Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Audio Teaser IV: Cleaning Lady
....usually referred to in the industry as 'lot lizards'
Tip your cleaning lady well!!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
In Tandem : Anderson & Low
Internationally acclaimed photographers Jonathan Anderson and Edwin Low have been collaborating together since 1990. Their current and ongoing series Circus is a study of the 'relationship between the body, costume, performance, and identity'.
Nataliya & Misha, Trapeze Artists (At Carousel)
"Portraits examines the duality of the performer and the performance. Performers are dressed in their traditional costume but removed from their conventional performing environment and placed amongst the classical amusement park rides. Dressed to perform and entertain, the subjects are in a location incongruous to their personae. This contradiction creates a tension in the image that evokes a sense of dislocation and estrangement in the viewer."
Sergy, Tumbler, On Derby Racer
Sergy, Alexander, and Viatcheslav, Clowns
"Performance depicts the troupe in a more conventional environment on stage. On closer inspection of these images the power, strength, beauty and skill of the performers is revealed and devoid of context. The stark beauty lends the composition a harmonious balance and focuses the viewers' attention on the powerful relationship between the performer and performance."
Yin Yu, Ariel Net #2
Mikhail & Sergy #1
Valeria, Aerial Silk Performer
all images © Anderson & Low
Monday, March 23, 2009
Van Confessions
Again found ourselves waiting around for four days with no miles, no load, and no driving. Our truck was due for a PM (preventative maintenance) service which includes an oil change and comprehensive maintenance inspections. We were in Tunnel Hill, GA at one of our company's terminals in queue for our turn among the fifty or more trucks also needing service.
Since we weren't making any money just waiting around we decided to drive the company van (voluntary work for a nominal wage). The responsibilities are that of a livery cab, to take drivers to nearby hotels, Walmart, and nearby restaurants since we're all stuck at the terminal. We met countless drivers driving for two days back and forth to and from the same local destinations.
Deborah hopped into the van and wanted to know if we can drop her off at the company's preferred nearby motel. Of course we asked what she was doing at the terminal as we do with most drivers. New truck, broken down, pm, waiting for load, training, could really be a multitude of reasons. We soon learn that she drove team with her husband when that same morning he decided he wanted to end their marriage. With no forewarning or indicative signs that their marriage of two years was in trouble, she was of course taken aback also learning he was already married. He dropped her off in the middle of nowhere (the hood of GA) with no cell phone, just her bags and a new puppy for her daughter. She somehow managed to make it to the terminal (after several buses and cabs later) with hopes of our company putting her in her own truck as soon as possible. As hopeful as she could be and as shocked as she was at the same time, the tears just fell as she told her story.
We heard an abundance of untold stories, each harboring and therapeutically revealing their own personal dramas. We find a lot of men have gone through several marriages as life on the road keeps you away more often than you're allowed to be home, the time apart adverse to a successful and fortuitous marriage. Women drivers carry the responsibility of providing for their children and/or husbands with an added strain of safety and harassment for being a woman in a male-dominated occupation. The epitome of blue collar working Americans, these hard-working men and women all have their beautifully harsh realities to tell.
Since we weren't making any money just waiting around we decided to drive the company van (voluntary work for a nominal wage). The responsibilities are that of a livery cab, to take drivers to nearby hotels, Walmart, and nearby restaurants since we're all stuck at the terminal. We met countless drivers driving for two days back and forth to and from the same local destinations.
Deborah hopped into the van and wanted to know if we can drop her off at the company's preferred nearby motel. Of course we asked what she was doing at the terminal as we do with most drivers. New truck, broken down, pm, waiting for load, training, could really be a multitude of reasons. We soon learn that she drove team with her husband when that same morning he decided he wanted to end their marriage. With no forewarning or indicative signs that their marriage of two years was in trouble, she was of course taken aback also learning he was already married. He dropped her off in the middle of nowhere (the hood of GA) with no cell phone, just her bags and a new puppy for her daughter. She somehow managed to make it to the terminal (after several buses and cabs later) with hopes of our company putting her in her own truck as soon as possible. As hopeful as she could be and as shocked as she was at the same time, the tears just fell as she told her story.
We heard an abundance of untold stories, each harboring and therapeutically revealing their own personal dramas. We find a lot of men have gone through several marriages as life on the road keeps you away more often than you're allowed to be home, the time apart adverse to a successful and fortuitous marriage. Women drivers carry the responsibility of providing for their children and/or husbands with an added strain of safety and harassment for being a woman in a male-dominated occupation. The epitome of blue collar working Americans, these hard-working men and women all have their beautifully harsh realities to tell.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Hold On For Your Life!
'through our windshield'
We're on the border between Mexico and Texas out here in the beautifully warm Laredo, TX. Had some good BBQ and even better Mexican food while dropping our load. Fun drive from Georgia, we weren't alone. This little guy made the trip with us for over a hundred miles holding on to his dear life. Then he left us.....poor guy!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Sun Kissed
A natural progression into moving pictures, good friend and fellow photographer Adi Lavy is currently working on a new documentary film Sun Kissed.
from the series Camp Sundown
"It is a documentary about the lasting effects of American colonialism on the Native American community. It's a powerful story about the lives of the Sandoval family whose daughter, Leanndra, harbors a genetic disorder that makes any exposure to sunlight fatal. This rare disorder can be traced back 150 years to the most traumatic and defining moment in Navajo history." -Adi Lavy
Recentlty shown at Hyères Photo Festival, Adi's previous photographic series Camp Sundown explores a summer camp catered to children also suffering with XP - xeroderma pigmentosum. What seems to be an extension of this series into documentary film and an intimate portrayal of those bearing with XP, Adi and her team are in need of our support to help bring this story to life.
from the series Camp Sundown
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Grace
In association with Bellwether Gallery, Danziger Projects' latest exhibition will feature work from the series "Grace" by Tanyth Berkeley. Renowned for her "Orchidaceae" work she was selected by the Museum of Modern Art for their "New Photography" show in 2007. While we wish we were in NY to see this show, you can't miss it's opening on March 13th. Since working on our new series we haven't been to a museum or gallery in almost a year and we're going through withdrawal!!
"While Berkeley turned her eye to various other subjects – transgendered women, street performers, people passing through Times Square – she continued to regularly photograph one of her original "orchids", Grace Longoria, an albino woman of Mexican descent who Berkeley once described as "a combination of Marilyn Monroe and the moon". Their initial chance encounter set the stage for an ongoing relationship which has now lasted seven years and is the subject of this show – the first exhibition devoted exclusively to Berkeley's pictures of Grace.
The artist/muse relationship is often a potent story, but in the case of Berkeley's work with Grace the relationship is more academic – the model as a figure with whom the artist can explore his or her style and ideas without emotional entanglement. As an albino Grace brings both a luminosity of skin as well as a paradoxical sensitivity to light that often makes it hard for her to open her eyes to the sun. This brings an inherent tension to many of the images as Grace is both attracted to and forced to keep a distance from photographic contact. At the same time her appearance makes her both a "star" and an outsider – qualities that Berkeley's is much drawn to.
In the course of these pictures, we see Grace evolve from a tentative 21 year old to a strong and mesmerizing presence. Berkeley's photographs range from the intimate to the theatrical and are printed from 20 x 24" to life size. Since Berkeley's first "discovered" her, Grace has been sought out by a number of other photographers - an object of wonder or curiosity. However, in Berkeley's work she is a much more integral part of the whole – the subject rather than the object – a symbol of the infinite and unique possibilities of the natural world." -Danziger Projects
all images ©Tanyth Berkeley
"While Berkeley turned her eye to various other subjects – transgendered women, street performers, people passing through Times Square – she continued to regularly photograph one of her original "orchids", Grace Longoria, an albino woman of Mexican descent who Berkeley once described as "a combination of Marilyn Monroe and the moon". Their initial chance encounter set the stage for an ongoing relationship which has now lasted seven years and is the subject of this show – the first exhibition devoted exclusively to Berkeley's pictures of Grace.
The artist/muse relationship is often a potent story, but in the case of Berkeley's work with Grace the relationship is more academic – the model as a figure with whom the artist can explore his or her style and ideas without emotional entanglement. As an albino Grace brings both a luminosity of skin as well as a paradoxical sensitivity to light that often makes it hard for her to open her eyes to the sun. This brings an inherent tension to many of the images as Grace is both attracted to and forced to keep a distance from photographic contact. At the same time her appearance makes her both a "star" and an outsider – qualities that Berkeley's is much drawn to.
In the course of these pictures, we see Grace evolve from a tentative 21 year old to a strong and mesmerizing presence. Berkeley's photographs range from the intimate to the theatrical and are printed from 20 x 24" to life size. Since Berkeley's first "discovered" her, Grace has been sought out by a number of other photographers - an object of wonder or curiosity. However, in Berkeley's work she is a much more integral part of the whole – the subject rather than the object – a symbol of the infinite and unique possibilities of the natural world." -Danziger Projects
all images ©Tanyth Berkeley
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Radio Rambos
"Yo' mama so ugly they filmed 'Gorillas In The Mist' in HER shower!" the same anonymous voice went on.
"I'll punch you so hard yo' teeth come out yo' asshole!!!" another driver joined in!!
It went on for about five minutes, each driver hitting the other with their best.
Now at two in the morning, complete darkness, you'll do about anything to stay awake.
"Ding, ding, ding, ding!!!" As one of the drivers laugh a winner is called!
Now that was a friendly cb battle, but the real Radio Rambos are the ones who take it a little too far and actually want to meet somewhere to settle things the old fashioned way! Race, politics, religion, poor driving, anything can ruffle another driver's feathers. Most of the time it's all talk, but occasionally you get everybody riled up wanting to see a fight between two grown ass men!
Since our radio is still down we rely on the cb for entertainment, local traffic and weather conditions, and occasional news updates. Most of the time it's just heated and opinionated politics ending in unnecessary racial comments. Now as a country we have come far, but as we travel all over these states we realize we have a ways to go!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
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