If you're looking for somewhere special to take your bad (or yourself) in New York City for Valentine's Day tomorrow, you should definitely stay away from the crowded restaurants and check out this cool photo exhibition instead.
Last year, photographer Ruvan Wijesooriya created Love Tunnel NYC as a way to share the more than 1,000 photos that he had of people kissing. According to the artist, each of the black-and-white 35mm photos included "pictures of flowers, rainbows, hearts, cats, puppies, hedgehogs, balloons, sunsets, etc, because I thought they make nice presents and are symbolic of Valentines Day to me."
For the 2015 edition of the exhibition, Wijesooriya has decided to go with less PDA and more color, but the photos will still line the walls of the tunnel on 14th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, and those who visit can still take one of the photos with them as a gift.
"I knew Valentine's Day in NYC 2014 would be one of the days of the year in terms of weather," said the photographer in a statement, "and I think many people generally feel weirdly exhausted by Valentine's Day because of all the expectations and commercialism surrounding the idea of love...I wasn't expecting this, but last year I realized that being able to lift New Yorkers of all sizes and creeds out of their frozen, bitter grumpiness for even a few seconds is one of the best and affirming feelings I've had come from photography."
Last year, all of the photos in the exhibition were gone in 4 hours, and even though there will be between 2,000 and 3,000 photos this year, we suggest that you go early. Love Tunnel NYC 2015 begins on Feb. 14 at 5pm. Check out the official event page for more info, and follow Ruvan Wijesooriya on Instagram for more of his work.
