PROJECTS
Ragpicker's Court
Canal Street Research Association (Ming & Alex)
Both social sculpture and public monument, Ragpicker’s Court is a decomposing ode to ragpickers, gleaners, and unofficial street vendors–past and present. Ragpicker’s Court seeks to unravel the myths that perpetuate prejudice against those who work with discarded and surplus materials, while weaving new structures and strategies through collective repurposing. This inquiry starts by surfacing underrecognized histories of reuse. We will then look to learn from contemporary ecological engineers such as canners, and those working with discarded textile. The research will culminate with a public intervention at the former site of Ragpicker’s Court, an area of lower Manhattan where ragpickers previously lived and worked. The site is where construction of a massive jail is currently underway. With this program and monument, Ragpicker’s Court seeks to put a society of waste and iniquity on trial.
In December of 2025 the project created a "shoddy badge" that was distributed in Manhattan & Brooklyn, a conversation piece made of discarded textiles to spark conversation around the fast fashion industry and the lineage of ragpickers.
In January 2026 we led a walking tour with a group from urban design forum, focusing a discussion around ragpickers court in relation to the tombs and the flows of money in Lower Manhattan development schemes.
Much of 2025 was spent working on research related to NYC's feral parrot communities as a muse: the original mimicry artists, these parrots problematize our categories of "native" and "invasive," as they cheekily disregard borders and adapt to new cities and architectures.
Throughout the year, we have continued to build relationships at FabScrap and SureWeCan as well as with the makers and editors of the recycled textile publication "Our Rags”. October of 2026 we are undertaking research in Prato, Italy, where we will be experimenting with shoddy, its fabrication, felting, and embroidery, as well as looking into the illicit markets of "made in italy" goods
When we return, we will apply our findings to a show at Essex Street Market that will run Nov - Feb where we will create an exhibit on the history of street markets in NYC and the policing of street vendors - and which will continue to be a base of operations for Ragpickers Court research.