Lend a Hand: The Lams of Ludlow

From Thomas Holton, whom we interviewed a few months ago about his excellent project, The Lams of Ludlow.

Hello Friends, Family and Colleagues,

As you may or may not
know, I photographed a Chinese family from 2002-2005 for a project
called ‘The Lams of Ludlow Street’.  Beyond the remarkable publicity
the work has gotten the past year or so, the Lams mean so much more
tome than any professional accomplishments.  I learned a lot about
myself both personally and creatively and see the Lams as family. 

On June 14th, there was an electrical fire in the walls and the
stairwell and the roof of their building on Ludlow Street caught on
fire.  The family made it out of the building via the fire escape and
are now safe and sound, if not a little shaken up. The fire was caught
early but their apartment, the 5th floor and the roof took a lot of
structural, water and smoke damage.  The space is not completely
destroyed but the building is currently closed for inspection and the
Lams are in a Red Cross secured apartment on West 129th street.  

The
next step is between the landlord and the NYC Building Inspectors as
they assess the building to see if its needs to be completely rebuilt
or if only the5th floor apartments and roof should be repaired. This
is not a new building and this will probably takes years judging by how
long these things seem to take. In the meantime, The Lams have this
Red Cross space for only six months before they need to find a new home
for themselves. Regardless of what happens with the Ludlow Street
building, the likelihood that they will ever live there again is pretty
small since they will need a new home soon and perhaps permanently. 

I
am contacting you today to let you know that I will be selling a
limited ‘benefit’ edition print of the project with all the proceeds
going to the Lams as they rebuild their lives. The print will be a
color 11×14 C-Print for $175 for one with discount rates increasing
as the number of prints bought increases. Please contact me directly at thomas@thomasholton.com or call me at
(917) 364-8044
to buy some prints the help the Lams. 

Images available: