Early 1900s Immigrants Photoshopped Into Modern Day New York City

“The Forgotten Dream” is a new project by Hungarian photographer and Photoshop artist Flora Borsi. She found black-and-white photos of immigrants arriving in the United States in the early 1900s, colorized them, and Photoshopped the people into modern-day photos of New York City.

“I would like to draw attention to the immigrants who wanted to live a better life in America,” Borsi writes. “I tried to connect past and present with visualising these people in today’s environment.”

For example, this image of immigrant children standing in the middle of the street…

…was created by finding this photo of orphan children, cutting them out, and colorizing them:

“Black and white images from the previous century are often forgotten, so I colorized them and retouched the damages to make more connected to the present,” Borsi writes. “The images are fictional, many people couldn’t ever get into Manhattan or live in America.”

“Migration is an ongoing situation and the story of Ellis Island is still relevant nowadays,” she continues. “This is not history. This is today.”

Here are some more photos from the ongoing series so far:

Borsi is the same photographer who previously Photoshopped early 1900s Detroit residents into modern-day ruins and inserted herself with a cell phone camera into historical photos. You can find more of her work on her website.