Zoe Strauss

Good luck to all those in the path of Gustav... hoping it's just a rain storm and not a disaster. With much love to Peter, Gwendolyn, Vincent, Judy and all their families.

Gustav resources online


From America

"This is an exhibition of and about books organized by the graphic design firm Purtill Family Business. The selection of artworks, books and projects surveys a landscape of volumes by focusing on the relationship of books to contemporary visual arts. It proposes that the space of the book is a generous venue, both a literal space of a certain, human scale and an imaginary space that ranges widely across subjects and visual structures."

And I've got a free book give away at this show... a little book- Show us the Pictures: Rocky Flats, Works in Progress, commissioned by Temple Gallery.

If you define feminism as anti-choice. Blow me, GOP.

Sarah Palin, a fucking joke, but not funny.

August 29, 2005- Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing more than 1,836 and causing over $115 billion in damage.








August 29, 2005- John McCain celebrates his birthday with George Bush






It's unbelievable that this is true.

For about 15 years I've occasionally thought about meanings that could come from juxtaposing images of Karen Ann Quinlan and Karen Carpenter and I have never found the right way of connecting the images in a way that allows the viewer to really connect the 2 stories. I've tried a few different things, but never anything that lead me to work further on it past the idea of exploring the meanings of these stories. I might start working on that again in a few years.

the book has captions, which changes the structure of how the images are presented. While I am adverse to the use of captions in my work, I felt that it made sense having captions for book because it lends to a more conversational, works-in-progress tone... which is how the book is presented.



The tone of these photos changes with a caption

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Colorado

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Former nuclear munitions site, nuclear waste remains in the soil.

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Nila at kitchen table



Nila talking about her husband's death from cancer caused by his job at a nuclear munitions plant, and how the US government is trying to prevent the family from receiving benefits.

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These 2 images are in the book, and the caption lent to their placement.




Terre Haute, IN The United States Penitentiary Terre Haute, Timothy McVeigh Execution Site





New York, NY Eric Coming from Work at World Trade Center Subway Station on 9/11/07

Here was my original introduction... we changed it to an interview but I think this is a pretty good working statement.

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There's no one American reality, there's hundreds and they are all true. The photos in this book are an American reality that I know, from where I live in Philadelphia and from where I’ve traveled in the last few years. I found this same America no matter where I went.

These photos are about our day to day lives here, about getting by, about our everyday moments. America is in a difficult place right now. We’re digging out from eight years of Bush. We’re at war. That’s some fucked up shit. But regardless of the onerous circumstances we find ourselves in, all of these photos are filled with love and pride. Even in our most difficult moments, there’s tremendous joy in being alive.

I saw a lot making the photos for this book… a desperate, anxious, worn and belabored America. A joyful, loving and proud America. A mean, fearful and apathetic America. Beautiful, brutal, myopic, idealistic, stunted, exuberant.

America is all of it. And as an American, I’m all of this too.

Here we are.

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click to see larger
















This book is much quieter than I had thought it would be... it's a reflection of this moment and I think I would have ordered the photos differently 6 months before and I would order them differently 6 months later. The book is heavy on literal reflection (above, Adam and Eve Room paired with Father and Son in Front of Greyhound Station) and mirroring (above Eric on 9/11 and Yani Outside Wynn, Carport and Women in Camden).  

Click above for Mike McFeat's blog. Not to say nothing though, I wouldn't hold my breath for the absolution. See you in the belly of the beast, my friend.

Julie Mehretu (American, born Ethiopia, 1970).
Empirical Construction, Istanbul.
2003.
Ink and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 10' x 15' (304.8 x 457.2 cm)

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I saw this painting at MoMA recently and I made an involuntary guttural noise when I first saw it. This is a beautiful, beautiful painting.

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Julie Mehretu

seriously, LOOK AT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE UNITED STATES RIGHT NOW! IF YOU VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT YOU WILL DESTROY AMERICA.
YOU WILL DESTROY AMERICA.


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Also, this is the first time I have ever heard of the Republican Party overtly discussing plans to disrupt the Democratic Convention.

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I never in a million years thought that one person would vote for George Bush in 2004. I believe that voter fraud and coercion sent him into the second term, but the idea that anyone, anyone, voted for him was insane. Totally fucking insane. I honestly have to say that while I am not a Democrat, I am far to the left of the Democratic Party, we are at a juncture where there is a true difference between these candidates even though they are part of the same structure. Please, please, please don't let me down America. Oh my GOD, please don't let me down. I am begging you, don't be stupid and don't be racist. Jesus Christ, don't let us all down.





McCAIN & BUSH: IS THERE REALLY A DIFFERENCE?

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Q: Is it true John McCain voted with George Bush 95 percent of the time?

A: Yes, it's true, according to Congressional Quarterly's assessment of McCain's voting record.

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1 " 'Cut' the lights off/on"
meaning
"turn the lights off/on"- this phrasing is primarily used by African-Americans, but it's heard in all neighborhood ethnic groups

2. " 'Open/Close' the lights"
meaning
"turn the lights off/on"- this phrasing is primarily used by Italian-Americans, but it's heard in all neighborhood ethnic groups

these speech patterns cross all boundaries here in Philadelphia.

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Example-

"Cut the lights on, I don't want to look at TV in the dark"

"Yo, I'll open the lights but mute the TV, I'm puttin Merrill on the radio"

I actually think this exact exchange has been heard in 68% of the households in Philadelphia.

"Running in its 4th year, DesignPhiladelphia is a series of events that encompass studio tours, lectures, exhibitions, workshops, book signings and (of course) parties that highlight just about every damned kind of design you can think of. Conceived by a number of really thoughtful local design visionaries, this year’s events will take place October 16th-22nd, 2008 and are sure to be a good time, as usual."

And check out their links list if you have some time... Design Philadelphia Links

America is done, and it's presented as "open-ended" project so I'm still going on it and I am working on the Silverstein show right now like a fucking banshee... but you know what?

I am beginning to work toward May 2010 now, to the final I-95 show. 2009 will be the last fluid, mutable installation. I've been looking at my work, making sure 2010 can be as strong as it possibly can. And I've succeeded with what I've set out to do. I've made a body of work that's strong enough to bring me to 2010 knowing that I can present the installation as I want to. The driving idea has always been that the installation is about the "struggle and beauty of everyday life" and the photos that I've made over the last 8 years will be able to support that statement. I've devoted a good part of my 30's to this work, and I can say with certainty that it's a success. I'm 38 now and I've been going full force since I turned 30. I don't know if this work would have been as successful had I not gotten so many accolades and cash as I moved forward with the project, but I'm pretty certain that I would have still brought it to fruition, it would have just been a different collection of photos. I can get my hustle on, don't doubt it.

I can't fucking believe that I've done it. I have a year and a half to produce more work for 95, and I am going to bust my ass to make the best work I can.

The loose sub themes that form in the installation are, from North to South,

Aisle 1 About formation of "self"
Aisle 2 Fluidity of Gender
Aisle 3 Addiction and Desire
Aisle 4 America Identity
Aisle 5 Getting By
Aisle 6 Hope and Pride and Joy

From the start I felt that addressing these themes would be able to get at the heart of the choices that are made when we're faced with a lack of genuine choices, the subversion and strength to figure out our lives, and the truth of how very often we can't work it out. Resignation and exhaustion, pride, beauty, ignorance (both willful and true) and piercing insight... not just on parallel planes, but existing concurrently, sometimes within the same image, within the same moment.


And there are many other sub-themes that connect the images in the aisles from East to West, deletion of text, text based images that make sentences or form a "call and response." There's no way to read them as they're connected because there's so much space between photos, but that's what I love... just a little bit of memory to connect one image to the next regardless of which direction people walk through the installation. And of course there's mirroring and placement of images that bracket the installation. Some of those images might be literally a block apart. In "America" I found that I wanted to juxtapose images that mirrored each other next to each other, which is something I hadn't really done before. But there was something about the laying out of these forms and ideas that really spoke to the idea of a simultaneously disjointed and connected America. To me it felt like they subtly laid out some of the explicit contradictions and paradoxes that make up American identity and America policies.


I have given up a lot to work on 95, but I don't think I would change a thing. I have forced my family and friends to put up with an enormous about, as a matter of fact I now barely see any of my friends at all. I have asked my family to work for this project endlessly. And I have asked my wife, Ms. Bloom, to support me through all this, not just financially and emotionally, but I have asked her to work on this project tirelessly. She has given up more than you can imagine, particularly her privacy. She is an extremely private person and time and time again I have put things out there that she would prefer that I not share, but the transparency aspect of this project is utmost importance to me and she has been tremendously supportive, albeit disturbed at times. And rightfully so.

I have always thought that I wanted to have children, but I chose to go full throttle with this project and it looks like maybe we won't have children. It's almost 100% certain that I won't be pregnant. And that might be my only regret... but it's most certainly a doozy of a regret. 40 isn't too late to adopt a child, but I have a feeling that I might be exhausted by then. But, honestly, I wouldn't change my 30's. I worked hard on this and think it's been worth it... almost 10 years worth of work. It's been worth it.

The great majority of photos in America were made in Philadelphia, with Camden, Las Vegas and the Mississippi Gulf Coast coming in with a lot of photos as well. Most places have only one or two photos in the book, it's not so much a travelogue as an interpretation of the general tenor of the US right now. New Orleans photos didn't make it in, but they informed the story.

Many of the photos are abstract and not literally representative of place. Denver and Los Angeles come to mind, there's no reference at all to where the photos were made. For example, there's a photo from Miami and it has a feel of Miami, but it's juxtaposed with a photo from Philadelphia that causes the diptych to be read less about place, and more about idea.


1. Philadelphia, PA
2. Conyngham, PA
3. Scranton, PA
4. Limerick, PA
5. Honeybrook, PA
6. Hazelton, PA
7. Pottsville, PA
8. Rural Central Pennsylvania

9. Camden, NJ
10. Atlantic City, NJ
11. Wildwood, NJ
12. Northern New Jersey

13. Las Vegas, NV
14. Beatty, NV
15. Pahrump, NV
16. Crystal, NV
17. Rural Southern Nevada

18. Terre Haute, IN
19. Rural Western/Central Indiana

20. Ocean Springs, MS
21. Biloxi, MS
22. Gulfport, MS

23. Chicago, IL

24. New York, NY

25. Muckleshoot Reservation, Pacific Northwest
26. Auburn, WA

27. Atlanta, GA

28. Los Angeles, CA

29. El Paso, TX

30. Miami, FL

31. Denver, CO

32. Truth or Consequences, NM



Los Angeles, CA


Denver, CO

I have months of emails to return (for real, months) and phone calls to return from at least a month ago. And I have a lot of bills to pay and a ticket from LA and tax problems to take care of, not even mentioning taxes to pay from last year. And a house and a whole studio to clean.

But I have some kind of fucked up block that prevents me from doing these things. Why? I am sitting here typing this when I should be answering emails, and I want to answer the emails. Some are business and some are real correspondence and all I'd like to respond to. I am not exaggerating when I say that my heart begins pounding and I start to sweat when I even think about doing these things, and I just put it off and put it off until I am filled with anxiety about all these things not getting done. What the fuck is this about?

Here's my most recent playlist. These songs are played over and over. I don't know why, that's just what I like.


1. Night Moves-Bob Seger
2. Long Time-The Roots
3. Flipside- Freeway & Peedi Crakk
4. Gypsy Biker-Bruce Springsteen
5. Last Rights of the Plummeting Thermometer-The Tossers
6. To Sir, With Love- Lulu
7. Chest Fever-The Band
8. Stage Fright-The Band
9. Don't Do Me Like That -Tom Petty
10. Wavelength-Van Morrison
11. Hang On Sloopy-The McCoys
12. Johnny Strikes Up the Band-Warren Zevon
13. Peg-Steely Dan


these songs are all recommended
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Here's a book I recommend-
Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr

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Here's a movie I recommend-
Frozen River

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Here's a book that LB is reading-
John Adams by David G. McCullough

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which leads to...
Here's where I want to go eat more than any other place in Philadelphia-
City Tavern
seriously, I am obsessed with going to City Tavern. I don't know anyone who has ever eaten there. One thing is for sure, I am going to celebrate Philadelphia's involvement in the forming of the United States of America with Pepperpot Soup and Martha Washington Style Colonial Turkey Pot Pie. For real.

I agree wholeheartedly, except for Ms. Smith's opinion on Damien Hirst’s “Virgin Mother," which I like in all it's preposterousness...maybe "like" is too strong a word. However, I find the name “Virgin Mother" misleading because it's really just a rendering of the "Visible Woman."


Visible Woman by Skilcraft


Virgin Mother by Damien Hirst

Cover- Red Carpet
End Pages- Red, White and Blue Car Lot Streamers


1. Vanessa
2. Twin Beds on Cantrell St
3. We Love Having You Here
4. Las Vegas Carport
5. Two Women on Step, Camden
6. Trampoline
7. Top of the 80s
8. text
9. Daddy Tattoo
10. If You Break The Skin
11. Mummer Toasting from RV
12. Pahrump Rims
13. Smoking in Bed
14. Kate (renamed “Wearing Green Hood Under El”)
15. 9th and Snyder Lottery Tickets
16. Let’s Roll
17. Mattress Flip
18. blank
19. McDonalds
20. Kelley
21. Linda
22. Scratches
23. Sticker Removed
24. Together We Make Dreams Come True Is True
25. West Virginia
26. blank
27. Man in Front of Soccer Fans
28. Police in Front of Norman’s
29. Escalades
30. ----
31. Rollercoaster
32. Money Drying on Floor
33. Woman with Cherry Water Ice Camden
34. Cinderblocks
35. Salt Pile
36. Everything Is Not One Dollar
37. Holding Christmas Present
38. Metropolitan Hospital
39. Fist with Cash
40. blank
41. Titanic
42. Refrigerators
43. Olde English Lao New Year
44. Women Kissing
45. Pardon Our Dust
46. blank
47. New Tattoo Jorge
48. Equitable
49. Giant Mouth
50. Satisfaction Guaranteed
51. Gunshot Wound
52. Camden Mattresses
53. Camden Crack
54. Christine
55. Uniform City
56. Fire Alarm
57. Cell Tower Palm Tree
58. Adam and Eve Room
59. Man and Son Greyhound
60. text
61. Woman at Cabrini Green
62. Tanya
63. Everything
64. Bulletholes
65. Salmon Shirt
66. Get Back Up Again
67. Circus Circus from Parking Lot
68. Lightbulbs
69. Lily Seeing Hillary Clinton
70. Virginia
71. Your Future Starts Here
72. Taken Down Posters
73. Kaia
74. text
75. Carlos Parents on Bed
76. Allied Forces
77. Billboard with Vinyl Blown Down
78. blank
79. Soldiers Killed in Iraq
80. Marines Billboard
81. Sisters
82. Nodding Out
83. Man in Wheelchair
84. blank
85. Mom Were OK
86. Venetian Blinds
87. Man's Back
88. Three Smokestacks from Train
89. Victoria’s Hysterectomy Scar
90. blank
91. Woman at US/Mexico Border
92. Report Suspect Activity
93. No Trespassing
94. Keep the Fuck Out
95. Doors in Open Structure
96. Car Accident
97. Johnny Moses
98. Shot Appliances
99. Dawn
100. Half House Pink
101. Half House Boulevard
102. Standing Under El Smoking Flesh Colored Shirt
103. He Should Disiper/Vikki
104. Balloons
105. Hands Holding Crack
106. blank
107. TV on Second Floor
108. Mask on Back of Head
109. Paris in Jail
110. blank
111. Man with Swastikas
112. Brothel Museum
113. Mummer in Black Facepaint
114. Boys Wrestling on Stage
115. How Do I Look
116. blank
117. Paula’s Union Hall
118. Eric
119. Yoni
120. Melissa’s Handstand
121. Bed with Pillows
122. TVs under Tarp
123. Shot on Gurney
124. Friday is Payday
125. Security Guard
126. text
127. Vincent
128. Cars
129. Food Market
130. Leo’s Mantle
131. Red and Blue Motel
132. Woman kissing Baby
133. Econolodge
134. Woman behind Balloon
135. Stage
136. Dollar Magic
137. Truth or Consequences Couple
138. Don’t Drink or Sit Deleted
139. Bunny
140. Art
141. Freedom Homes on Cinderblocks
142. Coal Billboard
143. blank
144. Mummer in at Broad and Wharton Gas Station
145. Casino
146. Two Pregnant Women
147. blank
148. Merry Christmas
149. Happy New Year
150. Eagles Fireworks
151. ----
152. ----
153. blank
154. Woman Throwing Box from Window
155. Red carpet walls and Mirror Ceiling
156. Reflection in Drive Through Window
157. Dorthia
158. Bail Bonds
159. blank
160. Jehovah’s Witnesses
161. Clothes in Lot
162. Showing Sternum Scar
163. Circus Circus Parking Lot
164. Red Carpet
165. Clothes on Fence
166. Most We Feared
167. White Trash Go Home
168. Flag with Full Moon
169. Illegal Fireworks
170. Firefighters
171. text
172. Monique Showing Black Eye
173. Stay Alive
174. Ken and Don
175. Light Switch and Thermostat
176. Do-rag
177. Sage Jumping
178. Refinery
179. Drive-In
180. MLK Parade
181. Power/ower Flash
182. Power/ower No Flash
183. America Face Paint Making Out
184. We Will Win

Click above to head to one of Philadelphia's greatest treasures, the BiG TeA PaRtY, a Sustainable Living Resource Center and Blog. Headed up by the superb Elizabeth Fiend and the award winning VaLerie Keller, it's capital g-r-e-a-t!

The night sky has become pretty important in my work, particularly within the last year. My publisher and I had a little disagreement regarding the inclusion of two similar night sky shots in the book... actually, disagreement is a little strong, he just wanted to suggest that the "night sky" theme had been established, but I had to stick to the importance of balance and mirroring with the two night sky shots in the book. I really felt that the book needed a number of night shots and I wish I could have included more.

The first grouping of photos includes this pairing...



and the last grouping includes this pairing...




There are movement references related to jumping and inversion in the book and the "trampoline" and "valley city scape" had to begin the book and the "interior bed jumping" and "refinery" had to end it. They are bookends to many of the ideas in the book and they present their own narrative as well... the photos relate to each other as a diptych and the diptychs relate to each other as a part of the open-ended narrative.


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"Sen. John McCain said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

'I think — I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you.' "

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I don't know the artist who created "Chef Girl-ar-dee," but Art Spiegelman wrote many of the gags for Wacky Packs and he also wrote Maus.


Maus

Maus

Maus

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Wacky Packs

Wacky Packs

As a kid Greg "The Bull" Luzinski was one of my favorite Phillies, so how great is it that he was sitting right next to "Bull's Barbecue" at the stadium? Here's "the Bull" sitting with my "sampler C" plate of barbecue. I asked him to pose with my plate and the Bull said, "Enjoy!"

At the Broad and Chestnut Borders they have "Art on Paper" in the back row of the art mags... why? I easily remedied this!



Here's Art on Paper.



Now it's in the front row!



Wait, now it's left open to a page about me! I could pretend that I didn't do this, but I'm excited to be in Art on Paper, so why fake it?

I am coming out of "book tunnel vision phase" and about to head into "November show at Silverstein tunnel vision phase." I worked about half of the week while we were on vacation at the Jersey shore, uploading photos and dealing with a difficult choice that ended up with me feeling ok about an omission of two photos based on the pending discussions and the fact that I've presented this book as a kind of "works-in-progress."

But I'm coming back to myself a little more and I'll have a week before I become engrossed in (working title) "We Love Having You Here."

------

Today I swung by Gina Carbone's house... we've never met before today and I feel like I've known her my whole life. I dropped off the story that will be in the book, which includes some of our emails, and had coffee and cake. I also met one of the cutest kids ever, Monique's son. Mo's brought a lot of people together, Gina. She's made a great impact on my life just through letting me make her picture and I'm forever grateful for that.

Monique came from a beautiful family and a beautiful home and I'm privileged to know them. Love you!



Shawn
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On the way the home I met this Laotian monk of short stature, this guy was at least 3 inches shorter than me; I pulled the car over at Broad and Wharton and asked if I could make a photo of him. We could barely talk to each other because he spoke very little English but he asked for a ride and I ended up giving him a lift back to his temple at 20th and Washington. He was coming from the Broad and Morris library.



Duong

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After dropping off the first round of proofs for the book at UPS, I met Dee, who was sitting on her step. We starting talking and I have no idea how the subject of diners came up, but she told me that years ago she and 5 other women went into Center City for a steak dinner on Mother's day and the line was ridiculous so they came back to South Philly and had steaks at the Broad St. diner, which were delicious. And they all looked sharp, dressed up and nails done eating delicious steaks at Broad and Ellsworth.


Dee

Melrose Diner
Broad St. Diner- now closed
Oregon Diner
Penrose Diner
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When I picked up my lady, the FedEx woman was wearing these day-glo flip flops with a day-glo pedicure.

Check out the September issue of GQ for an amazing article by Jay Kirk about Rwandan tourism. Jay Kirk is a mind-blowingly great writer.

----


From "Hotels Rwanda"-



"Memory will distort [experience] for its own doubtful purposes. Which makes me wonder if there’s really any value to this experience thing at all. Why is having done something better than having imagined doing something? I mean, what if the so-called value of experience is overinflated? Why do we expect to be changed by experience at all?

Since traveling to Rwanda, I am more __________.

I have become increasingly plagued by thoughts of __________.

I am no longer __________.

I am more inclined to believe in __________.

But less inclined to believe __________ about humanity.

How have your thoughts about the world in general changed since you left your hotel one morning and saw a woman missing her legs sitting in the grass on the shoulder of the road? Please explain: _________________________________________________________________."


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It's this issue...

Hey, can anyone get me a press pass to the RNC? Usually I enjoy being disruptive, but I'm very interested in documenting the actual convention this year. I will be happy to provide any periodical, newspaper or news source with a multitude of great images if someone can get me in there.

Let me know! info@zoestrauss.com

Just a reminder to all the party people out there... don't forget to check it on what my brother is doing. He is great and you will be sorry if you don't get close to him.

He's in Asia this week: Hong Kong, Shanghai and "One Night in" Bangkok. But then he's back here for...

- Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Fader Magazine Presents
Barack Obama Fundraiser
Performing live
The Rub
@ Mansion - 530 W. 28th St. - New York, NY


Don't miss it!


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aside...

"One Night in Bangkok"



Oh my GOD, if you haven't watched this since 1984, just take a look at it now. Unbelievable.

Log Flume down Ocean City

This story was edited out because it was the only one about a city... and while I thought it was important, it seemed disjointed in terms of the other very brief stories regarding more personal interactions.


----------


I saw a bunch of cities traveling, but El Paso was the city that showed me what I wanted to put forth in this book. I came to El Paso because it was a city with a relatively short drive to the Trinity site in New Mexico, the spot where the first atomic bomb was detonated. I drove up to the Trinity site and the visit carried a lot of weight, the paradoxes of America were on full display there, but it was on the drive back into Texas when saw how I wanted to talk about America…driving through the Border Patrol highway stops, past the power sign with the “p” out and back to the motel where Carlos worked.


The Trinity site is located on the White Sands Missile Range in Southern New Mexico and tourists can visit the site twice a year. You can stand where the first atomic bomb was detonated. Unbelievable.

I didn’t know what to expect there, standing at the spot where the cold war started. It turned out to be amazing and surreal… a kid had his face painted with a flag and a bomb, a woman told me that her brother had seen the flash about a hundred miles away and how he died of cancer, hot dogs were for sale, people searched for pieces of Trinitite, glass from the explosion that’s still radioactive 63 years later. No images from my visit to the Trinity Site made this collection of photos, but the visit impacted how I saw America, and what I wanted to say with the photos in this book.

Most of the amazing and important moments that happened while traveling didn’t translate to photos, and this was particularly true in El Paso. My head was imploding with taking so much in within a few days, the Trinity Site, the US/Mexico border, meeting Carlos and his family. An enormous amount was going on.

I had planned to fly into Texas, stay in a hotel there and drive to a couple places that I thought would be interesting to photograph, primarily in New Mexico. But while I headed down there for the moment when I could stand at Trinity ground zero, I found myself fascinated with El Paso. The US/Mexico border was an oppressive presence and a part of daily life. I’d never been in a border city before and had no idea about how the border was such an integral part of the city culture.

I was blown away by the fortifications and armaments of the border, it was more than I could have ever imagined. The walk into Mexico was going through an old and quiet turnstile with no wait, the walk back into the US was jammed with traffic on the bridge and on the sidewalk, vendors in the middle of the stopped traffic and over an hour in line to get back into the US.

Right after my walk across the border and back, I met this a guy at gas station and he offered to take me further into Mexico to buy heroin with him. This was after we had talked for a few minutes and I’d made a few photos of him. He was hanging out with a group of guys who seemed like total dicks, but he was a good guy. He thought that I would love to see the business of the transaction, but it could never be for photos, only “for my eyes.” As much as I wanted to go, I ended up passing on it because I wanted to drive for a while along the American side of the border and was coming home the next day, so I hoped to produce a few more photos. It was a gracious and generous offer and I was sorry to have to decline. I was moved by how this stranger offered to show me something because he thought it would interest me, not because I wanted to buy heroin or so I could record what happened, but to take me there just so I could see it.



El Paso-



















New Mexico-




Trinity Site-



-----

Only 4 of these photos are in the book, but all of these photos helped me figure out how I could articulate what I saw.

'History Keeps Me Awake at Night'

By turns kicky and plaintive, this group show offers a spirited homage to the life and work of Lower East Side artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992). Performance duo Lovett/Codagnone's slide projection (lavender letters onto a black-leather jacket) of a passage from Pier Paolo Pasolini reads, in part: "Where everything has become transgression, there is no more danger." Carrie Mae Weems's photo of a blurred viewer taking in a scene of buffalo tumbling down a cliff evokes the self-destructive pressures felt by the "Other" in America; Wolfgang Tillmans's enigmatic shot of a crawling figure radiates a pungent vibe through its green, seraglio-like light. At times hilarious—when not shocking with footage of the brutal beatings doled out by Mayor Daley's cops during the 1968 Democratic Convention—Frédéric Moffet's 2006 video, Jean Genet in Chicago, revisits the French provocateur's coverage of America's political and psychic meltdown. A photo by Zoe Strauss, one of the most moving works in the show, riffs on a portrait of Wojnarowicz with his mouth tightly stitched shut: A woman revealing her unglamorous torso is bisected by a picture of a bird flying between taut wires, its wings meeting on the downbeat as if in prayer. PPOW, 555 W 25th, 212-647-1044. Through August 22.

-R.C. Baker


Here's my piece from the show...

Philadelphia's own incredible Megawords has undertaken an ambitious and great project... the Megawords Storefront

For the entire month of September - 1125 North Cherry Street (corner of 11th and Cherry) the Megawords Storefront is open!

"The Megawords storefront project and exhibition, located at 1125 North Cherry Street (precisely at the corners
of 11th and Cherry Streets), will be open to the public free-of-charge, September 1 through 30. Hours are Noon
to 9pm Tuesday through Saturday, with irregular hours and visits by appointment on Sunday and Monday. The
opening event will coincide with “First Friday” on September 5. A closing party will take place on September
27. A final schedule of events will be announced shortly. For more information, call 215-300-7391 or visit www.
megawordsmagazine.com. Free Megawords t-shirts, magazines and posters will be available to attendees while
they last.

The mission of the Megawords project is to document our surroundings and experience, to have a voice free from the noise of commercialization and competing novelties, and to create an establishment that encourages an open and active dialogue between Megawords and the community at large. The storefront exhibition space will be a public expression of this mission, and it will foster a unique spirit of collaboration among the projects participants and audience that extends beyond the traditional role of art magazines.

This storefront will serve as Megawords' focal point of activity for the duration of one month: a period of intense activity including permanent and rotating installations, guest speakers, musical performances, workshops and film screenings. In tandem with this creative period, we will release two special-edition printed issues of Megawords that will draw direct inspiration from the space, the artists and audience.

Participants include Zoe Strauss, Alex Lukas, Steve Powers, William Pym, Maysles Films, Matt Schwartz, Ted Passon, KR, Isaac Lin, Adams and KEGR, Wesley Eisold, Hamburger Eyes, The Favourite Sons and many more."

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I will be hosting a workshop on September 18th from 7pm-9pm. What is this workshop, you ask? A long talk about contemporary photography? Fuck no! This is a art and crafts hang out night where people are welcome to come to make collages. That's right, just fully relaxed making shit with no pressure. I have a ton of magazines and other amazing things for collage and encourage people to bring their own stuff to share... bring outdated calendars, photographic prints you're throwing away, paper bags, whatever. Kids are invited! I have no idea how many people might come, so bring your own scissors if you want to insure that you don't have to share. I will have everything else, so get ready for good times.

Megawords Storefront- Zoe Strauss workshop
1125 North Cherry Street
9/18
7pm-9pm

OK, the book is done. And let me tell you the minutia that went into image selection is even beyond my usual ocd. Oh, way, way beyond. The image selection ended up being a great surprise to me in many ways, with images that best pair together and take into account what I've seen in the last few years about America. There's a few images that I haven't really shown before, although I think all of them are images that I have on my flickr page. I'm all about the transparency of my process so almost all of my photos are on flickr, unedited personal and "fine art" images are all out there.

As a matter of fact, there's about 25-30 images that I haven't shown, and might never show, as part of 95.


Because I wanted very specific images to move the narrative along, I found that photos I hadn't really given a lot of thought to kept popping up. For example, there had to be least 3 kisses in the book: parental, romantic and one with implications of ideology. One of those kiss photos would never be included in 95, one kiss photo was included in 2005 but is fully out of rotation and one kiss photo is a staple that will feature prominently in the line up until 2010. In terms of the composition and content, only one of the kisses is an image that's a keystone, but all three kisses will balance out the book, even with the tight edit of 186 pages for photos. And, yes, I know it's crazy to say that 186 pages is a tight edit. I can say with absolute certainty that I deliberated the possible readings of every individual photo, every paring, and the flow from front to back and back to front. I exhausted myself exploring the themes that repeat throughout the book.

Since I began working on America it's changed, but not dramatically. I've been working with the same idea and the same feel, but I've struggled with how to pull folks in to look at the whole thing and to keep an open ended, and open to interpretation, narrative. That's been a real struggle. It's been incredibly difficult working in book format. It seems as if it would be as natural as falling off a log! My mistake. It's about as natural as getting smacked in the face with a log! I know that doesn't make that much sense but I am super tired.

The book is both documentary and metaphor, allegory and fact. Most of the photos come from 2007-2008, but there are some photos from 2001-2006. When the photo was made doesn't really matter to me, it's the ability to convey the current climate in America.

While the images are of real moments and real people, the absence of context allows viewers to construct a personal reading of the images and the order and pairing of the photos should allow folks to make some connections between the photos. Some of the images in the book have text about the making of the photo. I was a resistant to including text at first because my photos are not "documentary" in many ways and not meant to be seen with text, including captions. But I see this book as a sort of document of a work in progress and I thought it made sense to talk a little about how the images were made. Again, transparency is central to my work and the demystification of how these photos were made, particularly the interactions that result in portraits, seemed to appropriate to include. It was a difficult decision because making sure that the readings of the photos are ambiguous enough to allow viewers to construct more than one reading is really important to me, but I decided to go with a slightly different presentation than the original structure I had envisioned for the book.




pp 47-48



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These photos are real moments, but check out the tremendously different meanings they conjure up in different pairings. "Fist with Cash" and "Shark Bite," were both contenders for the book, but I thought it was too "heavy handed"- ha ha ha- of a connection to pair them next to each other. They make sense and I like the pairing but it would have had to been one image on one page and the other on the reverse to give viewers a little work. Eventually, I found it too difficult to make "Shark Bite" work with another image. However, "Shark Bite" and "Fist with Cash" will be most likely be paired in I-95, either across from each other or next to each other.








The readings of individual photos changes with the pairing and syntax of the photos...













Fist with Cash is in the book, Shark Bite is not.

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"...Various major daily newspaper published, on July 10, a photograph of four Iranian missiles streaking heavenward; then Little Green Footballs (significantly, a blog and not a daily newspaper) provided evidence that the photograph had been faked. Later, many of those same papers published a Whitman’s sampler of retractions and apologies. For me it raised a series of questions about images.[1] Do they provide illustration of a text or an idea of evidence of some underlying reality or both? And if they are evidence, don’t we have to know that the evidence is reliable, that it can be trusted?"

Click the title to read "Photography as a Weapon." I loved it and think it's an important piece.


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There's a article in today's NY Times about Jon Stewart, "Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?" and it includes this quote, "When Americans were asked in a 2007 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press to name the journalist they most admired, Mr. Stewart, the fake news anchor, came in at No. 4, tied with the real news anchors Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw of NBC, Dan Rather of CBS and Anderson Cooper of CNN."


I trust Jon Stewart more than I trust any of the major network news sources. What does that mean when the television source for "real news" comes from a show on Comedy Central, a show that presents "real news" in a comedic format? And what does it mean when a blog points out an obvious photoshopped image presented to us as "real" photo by trusted news sources.

I don't think it's crazy that the falsified Iranian missile photo was pointed out by a non-traditional news source, but I do think there's an interesting shift in how we are acquiring and processing news.

Again, if you vote for John McCain you are a complete moron.

Back from the Jersey Shore! My lady and I have returned from a spectacular week in Brigantine, NJ. There are some issues with the book that I can't discuss until it's actually printed, but I have great faith in the forthcoming stimulating discourse surrounding the issues.

I am about start grinding, so get ready friends.

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One night at the shore I had a brief conversation with my lady while I was asleep on the sofa.

me (asleep)- "I see it"
my lady (awake)- "what?"
me (asleep)- "Nicky Scarfo!"

Aside- Savannah and Lynn were watching the olympics when I said this and Savannah thought I said, "Nicky's car phone."

My mother was also asleep or half asleep so she missed out on this amazing somniloquy.

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Another night there was lightning far out in the ocean and it would light up parts of the sky. There was also tremendous thunder, but it wasn't raining. The lightning continued for about 20 minutes before it started raining.

Well, something major has happened with the book, something that's changed the whole tenor and structure. And it's something that I had to weigh very, very carefully, because it's about something that I find abhorrent and attacks what I believe in, and who I am.

After a tremendous amount of thought, I'm almost a hundred percent that I've made the right decision. Tell you when it's published.

by Woody Guthrie

Lots of folks back East, they say, is leavin' home every day,
Beatin' the hot old dusty way to the California line.
'Cross the desert sands they roll, gettin' out of that old dust bowl,
They think they're goin' to a sugar bowl, but here's what they find --
Now, the police at the port of entry say,
"You're number fourteen thousand for today."
CHORUS:
Oh, if you ain't got the do re mi, folks, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.

You want to buy you a home or a farm, that can't deal nobody harm,
Or take your vacation by the mountains or sea.
Don't swap your old cow for a car, you better stay right where you are,
Better take this little tip from me.
'Cause I look through the want ads every day
But the headlines on the papers always say:

If you ain't got the do re mi, boys, you ain't got the do re mi,
Why, you better go back to beautiful Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Georgia, Tennessee.
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi.

August 8, 2008.

Thanks to Pierre Léoutre for keeping me up on mentions of the window project in local papers in Lectoure.

I am a big fan of Garfield Minus Garfield. A great idea that plays out in a way I can't tear myself away from... super.

Many parts of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services are an absolute disaster, which I saw when "If You Break the Skin" was shown. Perhaps the most painful part of the bureaucracy was seeing how many people worked so hard and were constantly thwarted and blocked by the dysfunctional and toxic system in place. Now, regarding the most recent fact finding DHS report calling out just how fucking bad it is and resulting in deaths of kids in DHS care, Mayor Michael "Nutter said he was 'completely pissed off by what happened here.' He added that if anyone treated his own teenage daughter this way: 'I would kick their asses myself.'"

Here's to Michael Nutter! He's coming in at a terrible time to take over heading up our city government... not just after 8 years of the Bush administration which has fucked us all, but after 8 years of John Street, an absolutely terrible mayor.

Nutter has got his hands full and I wish him the best in the struggle to sort out so many of our problems here. We're facing a cultural virus of violence, particularly gun violence, that's resulted in rampant homicides and injuries and we're in a recession. A general feeling of fear and malaise seem to hang about the city right now, and I'm not at all about that.

So thanks to Michael Nutter for directly addressing a part of the DHS report! All of us who heard this, even those of us who knew what a wreck DHS is, were still shocked and we're all pissed off and ready to do some ass kicking!

As of right now, I'm down with Nutter! He's not sitting in line for an Iphone!

Robert Hazard - Escalator of Life (1982)

Here's a question, my friends. Where is the best place in Philadelphia to get HIGH res scans from 35mm negatives? I use Silicon and I've used CBOP, just looking for people's opinions on the hi res scan.

Thanks!

The Army looked to censor this MEDICAL TEXTBOOK for treating war injuries.


Here's from the NYT article...

"...Its 83 case descriptions from 53 battlefield doctors are clinical and bone dry..."

Because it's a MEDICAL TEXTBOOK!

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"Though it is expensively produced and includes a foreword by the ABC correspondent Bob Woodruff, who was severely injured by a roadside bomb in 2006, “War Surgery” is not easy to find. There were strenuous efforts within the Army over the last year to censor the book and keep it out of civilian hands.

Paradoxically, the book is being issued as news photographers complain that they are being ejected from combat areas for depicting dead and wounded Americans."

Military censors suggested numerous changes, including removing photos showing burning vehicles and the faces of any American wounded. They also wanted to excise references to branches of service and how injuries occurred.

For example, according to unclassified e-mail provided by the authors, one suggested removing this description: “A helmeted soldier suffered a forehead injury during the explosion of an improvised explosive device. He was a front seat passenger” in a Humvee. The censor suggested: “A 22-year-old male was hurt in a blast.”

(Army) Censors also tried to prevent the book from getting a copyright and the international standard book number letting it be sold commercially, Dr. Lounsbury said.

Ultimately, they were overruled."

1. The Painful Images of War
By CLARK HOYT


2. Philadelphia DHS a disaster. Worth noting is how DHS spent a lot of money and time trying to prevent "If You Break the Skin" from being shown. Well, you can see how they would be much more concerned about a "feel-good" film about art rather than children starving.

The fabulous Ms. Staples has begun a blog to share her ongoing Icelandic work. Julia is in Iceland for an indeterminate amount of time working on an expansive and fascinating series of photographs that explore the explosion of new home construction, and new neighborhood construction, in Iceland.




Julia Staples, "The Edge of Town"

I am really excited to see the photos and her editing choices. She is a superb photographer, so it will a pleasure to see a little of her process as she produces the images.

Julia Staples! I wish you were here working non-stop for me, but I can't be so selfish as to prevent others from seeing this work by begging you to come back to a rowhome in South Philly, when you are killing it in Reykjavik. Keep on keeping on, JS.



Julia Staples, A New Neighborhood in Hafnafjordur

There's many things to be annoyed about in the world, but at the top of my list of annoying things right now is myself. My poor lady is suffering in a home that I haven't cleaned in months and is on her own with having a more than full time job to help support me and the majority of the household chores, including all of the laundry, and our conversations are all like this...


LB: What do you think you want to make for dinner tonight?

ZS: I'm not really sure about putting Vincent in the lineup now, but that's an appropriate story if I'm going to include 7 of the "making of the images" texts in. What do you think about either "Peter" or "Vincent" for that?

or


LB: (Silent, just trying to read something)

ZS: paraphrased: (Out of the blue talking and talking for 30 minutes NONSTOP about the book and my work and my opinion, including long, long pauses where I just stop mid-sentence because I am working on the computer at the same time and can't talk and type at the same time.)

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So I just typed this and then some lady showed up at the door looking for Obama volunteers and I just started talking all about the book. I'm completely serious.

Going through the 2008 Mississippi work and thought I would mention that this woman and her husband melted down their wedding rings and got gold teeth made out of them. Her husband is a mechanic and his ring kept catching at work and it was dangerous for him to wear it, so they came up with the idea of the gold teeth.