I hate how blogs regurgitate the same old links and stories, but I looked around and didn’t see anyone but Ulrich posting this, so here it goes. Dawoud Bey has a new blog and it’s seriously awesome. Real writing! Not the same old tried and true blog topics!

It’s been my experience that the cultural habits among blacks and whites are decidedly different. And to be sure, I’m not talking about all blacks or all whites, but those who do make the decision to frequent museums, galleries, and other cultural institutions. From my experience (and this is purely anecdotal, but after much long and serious consideration) the cultural experience for blacks is largely one that I would liken metaphorically to a “mirroring experience” in which one engages with the art as a way on affirming (or perhaps confirming) ones sense of self, ones aspirations, or ones personal memories. Certainly visual art that mirrors some aspect of “the black experience” seems to resonate most successfully with a certain audience. Unfortunately this has often meant endless versions of various vernacular scenes: fan waving, big hatted black church ladies, wise doting grandmothers combing/braiding little black girls hair, black kids splashing about in open fire hydrants in the summertime, brightly colored paintings of musicians endlessly blowing loopy “expressively” rendered saxophones, and on and on. Of course these are all experiences which in and off themselves (in real life) are meaningful, and it is far from my intention to denigrate the black church or that close generational bond that makes families an important refuge. And I love black music. Hey, I’m a drummer myself. No, not at all. Rather I am questioning a way of making art that seems akin to passing through the world with a mirror held inches from ones face, and subsequently thinking that everything in the world looks just like you. Walking about in such a state, you’re likely to miss the fact that removing the mirror can also change the way you look (and think).

This is from a great post on race and art, and although I’m not with him 100%, it was a great read. Be sure to check it out.

© Dawoud Bey from Class Pictures

I’m not to into electoral politics, or the electoral system, or the system for that matter, but I’ve been following Obama and Clinton’s campaigning strategies in the Appalachian region for obvious reasons. Here is an interesting anecdote from someone on the campaign trial (source purposefully withheld):

I spent yesterday doing GOTV in West Virginia. Despite all the talk about race (undeniably a big factor in WV), it was the consensus of literally every canvasser and Obama staff person I spoke to that the campaign had failed to develop a rural strategy, even after OH and PA.

The Obama campaign model pursued in WV was the same old “Let’s hit the cities and hope for some spillover effect.” Obama went to Charleston; Clinton went to Eleanor, wherever that is. Thus, the disaster. I am convinced that the single message about Appalachia that needs to be pounded into people’s skulls is that the principal polarity in the region is between city and country, and that country people regard city people with fear and loathing. Hitting the cities is exactly wrong.

Sadly, not a single campaign organizer in WV (or OH) whom I have spoken with knows how to contact the higher-ups who decide campaign strategy. Thus Kentucky is another disaster in the making.

My next long term project, as an extension of my explorations of the coal industry and the Appalachian region, will take place in the Ohio River Valley. I plan on writing a grant proposal soon and go full force with applications by the end of summer.

Last September, I arrived in Ohio to find where coal was being burned. Expecting similarities to West Virginia, I found a different beast, the threads connecting mountaintop removal/coal extraction to the burning and power transformation only linear. The landscape even looked different; less large mountains, some open spaces, farmland in the conventional sense, but still Appalachia. The people were a little bit more quiet, with a despondent atmosphere undeniably present. I was only there for a couple days, but it was grey almost the whole time, perhaps severely limiting my perspective.

One of the first places Elisa Young took me was a playground almost comically juxtaposed by a large coal-burning power plant across the river:

A few steps back to get a real sense of the scene:

click here for a larger version

Other views:

I want to know more about this valley, the term and aesthetic etched carefully from my experience in Coal River Valley. I want to spend more time with guys like Al Proffitt (see this related post). Here are a couple images I haven’t shown from my visit with him:

More on Ohio soon, as I learn. Tattoo post also coming soon, I swear.

I’m digging…

Kimmy Fung, a friend and an amazing artist. Her work is consistently dark and beautiful. She nods gracefully to the past, employing both scientific and artistic motifs found in the 18th century and the 21st. Conceptually she’s working with a minimalism/formalism hybrid, with an obvious foot in contemporary works on paper. Very nice, and she will explode soon, so buy a piece while you can.

AND…

My new buddy Maximilian Haidacher just updated his website, and it’s oh so German (but he’s from Austria) in the best possible way. I’m feeling his dead-end approach to industry and the landscape, but he’s portraiture definitely takes a nod from the German greats.

The last of these for now…

If you like me, in the flesh or the e-flesh, you might be somewhat interested in checking out the following:

Where We’re From, the new project presented by Lindley, the sweet lady who concocted The Ones We Love.

Humble Arts Group Show # 23

Also on the Humble Arts Site is a solo show by Eric Percher, which contains this ridiculously good picture:

Word.

I’ve been photographing Baltimore, getting ready for a large project coming this summer.

Via New York Times:

May 9, 2008
A Call for Criminal Inquiry on Mine Collapse
By IAN URBINA

WASHINGTON — The general manager and possibly other senior staff members at the Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington, Utah, where nine miners died last August, withheld information from federal officials that could have prevented the disaster and should face a criminal inquiry, the chairman of a Congressional investigation said Thursday.

The chairman, Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, accused the company of concealing the extent of an earlier collapse in the mine that involved the same high-risk technique, known as retreat mining, that was being used when the disaster began.

Read the rest here.

Coal extraction machine in a West Virginia mine

Too tired to post the tattoo post, but I’ll do tomorrow. Again, if you know of any photographers working with tattoos in an interesting way, leave a comment!

It’s my birthday today and I’ve received some great gifts:

The books, Sophie Calle’s Did You See Me (from the parents), Beate Gütschow’s LS / S (from the leaver), and some Fuji 120 160S film (also from the parents). Thanks guys.

I’m going to go get tattooed for the next 3 hours, and with the result I’ll post some of my favorite tattoo-inspired photography. What’s yours (interpretation open)?