Christina Hansen is a 36-year-old carriage driver who works and lives in New York City. She moved there in 2012 from Philadelphia to help the embattled carriage trade fend off a massive and well-funded effort to ban their work and way of life, and, it seems, to seize their stables on the West Side of Manhattan for development.
Those of us who love her artistry are launching a campaign on this blog to raise $3,000 for a full-frame camera for her, so that she might advance her very wonderful art. (People who wish can contribute by sending a donation or check in the name of Christina Hansen to my post office box, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.)
Christina has been and is a fierce warrior for the carriage drivers and for working horses, her mission has been to educate people about their real needs and welfare. She has been savagely targeted at times by elements of the animal rights movement, who insist that work for working animals is a form of abuse and torture.
In the polarized and fragmented world of the carriage trade, Hansen was a clear, calm and consistent voice of reason, her words and photos helped people understand that the horses were healthy and content in their lives and work.
The carriage trade cause seemed hopeless when the Democratic candidate for may mayor, Bill deBlasio, was given many thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from several animal rights organization seeking to ban the horses.
Almost immediately after getting the money, the victorious deBlasio, who had never once mentioned the carriage horses in his long political career, announced that banning the carriage trade was the number one priority of his new administration.
He would, he said, ban them from the city on the first day of his administration.
It didn’t happen. The horses are not going anywhere anytime soon.
The carriage trade fought back, with blogs, petitions, some bloggers, support from the public, from actor Liam Neeson, with strong support from their powerful Teamsters Union, a coalition of knowledgeable animal lovers from around the country, vets, behaviorists and a spiritedband of writers, photographers, neighbors and videographers.
But Hansen, a 36-year-old lover of working horses, played a powerful and pivotal role in the defense of the horses.
She took over the role of spokesperson for the carriage trade and devoted herself to answering the often wildly inaccurate accusations of abuse and mistreatment leveled by the mayor and his animal rights supporters. She was available all day, every day, to answer the charges that whizzed daily around social media and the news media.
In the course of her work, something very powerful was unleashed in Christina. She started taking photos of the drivers and the stables and the horses with her Iphone5, putting them up on Instagram (where she has more than 1,000 photos) and on Facebook. The photos, like the one above, are remarkable.
They show the very human side of the drivers, the rich life of the stables, the fusion of Central Park with the beautiful horses, who have worked their since it’s creation.
The photos are beautiful, evocative and very revealing. With her remarkable eye, Hansen has taken us deeply in the world of the horses, and the carriage drivers, and of this iconic, fiercely individualist industry one of the oldest running businesses in the history of New Yorker.
Hansen was a fierce advocate for the carriage trade, and especially for the horses and the drivers. The people in the carriage trade have been viciously and relentlessly demonized by the mayor and the animal rights group. Christina Hansen’s photos have humanized them and helped given the lie to the idea that the horses do not belong in New York, and that the people who ride them are some greedy, inhuman and uncaring.
All of us who have explored this story know those libels to be false. We also see the artist in Christina Hansen emerging from this difficult conflict, her photos become more intuitive, reflective and powerful by the day. She has illuminated a precious way of life that is fragile to begin with, and somehow, and for no good reason, under siege.
I am drawn to this story because the fate of the carriage horses is the fate of many domesticated animals, most of whom – horses, elephants, ponies – are being relentlessly driven from our cities and communities by this bizarre idea that they don’t belong in human civilization. So Christina is fighting the fight we are all fighting or will be soon.
Beyond that, it is clear by now that Christina Hansen is a brilliant photographer, and she needs and deserves a camera that can take her and her photography to the next level.
She is hoping to purchase a Nikon D750 which costs $$2,496.95. She will also need some accessories – batteries, case, maybe a flash – so I’m asking for $3,000. Carriage drivers don’t make much money to begin with, and Christina has not been paid for the many hours she has devoted to speaking for the trade.
We need to get her this camera. She already has a pop-up gallery in her neighborhood on Ninth Street to show her art. I want to be there.
Christina has made a difference in the world – for her friends, colleagues, for the many people who love animals, and for everyone who loves art and believes it is important. Christina will do great things with this camera.
If you can help and choose to help, you can send a contribution to this fund – please make out all checks to Christina Hansen – to my post office box, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. If people choose to contribute via Paypal, you can send it to me via my Paypal ID – [email protected]. Please mention that the donation is for Christina.
She is worthy and deserving, I have enormous respect for her, her strength, integrity and her art.