Wow. This says so much about our psychotic world. I love it.
Bigfoot (fantasy, delusion). Not just upskirts but gorilla upskirts (twisted sexuality). Money motivating and feeding off both of the above. And all set in some kind of urban dystopia where human beings' are left to rot; their lives worth less than photos of (fantasy) Bigfoot.
Yes, it is a very weird sign, especially the "gorillaupskirts." When I saw that, I was like, "What?! Is this some kind of a punk joke?"
This is on the edge of Hawthorne, Passyunk Square and Point Breeze, with Point Breeze, the best sounding neighborhood, actually the worst. The only breeze you're like to experience is a bullet whizzing by your ear.
I live 6 1/2 blocks from here, by the way. My neighborhood is OK, though after a friend visited from North Carolina, he wrote on his blog, "Linh Dinh showed me around his slum neighborhood." Also, when my brother visited from San Jose, I met his family downtown, and as we drove towards my neighborhood, I could hear my nephew whisper to my sister-in-law, "People live here?"
In any case, I would rather be exactly where I am than anywhere in San Jose, with its strip malls, freeways and general vapidity...
I used to live in San Jose, drove a cab there for many years. Most drivers wouldn't pick people up on the East side of the city because it was "ghetto," meaning, I guess, non-Euros lived there. (It was mostly lower middle/working class, since gentrified, since foreclosed upon.) Being from around Chicago and somewhat familiar with the South and West sides of same it was a lesson for me on how closed/ignorant people can be in their selective judgement. Have many stories of panicked euro drivers fleeing the area or bringing trouble on themselves by assuming trouble was soon to arrive in any case. Made a terrible living there for years and never had any real trouble. I used to tell other drivers "people of color" understand and return respect but only the immigrant drivers knew what I meant.
My freshman year in high school, I spent in San Jose. I went to Andrew Hill, on the East Side. My school was at least half Mexican, with many Asians also. Many Vietnamese lived on Locke Drive, a cul-de-sac that faced the city dump. We called it "xóm rác," meaning the trash neighborhood. We were yellow trash, and I guess proud of it. Soon as I stepped out the door, I could see the trash, and I could smell it inside if I had my window open.
My brother and I used to catch crawfish from a creek, and my stepmother would cook them. It wasn't terribly bright to eat crawfish caught next to the city dump, with all of its toxins seeping into the ground, but we didn't give a fuck. These were our Red Lobster nights.
Hi Linh, the old 7 trees /sylvandale area really wasn't good taxi territory but I sort of remember it. At the time it seemed like the Vietnamese especially were pretty much taking over the businesses there and improving things noticeably. Lots of tough guys, too, many of whom appeared to be armed but not randomly dangerous. I lived for many years at 4th and Reed and still miss the neighborhood now and then. When offspring started happening I moved to Bascom and Naglee. It was a good place for the kids before the dotcom boom/bust boosted our rent 50%. Had to move again though cause the high schools by the mid 90's were underfunded I-don't know-whats, but whatever, it wasn't about education. You sure have covered a lot of territory.
I was trying to make a statement about the bandit sign advertisers who blight the neighborhood trying to cash in people's unfortunate situations. "Cash for houses" and "We buy diabetic test strip" signs are everywhere in Philly. Obviously "Cash for Bigfoot pics" isn't that much weirder than selling your house for measly sums of cash to some shady guy who hand writes "We buy houses" signs.
I looked at Huggie's blog, the URL of which is on that sign.
Clever stuff, but now I'm thinking that LD's photo works as a statement on Huggie's "statement."
Who, dear Huggie, is the intended audience for your statement? Or perhaps, who is the actual audience?
As LD's photo suggests to me, many, many of the people who live in such areas aren't likely to even register your "statement." And if your work is supposed to be something like art, well, isn't their idea of embraceable art something more like what appears in LD's photo right about this one? That is--
How are you "using" these people, their surroundings, their immiserated conditions? What does pointing out "weirdness" in their environment in the ways that you do actually do for them?
8 comments:
Wow. This says so much about our psychotic world. I love it.
Bigfoot (fantasy, delusion). Not just upskirts but gorilla upskirts (twisted sexuality). Money motivating and feeding off both of the above. And all set in some kind of urban dystopia where human beings' are left to rot; their lives worth less than photos of (fantasy) Bigfoot.
Hi Cine,
Yes, it is a very weird sign, especially the "gorillaupskirts." When I saw that, I was like, "What?! Is this some kind of a punk joke?"
This is on the edge of Hawthorne, Passyunk Square and Point Breeze, with Point Breeze, the best sounding neighborhood, actually the worst. The only breeze
you're like to experience is a bullet whizzing by your ear.
I live 6 1/2 blocks from here, by the way. My neighborhood is OK, though after a friend visited from North Carolina, he wrote on his blog, "Linh Dinh showed me around his slum neighborhood." Also, when my brother visited from San Jose, I met his family downtown, and as we drove towards my neighborhood, I could hear my nephew whisper to my sister-in-law, "People live here?"
In any case, I would rather be exactly where I am than anywhere in San Jose, with its strip malls, freeways and general vapidity...
Also, notice the extra dot before the P!
I used to live in San Jose, drove a cab there for many years. Most drivers wouldn't pick people up on the East side of the city because it was "ghetto," meaning, I guess, non-Euros lived there. (It was mostly lower middle/working class, since gentrified, since foreclosed upon.) Being from around Chicago and somewhat familiar with the South and West sides of same it was a lesson for me on how closed/ignorant people can be in their selective judgement. Have many stories of panicked euro drivers fleeing the area or bringing trouble on themselves by assuming trouble was soon to arrive in any case. Made a terrible living there for years and never had any real trouble. I used to tell other drivers "people of color" understand and return respect but only the immigrant drivers knew what I meant.
Hi Boyce,
My freshman year in high school, I spent in San Jose. I went to Andrew Hill, on the East Side. My school was at least half Mexican, with many Asians also. Many Vietnamese lived on Locke Drive, a cul-de-sac that faced the city dump. We called it "xóm rác," meaning the trash neighborhood. We were yellow trash, and I guess proud of it. Soon as I stepped out the door, I could see the trash, and I could smell it inside if I had my window open.
My brother and I used to catch crawfish from a creek, and my stepmother would cook them. It wasn't terribly bright to eat crawfish caught next to the city dump, with all of its toxins seeping into the ground, but we didn't give a fuck. These were our Red Lobster nights.
Hi Linh,
the old 7 trees /sylvandale area really wasn't good taxi territory but I sort of remember it. At the time it seemed like the Vietnamese especially were pretty much taking over the businesses there and improving things noticeably. Lots of tough guys, too, many of whom appeared to be armed but not randomly dangerous. I lived for many years at 4th and Reed and still miss the neighborhood now and then. When offspring started happening I moved to Bascom and Naglee. It was a good place for the kids before the dotcom boom/bust boosted our rent 50%. Had to move again though cause the high schools by the mid 90's were underfunded I-don't know-whats, but whatever, it wasn't about education.
You sure have covered a lot of territory.
Beautiful picture! Thank you.
Did you actually go to the site?
I was trying to make a statement about the bandit sign advertisers who blight the neighborhood trying to cash in people's unfortunate situations. "Cash for houses" and "We buy diabetic test strip" signs are everywhere in Philly. Obviously "Cash for Bigfoot pics" isn't that much weirder than selling your house for measly sums of cash to some shady guy who hand writes "We buy houses" signs.
I looked at Huggie's blog, the URL of which is on that sign.
Clever stuff, but now I'm thinking that LD's photo works as a statement on Huggie's "statement."
Who, dear Huggie, is the intended audience for your statement? Or perhaps, who is the actual audience?
As LD's photo suggests to me, many, many of the people who live in such areas aren't likely to even register your "statement." And if your work is supposed to be something like art, well, isn't their idea of embraceable art something more like what appears in LD's photo right about this one? That is--
http://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/2012/02/obama-time-on-2-2-12-center-city-by.html
How are you "using" these people, their surroundings, their immiserated conditions? What does pointing out "weirdness" in their environment in the ways that you do actually do for them?
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