By JAMES ESTRINPhoto: Breanda Ann Kenneally: Andy and Mook, one of the dogs in the abandoned apartment directly across from Brenda Ann Kenneally's, where Andy would stay instead of going to school. From her window, Ms. Kenneally could see inside the apartment. 1997
Though he didn't think so at the time, it's fair to say that Andy Velazquez had a difficult childhood. He grew up poor on Dodworth Street, near Malcolm X Boulevard in Brooklyn. It was a block that even in the best years of the latter part of the 20th century was no garden spot. The neighborhood, Bushwick, had never recovered from the looting triggered by the 1977 blackout. And by the time Andy came along, the violent and unrelenting crack trade had commandeered the stoops and sidewalks.
His mother, Rosa Rossy, was an addict, first heroin then crack, and Andy spent more time playing in the abandoned buildings and empty lots on Dodworth Street than he did in school. "We just made everything on the block our playground," Andy, now 25, said last week. "It was very tough, but being kids we just looked at it that everything we would do was going to be fun."
It was indeed tough. It was a block that few people walked down unless they had to.
"If you weren't from there, you shouldn't walk through there," Andy said. "Somebody would rob you or beat you up for no apparent reason or make the dogs on the block chase you."
Brenda Ann Kenneally moved to Bushwick from Miami in the mid-90s, across the street from Andy's family, so she could complete a master's degree in art education at New York University. She had a 2-year-old son, a failing marriage and "no money." Brenda had grown up poor in difficult family circumstances in Troy, N.Y., and struggled with drug and alcohol problems when she was a teenager and young adult.
She wasn't looking for an exotic place to photograph when she moved to Brooklyn -- she was merely trying to find an affordable apartment. Few places were cheaper than Bushwick.
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