We wake to a Friday after five days of fire in the North Bay. With more than 100 acres scorched, dozens dead, and fires still going. A “hellish” week for those who have had to feel the heat in the flesh.
The ominous smell of smoke lingers over our heads reminding of the loss already had and the impending loss that sparking embers fly with. I know I’m not the only praying that tonight’s cold air helps the firefight.
May tomorrow bring extinguished flames and cleaner air to our region.
–JMG
Not quite in view is a dry ice sculpture by Judy Chicago, executed at the SF MOMA on April 26, 2017. The sculpture spelled out the word TRUTH, then it was lit up with road flares to precipitate the sublimation of the dry ice. The piece is a metaphor for the way “truth” is treated in the current political landscape. From “alternative facts” to “fake news,” the weight and reliability of facts seem to be fleeting more and more. I like the way this picture communicates that nothing but a pink haze is left behind when truth is obliterated.
I’m keeping photos of the actual sculpture in the vault. This sort of documentary photography usually carries more artistic value years after the fact. It was great to work with Judy, Donald, and their crew on this once in a lifetime experience. It was a total honor to touch history with my lens.
–JMG
Those who look closely might find a strong resemblance in this flag to the one planted on the moon by the first Apollo mission. Our lives are so entwined and predicated by ever present patriotism that we often forget that staking flags like this are often acts of domination and statements of power. In this shot concrete and cloth coalesce in a gritty way to draw out the ambivalence of American power, from the colonial period to the post-Industrial present. Depending on where you stand in relation to the colonial difference, one will ether feel pride or disdain when encountering scenes like this.
— JMG
Oakland Photo Journal 