A Recent History of Mamaroneck Village: A Photo Display at Mamaroneck Library

Scenes of familiar locations, objects and events in Mamaroneck take on a cinematic, untold narrative that is captured behind David La Spina’s lens, suggesting both a nostalgia for the solace of suburban life and its vulnerability to Nature’s wrath.

Inspired by an out of print historical book called Mamaroneck: From Colonial Times Through the First Century of the Republic published by The American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of the Village of Mamaroneck, La Spina sought out significant “little details” about the village in tracing it’s history for the “History of a Village: Mamaroneck” exhibit at the , which will be on display through Oct. 8.

Acknowledging that local history may not be a precise rendering of the past, but, rather a series of events transmitted from one generation to the next through an oral tradition of “tribal wisdom,” each generation may have a differing personal interpretation of history, as seen through their own lens.

“No one really knows what happened,” he said, conceding to this reality when looking to the past for answers to the present.

One photo, “Historians (Local Newscast),” takes place in the news studio at Mamaroneck High School, during an actual broadcast: “These are the historians of today,” he said.

Drawing from Mamaroneck’s rich historical events dating back as far as the Revolutionary War, La Spina also worked with local children on an “ad-hoc reenactment” of the famous “Skirmish on Heathcote Hill” of Oct. 22, 1776 for his photo “Reenactment (Revolutionary Battle).” A recently restored mural depicting this battle is on display in the Mamaroneck Library’s Reading Room.

The people in La Spina’s photos are often depicted on a smaller scale in comparison to their environment, their identities obscured by the vastness of their surroudings.  

“Photographing individuals is sometimes insincere,” said La Spina by way of explanation.

La Spina’s connection to Mamaroneck goes back to 2003, when he began working as a photo archivist for ; he is also a former resident of both Larchmont and Mamaroneck. He is a visiting professor at Bard College in Great Barrington, MA and contributes regularly to the New York Times Magazine. He graduated from Rochester Institute of Techonology in 2006 with a degree in photojournalism and went on to obtain his MFA in photography from Yale in 2008.

 An artist's reception will be held this Saturday, Oct. 1 in The Gallery at the Mamaroneck Library from 2-4 p.m.; light refreshments will be served.