Gesche Würfel: Basement Sanctuaries

Basement Sanctuaries explores the ways in which superintendents decorate basements of apartment buildings in Northern Manhattan, New York City by illuminating the process of migrant adaptation to the metropolis from an intimate perspective. Superintendents are caretakers that usually live in the basements of apartment buildings with ten or more units. They are in charge of the buildings on behalf of the owner, maintaining its public areas and the buildings''s mechanical and technical systems, do repairs in the apartments and deal with the tenants'' concerns. Most of the supers in Northern Manhattan are migrants from Latin America or the Caribbean. During the process of apartment hunting in Northern Manhattan, Wurfel discovered these unexpected and innovatively decorated areas. The repeated themes of cultural, national, and religious origins suggest that similar impulses drive