City Rat
Rats are all around us, especially in New York City. Like them or not, they are a part of our lives here.
This project is currently in progress of being turned into a short documentary film. The project description and photo essay are below.
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I’ve started to dig into the intersection of two undeniable truths: dog is man’s best friend, and rats are an integral (and generally banal) part of any New Yorker’s life. I notice rats all the time: living, dead, late night pizza-stealing rats, squeaking trash rats... just, rats, they’re all around us. Due to the pandemic shutdown of the restaurant industry and increased trash build-up in residential neighborhoods, rats have undertaken more expansive food searches, much to the displeasure of residents and essential workers. One way we intersect with these creatures, scientifically known as Rattus Norvegicus, or more commonly, the Brown Rat, is by hunting them with dogs. This practice was established in the United Kingdom dating as far back as the early 19th Century, and has progressed into a common sport overseas, as well as a hobby-job in the rat-dominated areas of New York City.
This film will follow multiple urban rat hunters in the city, including Brooklynite Elias Schewel, who originally adopted his dogs, Sundrop and Moonbeam, to hunt rats and to bond with his animals in a working environment. Schewel has found renewed energy in the rat hunting sphere since New York City shut down in March, and now is working to build a business centered around helping New Yorkers with their rat infestations. A lifelong activist, rats became an integral part of Schewel’s activism in 2020, as he used them over the summer to protest the NYPD, drawing parallels to their role as parasites specifically within NYCHA communities.
I will be looking to document additional rat hunters and exterminators in the city, both professional and hobbyists alike, in addition to collating city-dwellers’ personal encounters with rats. Two interludes will feature a photo assistant who became intimate with a rat mid-shoot and a father who brought along an unintentional road trip companion. Since beginning this project, I’ve found everyone here seems to have a rat story, and there are diverse reactions to our species coexistence, from disgust to a rumored “Rat Czar,” a caretaker of sorts, in Brooklyn.
Between verité footage alongside the rat hunters, personal accounts of rat encounters, and interviews with experts from city management and sanitation departments, I aim to create a portrait of the unique relationship with rats we unintentionally adopt and adapt to as residents of New York City.
