CrashCount NYC · Art at Littlefield

The Distance
From Here

Michael James Freedman

Four oil paintings and an interactive map bring the human cost of New York City’s traffic crashes into the gallery.

Visit October 17–18 Explore the artist’s exhibition page

Oblique installation visualization: four original paintings, a tall New York City map, and four projected images on a gallery wall, with a standing figure showing the scale. — The Distance From Here — installation visualization.

From public records to the gallery

The distance is measured in feet.
The loss reaches much further.

The Distance From Here begins close to Littlefield: four oil paintings connected to fatal traffic crashes in the surrounding neighborhood. Each title measures the straight-line distance from the gallery to the site of the crash.

CrashCount NYC makes the city’s crash records visible. This exhibition brings that work into another setting, connecting the records to the people and places behind them.

A projected map extends the work across New York City. Visitors point to a location, and four images connected to the closest crashes emerge. The place they choose becomes another “here.”

The original works

Four paintings. Four lives.

Oil on linen · 18 × 18 inches each

01 / 04

258 Feet from Here

Victor Hidalgo

Victor Hidalgo was 24, a delivery worker who had moved from Mexico to New York the previous year. He helped support his young son in Mexico. An FDNY pickup driver fatally struck him at Fourth Avenue and Sackett Street. His aunt remembered his kindness and playfulness.

Crash date · October 30, 2024

Read Victor’s story on CrashCount NYC

02 / 04

1,104 Feet from Here

Arcellie Marina “Cellie” Muschamp

Arcellie Marina “Cellie” Muschamp was a mother of two and a longtime Park Slope caregiver. At Fifth Avenue and Union Street, she pushed a child’s stroller out of the path of a turning pickup. The driver struck her; the child survived. Cellie died eleven days later. She was 52.

Crash date · December 20, 2021

Read the reporting on Cellie’s death

03 / 04

1,924 Feet from Here

Carolyn Cox

Carolyn Cox was 83. A neighbor remembered her greeting people and crossing the street to get food. At Bond and Butler Streets, a turning truck driver stopped to let her cross, then moved again before she had reached the other side. The crash site is 1,924 feet from Littlefield.

Crash date · June 26, 2024

Read the reporting on Carolyn’s death

04 / 04

3,504 Feet from Here

Arturo Alberto Baez Cordero

Arturo Alberto Baez Cordero was a Dominican filmmaker, editor, and director. He spoke of continuing his family’s filmmaking and environmental legacy. He was 34 when another driver struck his car at Second Avenue and Ninth Street. Arturo died after being taken to the hospital.

Crash date · September 14, 2025

Read Arturo’s story on CrashCount NYC

See the work in person

Visit Littlefield.

635 Sackett Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Get directions

Arts Gowanus Open Studios

Saturday, October 17, 2026 · Noon–5 p.m.
Sunday, October 18, 2026 · Noon–4 p.m.

Michael James Freedman will be in the gallery to discuss the work. Demonstrations of his augmented reality project, Crashscape, will also be available during the weekend.

Opening-weekend RSVP