tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4784289710423554112.post310838052292721335..comments2024-01-06T22:29:02.130-08:00Comments on AORTA Projects (formerly ARTinACTION): Site #15: "Picture This" Elizabeth Underwood/Naftali Rutter: Deslonde between Miro & Tonti: Lower 9th WardARTinACTIONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11707428095658141225noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4784289710423554112.post-33702683592691994002007-04-24T08:55:00.000-07:002007-04-24T08:55:00.000-07:00I just took an ArtInAction ArtTour group to this s...I just took an ArtInAction ArtTour group to this site on Sunday past. Many of the Polaroids have fallen to the ground but are continually being arranged in the tall thick grass by the wind (and visitors - how else would they get arranged in a perfect circle?). Though some are still in the tree, embedded, they begin to look as if they grew there. <BR/><BR/>The Polaroids are distorting nicely in the sun & rain, interesting discolorations and patterns are forming, though they're still very "readable". In this way they begin to look just like the photos I (and thousands of others) pulled out of my flooded house. They begin to look like documents of something that couldn't have been imagined.<BR/><BR/>There's a fan in the roof of the house here that spins and whines in the wind. You would think you were standing on a vast prairie with gigantic hawks and ghost sounds. It's a very intense spot - humming with the past trauma, poised in a strange way (because it won't stay this open, this wild, I don't think). Standing there I feel like I'm truly standing in a liminal space. <BR/><BR/>Please visit and let us know your experiences! Thanks!ARTinACTIONhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11707428095658141225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4784289710423554112.post-28422759069679877342007-04-24T08:38:00.000-07:002007-04-24T08:38:00.000-07:00I want to see this tree. Any word on its current s...I want to see this tree. Any word on its current state? How do polaroids hold up in the elements?New Orleans All the Way Livehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12507962523037440817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4784289710423554112.post-83834820426751252552007-04-10T20:33:00.000-07:002007-04-10T20:33:00.000-07:00Though I do get that you mean that the Polaroids h...Though I do get that you mean that the Polaroids hanging are what seem like "nature gone bad". Instead of fruit its a frozen picture, instead of a bird its a symbol of a bird. They function as a human attempt to confront/address human destruction. Again, it can't replace the fruit or flowers or laughter but it doesn't really try to. Elegy is a good word for it.ARTinACTIONhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11707428095658141225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4784289710423554112.post-18346670337480510072007-04-10T18:28:00.000-07:002007-04-10T18:28:00.000-07:00That's interesting - "nature gone bad". The way I...That's interesting - "nature gone bad". The way I see the landscape in the Lower 9 (for example) is as proof of how "human beings gone bad" has created a pattern that kills, or affects nature in a negative way. <BR/><BR/>But it is without doubt sad - even as an offering to honor what's gone. What's gone is gone & nothing we put there can replace that. It really is a haunted site, and again: you're right: sad. I do think it can be positive to be honest about how horrible it is, though, so somehow what's sad can begin to become something else.ARTinACTIONhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11707428095658141225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4784289710423554112.post-454470031633725292007-04-10T17:50:00.000-07:002007-04-10T17:50:00.000-07:00to me it reads as nature gone bad in some way. ph...to me it reads as nature gone bad in some way. photos hanging from a tree, a tree that appears dead. like an elegy, the photos replacing things gone, filling in memories. I haven't seen it in person - I will go to see if it feels sad in person, like it does for me in photos.Courtney Eganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08848429132399921689noreply@blogger.com