10 images
"The Girls" is a series of portraits of women of the Valencia Shores and Villagio retirement communities in Lake Worth, Florida.
Upon hitting retirement age, many northern-born Americans make a journey southward in search of a more temperate and welcoming climate for their golden years. The trend has led the rise of retirement communities—gated neighborhoods that feature rows of near-identical homes, palm tree lined streets, social clubs, and handfuls of other amenities—all across the American south. Worlds unto themselves, these neatly paved and well-manicured developments are particularly prevalent in the West Palm Beach, Florida area, about one hour north of Miami. My grandparents, upon turning 80, decided to join the hoards and move, with a number of their neighbors, from East Meadow, Long Island, New York to Lake Worth, Florida.
The result is a transplant community, of New York accents on Florida lawns, of reminisces of the old days in a new place. These portraits are of the women that my grandmother has surrounded herself with—as she calls them, The Girls—former New Yorkers who now populate the social clubs and streets of West Palm Beach.