Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.01.2007, Blaðsíða 29

Counting in the New Year Across the Globe
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Jill Waterman, a New York-based photog-
rapher, hasn’t exactly been out of ideas for
what to do on New Year’s Eve for the past
23 years. Since 1983, she has travelled to
various cities all over the world to document
different New Year’s celebrations. Focusing
on intense activities in the streets, public par-
ties and private family gatherings. A project
that started in Paris has led her on a journey
around the world of firecrackers, gala dress-
es and party hats. The result: a truckload
of photos capturing ceremonies and social
gatherings on this old international holiday.
She has witnessed various traditions and
chaotic moments. A World War III-like fire-
works display in Berlin, a religious festival at
Copacabana Beach, a roaring crowd at New
York’s Time Square, Pasadena’s famous Rose
Parade and vibrant parties in cities including
Amsterdam, Paris, Edinburgh, Shanghai and
San Francisco.
After reading about Reykjavík being a big
party destination, her trip led her to Iceland’s
capital where, among other things, she par-
tied at NASA, witnessed the turn of the year
at Hallgrímskirkja Church and attended a
gala dinner at the Pearl and the Hótel Borg.
The Grapevine met with Waterman on Janu-
ary 2 after the whole big shebang was over,
when she finally had time to relax after a psy-
chotic night out.
“This project has been an amazing experi-
ence. I started it without planning how long
I would do it, where I would go or knowing
very much about New Year’s celebrations in
different countries. At that time I was living
in Paris and didn’t have any plans on New
Year’s Eve. I was also new to photography
and thought it would be a good way to track
my progress in photography and sort of keep
an annual check on things. After that first
year I decided to make it an annual event,”
Waterman says.
“New Year’s Eve is the only true inter-
national holiday, celebrated everywhere in
the world regardless of religion or whether
the culture actually believes January 1 to be
the beginning of the new year. It’s also a
time that people actually want to be photo-
graphed and seen,” she adds.
During the first few years the plan was
to work on the project for a quarter of a
century, but as Waterman’s list is long and
only keeps growing, it has become almost a
neverending challenge. In the meantime, she
has made herself an expert on New Year’s
celebrations. She has noticed certain chang-
es over the years: “When I started, New
Year’s Eve was much more casual. There
wasn’t as wide a range of activities as there
has gotten to be in the past ten years due
to the coming of the millennium.” Waterman
spent the millennium in Israel, an area where
the Gregorian calendar would least likely be
celebrated. “It was interesting because that
year fell on a Saturday, the Jewish holy day.
In Jerusalem, a segment of the population
wanted to squelch the celebration in honour
of Sabbath. But there were also charismatic
Christians who were very involved in celebra-
tions. I spent midnight in Bethlehem, where
they held a large celebration called “A Night
of Peace”. That was really special.”
One of the more interesting New Year’s
celebrations she photographed was in Phila-
delphia. On New Year’s Day, an age-old
tradition dating back to the Celts and an-
cient Romans has been transformed into the
Mummers Parade, where people dress up
in costumes, march in the streets and play
pranks.
“The parade has been going on for over
a hundred years. Today, it’s mainly com-
posed of blue-collar workers who plan for
the event all year long. It’s very elaborate. In
fact, I think it’s Philadelphia’s best kept se-
cret,” Waterman says.
When asked where the best party is, she
tells me it’s hard to qualify. “There is some-
thing wonderful about every place, and they
are so very different. In Rio it’s a religious
event where the followers of Iemanja make a
pilgrimage to the beach to worship the god-
dess of the sea. Regarding parties, I would
say Reykjavík is high on that list. It’s pretty
crazy and reminded me a lot of the year I
was in Miami Beach. There are so many clubs
and parties there wasn’t enough time to get
around to all of them. Here in Reykjavík, we
were out until 6:30 in the morning, and there
were a couple of places I had wanted to go
that we didn’t get to. We started early, with
visits to the firework stores to photograph
the preparations. We went to the bonfire
at Ægisíða and spent midnight at Hallgrím-
skirkja Church. That was crazy with so much
going on. After that we went to the clubs,
Hressó, Sirkus, and Café Oliver and then to
a Liborious party at a new place called Bos-
ton. We ended up at NASA at around 3:30,
and it was pretty insane. There was a couple
pressed against the stage, and the guy was
all over the girl. Then there was a fairly heavy
woman who was very interested in having
her picture taken. At one point she got up on
the stage and was go-go dancing to Sir Mix-
a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” while the bouncer
was trying to get her down. It ended up in a
little dance between them. There were good
picture opportunities all over the place.”
Any surprises?
“Well, I was expecting even more crazi-
ness. I didn’t see any horrific sights. Aside
from a few people who threw bottles here
and there, I would say that people in Reykja-
vík were crazy in an orderly way.”
Waterman’s New Year’s Eve Project is
sort of a cultural phenomenon. With 23 cities
done and still counting, she is far from run-
ning out of ideas for where to go. Aside from
considering trips to Australia next year and
Cuba in 2009, all the glittering party people
in Russia, Japan, and Spain may also expect
to pose for Waterman in years to come.
To view more of Jill Waterman’s pictures
and learn about New Year traditions and
stories from around the world visit her Web
site at: www.newyearphotos.com. To get
a sneak peak at some of her pictures from
Reykjavik visit: www.photoserve.com and
search for her name.
Text by Steinunn Jakobsdóttir Photos by Jill Waterman