Curatorial text by Joanna Lehan, adjunct curator at the International Center of Photography:

The crashed car was fast becoming a permanent component of the neighborhood’s ecosystem. Rafaella Castagnola first encountered it outside of a police station in Brooklyn where, after many months, it had accumulated graffiti and was becoming the backdrop for callous selfies. The frightfully mutilated vehicle suggested a human story that, however tragic, Castagnola felt should be told.

But which story was true? With curatorial guidance from Joanna Lehan, adjunct curator at ICP, this mixed media installation features the materials of Castagnola’s obsessive investigation.

Following a trail that may, or may not, have traversed personal boundaries as it touches on the subjects of gentrification and the value of human lives, Castagnola’s A Chronicle of Chance Intersections embodies the desire urbanites feel to find meaning within the glimpses that the city provides inside the heartbreak of strangers.