Zoe Strauss

Alaskan Landscape

I'm a little better, but my breathing still sounds like "broiling lamb" or "taking a flamethrower to weeds" or "dragging a heavy cardboard box on a gritty and sandy floor" or "halfhearted new year's party horn" or "rice crispies in milk, the first 10 seconds"

I love my siblings. From left to right Walker Roberts, ZS, Savannah Roberts, Cosmo Baker

Thank god it's not that bad!

I am on the mend, although my breathing sounds like "broiling lamb" or "taking a flamethrower to weeds" or "dragging a heavy cardboard box on a gritty and sandy floor" and occasionally "halfhearted new year's party horn."

I love you more and more every day, honey. Happy birthday.


Photo by Jen MacDonald


Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Prove It All Night
Filmed at Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ. 9/19/1978

Holy Mountain - Special Effects Scene



Santogold- L.E.S. Artistes

yes to both

Oh my GOD, is Bobby Jindal a joke? Because I'm not laughing.

However, I am laughing at the wikipedia page of Bobby Jindal. I am certain that it will be changed by tomorrow, but as of this moment the first sentence is, "Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971), also known as Kenneth from NBC's 30 Rock,is the current Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana.[1]"




Seriously, enough with Republicans. Just end this idiocy. Where's the Libertarian party? They should be ready to step into the void of the Republican party.

I believe I have the flu, since I am as sick as I was 4 days ago.

----

Now, why am I writing this? There seems to be a grotesque narcissism inherent in the fact that I think people are interested in my being laid up for a few days. Who cares outside of my wife and family? I know that my lady and my family read this, but a simple phone call or email that's not able to be accessed by anyone with computer access would probably make a lot more sense to tell them something.

There's a byproduct of putting personal information out there; the back and forth of thinking the minutia of one's life could be of interest to people while knowing that when push comes to shove, it's absolutely uninteresting except to one's loved ones. And even then it's not that interesting. In my work transparency is queen, and having an accessible-to-anyone stream of consciousness is part of that. In terms of using the computer as a socializing tool, what does it mean to put out these moments that are reserved for people close to you? I love facebook, and I find it interesting to see what people put for what they're doing in the moment. Seriously, I find it genuinely interesting to see what people from grade school and high school are doing in their day to day lives if they're by the computer. But this isn't a social networking tool, it's just there for anyone to read, I've come to rely on putting out information here as opposed to a phone call or email. Is that laziness or part of my process? And what does that mean in my relationships that I put out information in such a broad manner?
(Slightly related, I've come to hate email beyond the beyond)

While I have made a very conscious decision to regard my audience as everyone in world and to never over think what I'm putting up, to go with a rushing spring thaw stream of consciousness, I'm not 100% sure it's healthy or beneficial to me and those who I love. Not to mention that it's not really that interesting to people who are reading it. I revisit this structure occasionally and know with certainty that I'll keep on keeping on until at least May 2010, but sometime after that I'm taking a break. Until then, prepare to be enthralled by the minutia in my life!

Still sick. And tomorrow is the greatest day of the year, Lynn Bloom's birthday. Why, WHY, am I sick on erev LB's birthday? This fully blows.

Wonkavision is a locally produced independent music magazine... a glossy new milennium Maximum Rock and Roll. I am a big fan of Wonkavision and WV's head honcho, Justin Luczejko. Check it out and get a subscription.

Where to find Wonkavision

Here's my Alaskan assistant, the great Chelsea. A naturalist superstar and burger lover, I couldn't have asked for a better Alaskan companion. Thanks for everything, my Chelsea!

Here I am all doped up on generic dayquil cough and cold medicine. They say it's "non-drowsy." My ass. I'm watching Escape from New York and not doing any work.

I am sick with a bad cold and out of it. Here's a bold statement... it blows to be sick.

2009


2002-2003


Modern Office
Broad between Washington and Ellsworth

Honestly, I've never bought the Post before, so my not buying the Post in the future is not a real threat to their survival.

---

And on an art note, maybe I've been looking at things all wrong and Dash Snow has been right the whole time! I'll have to revisit his "NY Post" works.

You know what's always good? The Man Who Planted Trees.
by Jean Giono
translated from French by Peter Doyle

This racist cartoon is a disgrace. And you know what else is a disgrace? People pretending it's not explicitly racist. Are you fucking kidding me? It's not just a backhanded racist slur, it's like a death threat right out of a Klan newsletter. Fuck the NY Post for running this and not issuing an apology.

I heard a little thing on NPR today with a cartoonist saying he didn't read it as racist and people called in with "... I saw it as an allegory about congress..." I am certain I have grown up in a country where equating African-Americans with monkeys or apes is a common slur. Is it too uncomfortable or embarrassing for white people to admit we know racial slurs? Or is that we are ashamed and it's easier for us to be like, "Whaaat, I didn't even think that!"? That's bullshit. Or do people want to keep these racist tropes available by pretending that they don't know the meaning? This whole thing is infuriating.

---

The Post has offered a non-apology that is unbelievably offensive. I'm never buying the Post again.

I often wonder if other Jews have the same thing that I do; an uncontrollable need to plan an escape route in case of an imminent second holocaust. This internal escape route planning happens at home and abroad. Here at home, the planned passage to Canada is through Pennsylvania.

This planning is an unconscious act and absolutely uncontrollable. It's not obsessive at all, it's an occasional check in on one of the many worst case scenarios that can be envisioned. I wonder if I'm young for this kind of thinking, but I don't think I am. I'm almost 40 and grew up with holocaust survivors and WWII veterans, my grandfather being one. At this point there's not that many arms tattooed with numbers that could take you by surprise in the summer, so do younger Jews have that same occasional sense of anxiety?

In NY? Don't miss Hank Willis Thomas's new show, Pitch Blackness. It's up until March 14th. Click above for info.

most underrated flavor: vanilla. it's a real shame it's come to mean bland.

I am certain that Ken Lay is NOT dead and faked his own death.

"The two judges, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Scranton, Pa., to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care.

Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in prison.

As many as 5,000 juveniles are believed to have appeared before Judge Ciavarella while the kickback scheme was going on."

These assholes need to go to jail for a lot longer than 7 years. And how's our privatized prison system working out?


Mark A. Ciavarella Jr


Michael T. Conahan

Here they are. I wish they were here so I could pummel them with cans of soda in a pillowcase. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

Throughout Alaska there were many, many lots for sale. Who says they own this land? And why do we believe that they own it?

Happy Valentimes Day, South Philly.

Philadelphia: the greatest city for art in the world. Also, Philadelphia: the greatest city in the world.

Check out the inaugural issue of Lay Flat!

Lay Flat is a new print publication devoted to promoting the best in contemporary fine art photography and writing on the medium. Each issue is assembled by Shane Lavalette in close collaboration with a co-curator.

If so, please comment below OR email me at info (at) zoestrauss (dot) com... so we can get our roof fixed!
THANK YOU!

Megan
Palmer, AK

On my last full day to do whatever I wanted in Alaska, I opted to go check out the start of the Irondog Race. I drove to Wasilla with the intention of figuring out how to get to Big Lake when I got there, and if I couldn't find it I'd ask someone where I needed to go. But as I came across the bridge right before the Wasilla stretch, I knew I didn't give a shit about seeing Todd Palin on a snowmachine. I didn't even stop to look for who I could ask and I drove on the Wasilla-Palmer highway right into the mountains. Along that stretch I saw moose walking around and bald eagles proudly having survived DDT. I stood in the parking lot of the Palmer State Office Building for about an hour and watched ravens fly around. Ain't no way Todd Palin gassing up could beat that.





-----












Palmer, Alaska and Wasilla, Alaska are about 15 minutes from each other by car, but in many ways they're very different places. Wasilla has no town center and, apparently, minimal to zero zoning laws, which has allowed for a spread of unchecked and unplanned growth... while Palmer has a small walking district with library, city services and shops. Palmer has the same McDonalds and Subway and several other of the big American chain stores, although way fewer than Wasilla, but Palmer feels like an established town with distinct local culture. It's unlike Wasilla, which feels like a mall that's had the roof torn off.

-----

Digression:

Every urban part of Alaska is new and I was continuously dumbfounded by how the cities are unfolding. It's most certainly not like here.

For example, I live at 1313 Dickinson St. Dickinson St. is named for John Dickinson, who represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress. Dickinson is best known as John Adams foil... as Dickinson opposed American independence from Great Britain.


John Dickinson
1732-1808


Now here's a street in Wasilla... All About Kidz Drive, as named for this day care center.





What?

----


I have come home with a lot of convictions, particularly that I-95 is close to done and I can move on with no regrets or apprehension.


And the absolute certainty that I can't be away from Lynn Bloom for this long, ever again.

I'm into this interactive migratory site, "Journey of Mankind", but was a little disturbed by the implications in this statement on "when did art begin?"

"...One could argue that the patterned and etched red ochre stone found in the Blombos Cave in South Africa, dated at 77,000 years old, is the earliest form of art yet known. However, for the sake of clarity and at the risk of brevity, we are going to focus on the Palaeolithic rock art of the period 40,000 to 25,000 years ago, for three fundamental reasons: its striking appearance; its proven radio-carbon dating; and its abundance."
-from Journey of Mankind

While the Chauvet Cave is absolutely amazing, and it's just a little interactive chart about human migration, and I actually have no qualms with focusing on it because of the reasons given... there's no argument that the Blombos Cave shows the earliest art. That's where the earliest art is. Seriously, "the first art has been found to be in Africa dating from 77,000 years ago, but we're just going to skip that and start with Europe 37,000 to 52,000 years later for 'clarity's' sake?" That's some bullshit.

Chauvet Cave

Blombos Cave

-----

Also, I am very into the term "prehistoric" and the idea of "prehistoric." There's no "before history," it's all history.



The Pre History of Television.

I am so happy with this project.

Trevor, love and thanks.

From Val's PA family to Val in Alaska. Val's been in AK since the 50's, she's the "one gypsy in her family."

Well, that was amazing. But this is more amazing.

Sunset Over Wasilla, AK

United States Artists, Rasmuson Foundation, International Gallery of Contemporary Art, Julie Decker, Chelsea Bailey, Marc Lester, Jody Jenkins, Mike Dunham, Ben Huff, Patrick Cobb and literally every person I met during my Alaskan travels.

Thanks to CA Conrad for letting me know.

"Johanna Sigurdardottir, named as Iceland's prime minister on Sunday, is the first openly lesbian head of government in Europe, if not the world - at least in modern times."

I can't be more pleased with how Pioneer Portrait Studio came to fruition. I'm thrilled with it. Friends, if your portrait was made you can go pick it up starting tomorrow at your earliest convenience. The International Gallery of Contemporary Art (IGCA) is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 4:00 pm.

Alaskans, if you can make it to the IGCA this month, I encourage you to take photos in front of any, or all, of the backdrops hanging in Pioneer Portrait Studio. Please use the studio for making photographs.
















Three backdrops were printed and I chose the one above as the primary portrait background because of the slight slope at the bottom. The choice was based on the more organic shape vs. the severe horizontal "ground meets mountain" going on in the other two.



I was happy with all three images printed, but I really wanted to use the image above as the primary backdrop because of the recognizable peaks in the background. Once I made some initial test shots, I felt that it didn't leave any room for movement in the sitter. And while I looked for there to be a slightly awkward relationship between the sitter and the landscape, that particular image was too stilted for the portraiture.



Of the people who came to get their portrait made, some people were interested in the idea of the impossibility of image as representation of place and the construction and presentation of these images as "real." Some were there to get a portrait made, some came in because they had come to the gallery and wandered in, some people were people who I met and asked to come get a portrait made, some had to come because they were in a high school class that came on a field trip. All in all it can be best described as "great."

The give away prints that I made are dark and cool. I hung the test prints on the walls as well, different white balances, different "exposures." The prints reflect the time of year here and the very long, and very cyan, daybreak and twilight hours. Which, of course, can't be described.

----

Digression: I adore alliteration and don't care if it's as unsophisticated as exclamation points.

Honestly, I have very little contact with the natural world, but I have been moved by the landscape in Alaska to make a statement about the land. I'm certain "Mt. McKinley" is a moronic name for the tallest mountain in North America. McKinley? As in "tariffs and shot by an anarchist" McKinley? That mountain should have no human name, and certainly not McKinley. The name Denali is used for the McKinley peak, as well as the park, but "McKinley" is still hanging on. It's got to go.

Also, Prince William Sound doesn't have jackshit to do with "the Prince who then became King" William. I'm voting for a new name on that body of water.

I don't know. But I do know that Anchorage tap water is delicious.

This was a success. Thanks so much to Marc for the light. All 200 will be printed and up tomorrow.

Robin's Bookstore is closed. It will be greatly missed.

I just want to give a little love to Marc Lester, who has been working a freelance assignment documenting me the traversing the permafrost. He has been an incredible source of information, an endless resource, a tremendous help in all my endeavors AND it's been a genuine pleasure to get to know him.

Check out his work here.

And his personal journal here.

Alaska is lucky to have him documenting the world up here and Alaska is lucky to have him, period.

Look how much light leaks in at the corners with my standard kit D300. I don't mind it for the most part, but find it surprising since I only use one lens and it should be airtight.

Eklutna, AK and Palmer, AK

I really hope the lecture at the Anchorage museum was good. I loathe to talk about myself like that and never have any idea how a talk goes. Too much or too little information? I have no idea. Should I just talk and talk and not make people ask questions? I don't know. But who feels like droning on about their own work with no interaction with the people who are there? That seems mental!

Thanks to Artblog for pointing Philadelphians in the direction of what will undoubtedly become the best local commercial ever. Directed by the great Ted Passon. Ted, I love this. I'm so mad I'm going to miss it.


-------


THIS SUNDAY February 8th. The commercial is for the "Stay over in Philly" campaign and commissioned by the Philadelphia Department of Tourism and produced and directed by Ted Passon and All Ages Productions.

This commercial is for a new push of the campaign with a special Valentine's Day twist. The filming takes place in LOVE Park and starts on one couple meeting at the Park. They immediately start kissing each other. The camera moves and we see another couple meeting and kissing . The camera continues to move and we see another kissing couple and another until we see a ridiculous number of couples all meeting and kissing at LOVE Park, as if everyone in Center City just stopped what they were doing and started making-out with each other.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Come and makeout in LOVE Park for the commercial!

WHAT: Looking for couples (all races, ages, genders, etc. the more the merrier!) to make out on camera in LOVE Park.
Feel free to come as you are or in costume! We are looking for a wide range of outfits and looks including:
*Business professionals (suits)
*Bike messengers
*City Workers
*Police
*Park Rangers
*Students
*Rollerbladers
etc...

WHERE: LOVE Park 15th and JFK in Philadelphia

WHEN: THIS SUNDAY February 8th.
11:00am until 3:00pm
Because of the complicated nature of the shot (a single minute-long moving take) it may take up to four hours to rehearse and execute. If all goes well it will take less time.

If you want to be in the commercial you need to be on time.

HOW: Just show up at LOVE Park at 15th and JFK on SUNDAY February 8th at 11:00am and register and you are in the commercial!

ALL Participants will be notified when the commercial is online and will be sent a link.

If there are any questions please contact:
Ted Passon
ted@allagesproductions.com

Thanks to everyone who came out to the lecture at the Anchorage Museum. Hope it was interesting!

One side of the highway


The other side of the highway

Alaska, you are awesome. But Sarah Palin is a hot mess.

Hello Alaskan Friends.

I will be making 200 free portraits in Anchorage this week. This Friday, February 6th, from 5:30PM to 7:30PM, anyone can come to the International Gallery and get their portrait taken in front of a beautiful Alaskan mountain backdrop. I will print a 4"x6" photo for the sitter, which will be available beginning Sunday Feb 8th. Just come back to the gallery at your convenience and take your photo off the wall. The International Gallery of Contemporary Art is open Tuesday-Sunday, noon to 4PM.

Portraits are also available by appointment. Contact me at info (at) zoestrauss (dot) com if you're into getting your portrait made but can't make it over on Friday.

Zoe Strauss Pioneer Portrait Studio

at the

International Gallery of Contemporary Art
427 D Street
Anchorage, Alaska

February 6, 2009

5:30PM - 7:30PM


Thanks to Marc for all his help! Marc, you are super!




The one and only Ms. Chelsea Bailey in front of the test backdrop.


One of these images will be the backdrop, most likely the bottom one. But you can't go wrong with any of them.










-----

Unrelated, I was blown away by the work of this guy who submitted these photos to the International Gallery for an open call of Freeze installation shots. The IGCA opted not to hang them with the other photos of the recent Freeze festival, probably because they are not of the Freeze festival but rather randomly submitted photos of a topless woman in high waisted pants and a guy who is "photo says it all, no need for words." Whoa!





I'm pretty sure the title for the bottom one is, "My New Bride Arrived Via Dog Sled Today."

I was into being in Fairbanks and want to go back. I was really only there a full day, but to see the pipeline and feel the cold, just amazing. I could have asked for the aurora too, but believe me that I'm sated with the incredible things I saw.

From my hotel window.



I was dying to make a landscape with the smoke formation below... a seemingly impossible movement and volume of smoke that just stretched and stretched. I couldn't get it but, man, I was so excited to see it.

I will be coming home without the kind of work I usually make, but with a lot of things to think about and fold into my work. I made sure this was more of a fact finding trip and not a work producing trip. Not a "fact-finding" trip like we had in the 80's e.g. "Laura is in El Salvador on a fact-finding trip" or "They broke up after she came home from that fact-finding trip to Angola" or "Did you get that vest on your fact-finding trip to Guatemala?", but a fact finding trip meaning I hoped to see a little of what this place is like.  I just wanted to experience as much as I could without the pressure of producing, which could have led to half-assed work and not really seeing Alaska because I was pushing to construct something. I especially didn't want to produce portraits like I usually do and in fact have only made a handful while up here. Like coming in the winter, I am certain I made the right decision in how I planned this trip and know it will be beneficial to my work in the long haul.

I'm really interested to see when this trip will begin to move into my work. Maybe not for years, but I know it will appear.

An unexpectedly great part of my Alaskan gallivanting has been my visit to Fairbanks, so close to Anchorage but unbelievably different in climate. It made me want to go and go north, to the Yukon, to the Brooks Range, Kotzebue, the Red Dog Mine, Prudhoe Bay, Barrow, the Arctic Ocean, to the end of the earth. Several people suggested going South to Homer, which of course I'd love to do, but North in the winter seems right. I wanted to feel the cold of the interior. Fairbanks in winter was just spectacular, a place where climate controls lives in a way in no other place I've ever been. I wish I had scheduled more time there.


On the plane back from Fairbanks I sat next to a hard rock miner from Montana. In Stetson, ranch shirt, elaborate belt and jeans. We talked for a while about his job, the initial drilling to find parameters of an oil field, and I know I would be really into seeing what's what out on the North Slope. This guy has 30 days on, 12 hour days, then 2 weeks off. When he gets back, he goes out into the bush by himself, camping on his own for a few days and then goes home and spends the rest of his time off with his family. Like a lot of people I've talked to, he likes Alaska because it's "open." I feel that. Montana sounded as wide open as Alaska, but it's still "Outside."

Alaska is a place comprised of outsiders who call any other place "Outside" and while Alaskan Natives have lived here for thousands of years the 1nd or 2nd generation folks who live here will still get into pissing contests with each other about who's lived here longest, e.g. "Since '52" or "When we were still a territory." It's a place where most people are from "Outside," but there's not a license plate other than Alaska to be seen at all.

I can't thank Ben Huff enough for driving me to a few spots to see the pipeline.... the pipeline blows me away. As a structural achievement, as an important part of late 20th century American culture, as a resource, as a metaphor. I wonder how old you have to be in the contiguous 48 to be able to use and understand the one word description of the 800-mile-long Alyeska Trans Alaska Pipeline System; "pipeline." The pipeline was a big notch in a belt made of Alaska's offer of wealth for those willing to work, a different kind of prospecting.

Many, many people, literally almost everyone I've met, has told me that summer is so joyous that just the promise of it can get you through the winter, but I am 100% percent certain that winter was the right time to come.

Every place here is fascinating and beautiful, even the disturbing and generic Wasilla.

February 4, 2009
7 p.m.

Anchorage Museum
121 W. 7th Ave; Anchorage, AK 99501

Auditorium.

Anchorage is accessible via commercial airplane, bush plane, boat, snow machine, dog sled, snowshoe, and car. Once in Anchorage, museum is accessible via car, bus or foot.

Written by my friend Mike "Use to Get Mail Mushed In" Dunham. Thanks for writing this, Mike!

"AMERICA
By Zoe Strauss.
Illustrated. Unpaged. Ammo. $29.95.

These street photographs of people and places on society’s fringes, from cities across the country, display a raw combination of disintegration, resilience, tenderness and humor. Above, “Half House on Boulevard,” taken in Philadelphia, Strauss’s hometown."

New York Times Book Review

Awesome.

Lonnie
Fairbanks, AK

Fairbanks, AK

Thanks so much to Ben Huff for his generosity and graciousness in driving my ass all around the tundra up here in Fairbanks. Ben, I've been a fan of yours for some time but now with this face to face meeting you've put it over the top with my love for you... thanks so much.

And thanks to Patrick Cobb for the ride and the company. I'm really grateful for your hospitality, my man.

20 below tonight and expected to possibly drop to -35. Oh, Fairbanks.


Ben at water station.