got hit by trains and were killed.”

From this humble beginning, the High Line emerges as a mighty force to be reckoned with. Dépas continues, “In this unified experience within the High Line, all anxieties seem to vanish. Through some gravitational pull, all confusions and conflicts between reason and emotion in the sphere of mind melt away, and you enter The High―a sense of Sublime Bliss of Oneness.”

Albert Dépas, a Haitian-American visual artist, poet, and educator, has gained a significant understanding of urban planning zoning policies for their practical and aesthetic values. He captures in his photography the transformation of the High Line from its abandoned days in 2005 to today. The photos are gorgeous and educational in their detail of the delights to be found on the High Line. With so many fine shots to choose from, the cover photo on the paperback edition is rather dull and disappointing; don’t let that stop you.

Accompanying these photos are his original poetry, and though he disclaims that this book can replace the actual experience of enjoying the park, he nonetheless seeks “to invoke the energy through which these experiences emerged.”

From my pedestrian viewpoint, I was immediately alerted to the modernist style of poetry; you won’t find rhyming patterns, or regular tetrameter (line of poetic verse that consists of four metrical feet). But then, you won’t find the more radical devices of other pioneering New York poets of the previous century, including the most revered Modernist poet, artist and writer, e. e. Cummings (1894–1962), Hart Crane (1899-1932), or Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950). Cummings famously wrote “A poet is somebody who feels, and who expresses his feeling through words.” Dépas is also striving for that expression of feeling through words. And just as Cummings was known to accompany his poetry with his art, here Dépas combines the poetry with photos to enhance the effect.

Whether you get it for the beautiful photo collection or to enjoy the poetry set in our beautiful Village, Dépas has contributed a worthy volume in the lexicon of Greenwich Village and Chelsea.

Order at www.thehigh.online