In 1904, Philip A. Payton Jr. founded the Afro-American Realty Company and began buying buildings that white landlords refused to fill, then rented them to Black families desperate for decent housing. His properties bore his initials in red: PAP. A mark of Black ownership. A symbol of defiance.

By 1913, Payton's efforts had brought over 50,000 Black residents to Harlem, laying the foundation for what would become the cultural capital of Black America. He made racism expensive – turning exclusion into opportunity. More than a century later, the neighborhood Payton built faces a new threat. Rapid gentrification has displaced thousands of longtime residents from the same blocks he fought to open. Between 2010 and 2020, Central Harlem lost over 2,000 families.

This work reimagines Payton not as a historical figure frozen in time, but as a contemporary presence—walking through the Harlem he made possible, past and present collapsed into a single frame. The archival headlines, the brownstones, the 2 train, the streetscape: all layered evidence of a fight that never ended.

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100% of net proceeds support rent relief for Harlem families.