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Exhibition Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustration

Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustration

Tenants and Landlords in Housing Court

Joseph Papin. Housing Court. Second Floor, 141 Livingston Street, between 1973 and 1992. Porous point pen, India ink, and opaque white on gray paper. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (096.00.00)
LC-DIG-ppmsca-51148
Gift of Jane Papin
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Tenants and Landlords in Housing Court

Artist Joseph Papin depicts the crowded conditions in Brooklyn's Housing Court. The City of New York maintains Housing Courts in each of its five boroughs to oversee residential landlord-tenant civil cases. Established in 1973, tenants seeking repairs or landlords seeking the ability to evict have converged on the court. Many tenants lack legal representation and attempt to navigate the system on their own, while landlords often bring lawyers with them.