I was here . . .
After the recent election I posted Word on the Street, a photograph I took in the late
summer of 2010.
I thought it a particularly stunning work of graffiti art - I loved the brilliant colours,
the bright rays of hope invested in the election of the youthful Barack Obama.
The shading and the shadows, the highlights of nostalgia covered a long stretch of Lower
East Side wall. Whether or not you agree that America made the right choice back in 2008 or now,
Chico's exuberant confidence sits in Obama's raised right hand, a deft signature of urban artistry.
The wonderful Charles from the Bronx, who regularly entertains with his
Mostly Bright Ideas asked me where in the city was this graffiti? I knew where it was
but, was it still there? I had to go and look . . .
This is what I found -
Graffiti comes and goes, Obama had his time in the LES sunshine -
Like Chico, I moved on and wondered further down the Lower East Side through Alphabet City
to Houston Street and the petrol station where the NYPD regulated the traffic queuing to fill
empty tanks because of disruption to supplies by Hurricane Sandy.
The man on the bicycle rode in from Queens, eleven miles "looking for gas. I got kids I gotta get
to school. And then there's my job . . ."
Behind the wall proclaiming The War I fell into a hole of blissful solitude . . . and here is
where I was.
Where? Downtown, straddled on one side by the constant traffic of Houston St and the large
growing piles of garbage waiting for collection not only from East 2nd St but every street
in town. Sanitation trucks were busy with Sandy business.
Where?
Here!
Where sometimes you find what you didn't know you were looking for . . .
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amazing! never would have guessed anything like this. what a find!
I keep forgetting to mention how disorientating it was leaving the garden behind and going back out into the streets! I had forgotten where I was!
A nice series of images, all summing up the same moment in very different ways. 🙂
Thank you CK, the layers of this city are never ending!
You are the Bill Cunningham of our time!
Now you mention it I snapped BC at work, not so long ago in the aftermath of Sandy. How’s that for dedication to fashion!
(He didn’t seem pleased to see me . . .)
Wow. in-freakin-credible. Are you sure you’re not part camera hybrid?
Is this a good thing or a bad thing Tom? Help!
Always nice to go on a discovery tour with a camera, particularly when you find something you weren’t looking for. Very nice post.
Thank you Otto. I often think I take too many photographs but then I am grateful to catch certain sights before they disappear …
what all different subjects you have captured 🙂
This happens too easily here!
Graffiti comes and goes – thanks for your “before / after”-document!
The good, the bad and the ugly!
Thank you Patti for another visit to the most amazing city on earth.
How great that you can find a place like the garden in the heart of the city where you can “forget” where you are. Great updates. Having easy access to gasoline – something we take for granted. I never thought about having to go so far to just get gasoline. Amazing.
Fantastic post – I love how your writing complements your images..and what a great find in the middle of the city!
Wonderful place you have there Patti , Great photography my friend 🙂
Maybe the ephemeral nature of graffiti is a part of what makes it so magical…
I love the ‘secret garden’, too, of course (speaking of magic)…
more camera magic, Ms. K – and I wouldn’t have expected anything else!
🙂
Aha! Wondered when you were going to reveal your location. What an idyllic and engrossing spot. Your photographs are great, but I love the quadruple portrait for being seemingly straightforward, but so emotionally complex. Great post.
Le Petite Versailles is realy a magical place. Love the pictures.
wow, Patti – such a fascinating discovery. A city of wondrous complexity.
You managed to find some interesting places, Patti 🙂
“Life in the City” is what this is! Simply wonderful Patti … capturing history and life through your lens. 🙂 Tweeting now 🙂
So that’s where you were! It is indeed an incredible city – so young (relatively) and yet so diverse and full of character. Needless to say, I enjoyed our little stroll … 🙂
La Petite Versailles is a secret garden. Fabulous. In the heart of NYC. Love your photos Patti.
Great post Patti. Wonderful collection of pictures. Each one is different from the other in its own way. Excellent work once again.
The most wonderful thing of all — to find that which you didn’t know you were looking for, until the moment you found it.
wow, what a treasure.
question – would you be able to find your way here again?
but at the right time, i suppose you would.
thanks for sharing.
Ah, you capture the spirit of the city well – from the guys with their gas cans to the details in the garden. And I love that you documented that wall before and after – i wonder how long before something else appears there?
A lot has changed since Obama’s first predidential win. People who were so optimistic and for him, became his second biggest group of critics (right after the Tea Party) when they soon realized that he and his administration was unable to reverse the colossal economic damage America sustained in a four year term.
Now that he has been re-elected, I woder if the muralist has or will create a new political piece on that wall or another one. After Obama’s first hellish term, the artist will have to show more of those new grey hairs.
Indeed grafitti comes and goes. I wish it’s the same with the sequelae of politics and the choices we make. Unfortunately those have a more longer complications as captured in your images. Thanks for sharing these pictures and capturing a world a lot of us may have missed. Have a great weekend my friend.