catastrophe and porktraits

first off: bad news for pelicans and pelipals on the gulf

second on: pinar yolocan's meaty portraits

sugartown

so. recent fieldwork has involved roaming around cemeteries in coastal towns searching for gravestones dedicated to the memory of people lost at sea. while it feels like i'm tricking everyone by getting a grant to wander in the sunshine and check out the ocean while ostensibly doing research, the trick seems to now be on me as the combination of salty sea air and time has resulted in SUGARING- the words (and sculptures) on many of the older headstones are wearing away to the point of illegibility. that's making the search for the words "lost at sea" rather difficult. it is, however, also causing bizarre decapitations that caught my fancy...
oak grove cemetery, gloucester, MA






a recurring symbol in cemetery sculptures, a lamb or child 'sleeping'/lying down on top of a headstone denotes the grave of a child. the symbol references the 'lamb of god,' or the notion that the deceased is in their final resting/sleeping place, innocently slumbering. this euphemism was a common one for death when garden cemeteries were showing up on the scene, around 1840 or so.

reflecting on a fine springtime afternoon

witch trial 2010

a beach in salem, MA

no longer pending: roadkill in the news

opossum, my possum

profundo I

josef albers (this is actually titled 'profundo' !!!). sol lewitt. aakash nihalani.

maninbo

from "ten thousand lives" by ko un, an ongoing poem series by the korean author that started while he was in jail and is his attempt to describe everyone he has ever met.

Su-dong and the Swallows

Su-dong’s family is only his parents.

When they’re out at work

and he is playing, alone,

looking after the house, he gets bored.

Home alone, his only sport is idly pulling weeds,

until every year in early spring the swallows arrive.

Filling up the empty house, the swallows become his family.

As droppings fall on Su-dong’s head,

the swallows fill up the empty house.

The brood hatches, then in the twinkling of an eye,

the chicks grow up

and go their separate ways,

at which he finds himself bored again.

The yard is suddenly that much bigger.

Late in autumn the swallows,

setting off to fly fast over hills and seas,

over seas and oceans,

the swallows leaving for lands beyond the river,

for distant south seas,

gather on the neighborhood’s empty washing lines

and sit in rows, preening their breasts with their beaks

before setting off.

Looking up at them all, Su-dong feels utterly lonely.

Feeling lonely

means growing up.

‘You’re leaving now, you’ll be back next year.

Good-bye for now.’

He gives each of the swallows a name:

Chick-sun,

Chick-ku,

Cheep-sun,

Cheep-bo.