ANDREW LACK

I took the photos in this series throughout the summer of 2022, as New York City housing prices reached an all-time high. The previous tenant (a widow) had recently passed, and while the apartment sat vacant and, to my surprise, unlocked, baking in the summer heat, I’d head over with my camera.

I took frames 8 and 9 at the open house where I brought along a print of Safety Blanket (frame 1). The realtor in frame 8, standing in the same spot as the floating blanket in the photo, was obliging but skeptical of the print she held.

The 9th frame depicts the apartment renovated and staged by the realty company, awaiting its flock of eager potential buyers — the window frames and radiator covers the only remaining original details.