Author: Andrew Ziska

On Wednesday, December 5th at 7:30 pm, I witnessed one of the most dramatic and moving performances I have ever seen. I don’t know if it was from the way the stage was right in the audience’s face, so you could see the acting up close and personal. I don’t know if it was because it was in an old factory building in my hometown borough of Brooklyn. It might have even been because the stage and setting included real video recordings, moving ceilings, and props that caused you to jump out of your seat. No, the most moving part of the entire performance was the determination that the different countries in the camp had to keep on living, and how the French government pushed them out regardless.

When Sam first read them the government’s eviction notice, and how they would need to relocate an entire half of the camp. 800 homes. Over 2,000 people had to uproot their lives and move to the other side of the camp and live uncomfortably with others way too close for comfort. They basically lived on top of each other and were unable to properly relieve themselves. Still, they were able to uproot their lives in just three days. They were able to conform to the government’s requests and not six weeks later, they were not only evicted again, but forcibly removed.

This was extremely moving to me not only because the actors were extremely convincing, but because of the way the entire play was formulated. They play included so many different emotionally capturing moments. For example, they included actual footage from the events in 2016 such as a baby dead on a beach shore, or news coverage of what was happening in the camp. The use of actual footage strengthened how far the refugees had come to freedom and how willing they were to listen to the French government. As well as the stories told by different refugees such as Okult about how they were tortured by the police officers, but still they persevered and tried to get into the U.K. All of these stories and footage and “in your face” acting built up my feelings for each of the characters. And after all they did, after making it as far as the refugee camp, after relocating half of the camp so that the government would not evict them, they still were targeted and evicted. Their stories were so memorable and the fact that this was an actual event that took place and is still taking place, is the reason why I remembered this part the most.

In this exhibit, Martha Rosler takes 5 pictures that Americans would have considered to be normal or very ordinary. It is visible that there are portions of the pieces that are in color and other portions that are in black and white. Rosler’s first piece is titled “Cleaning the Drapes” and it depicts a woman cleaning her drapes with a vacuum and the woman, drapes, and vacuum are all in color, however what is outside the window is in black and white. This is very experimental because it combines two types of photography within the same medium: black and white vs color. This experimentation is purposely attracting attention to the differences between the two styles of photographs. In the second photo it is easier to see because it shows a kitchen with countertop and regular household necessities such as bowls, cups, and dishes. All of the kitchen objects are pictured in bright colors such as white and red and in the background there is even a red and white stripe across the wall. However, upon further investigation, there are two men depicted in dark colors such as green and grey, suggesting that they do not belong. This is shown in the next three photos as well where there are people in settings of a regular American household, however it is a combination of normal and abnormal. In most of Rosler’s pieces, the “regular” American life is depicted in color while the background depicts a darker image that obviously doesn’t belong. This is how Rosler’s exhibit of “House Beautiful” is considered experimental and avant-garde.

Martha Rosler’s collection of “House Beautiful” was compiled over 6 years and used as propaganda to influence Americans’ views against the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was considered the “first living-room war” because there were reporters and journalists and video cameras in Vietnam reporting back to the home front. This is important because it gave the American people a direct look into what was happening overseas and allow them to think they were apart of the war themselves. Rosler takes this idea and amplifies it by taking uncensored images of soldiers and natives in Vietnam. In the first photo, a woman is cleaning her drapes, but outside the window, there are men stationed in barracks made of sandbags and armed with guns. The second photo shows two men searching for something in the background of a kitchen, and suggests that they are searching for hidden bombs or landmines. In the third photo, two parents are playing with their kid on a bed but the walls around them are destroyed and the windows are boarded up from what was assumed to be an explosion. The fourth and fifth photos in the exhibit might be the most disturbing. In the fourth photo, it shows a woman in yellow in her very colorful and luxurious living room however, in a picture frame above the fire place, there seems to be a young woman in a great deal of pain. It even seems as if she was hurt multiple times in her torso either from a knife or from gunshots. In the fifth and final photo, Rosler takes a different view than from her previous photos. Instead of having a distinct colorful forefront and then the disturbing image in the background, she flips the idea. The forefront has a Vietnamese man holding his baby, who is injured and has blood dripping from its neck. It is obvious that these 5 photographs are purposely political against the Vietnam War because Rosler is placing serious and disturbing images in pictures that Americans believe to be “safe”. By combining these two pictures, Rosler creates medium that challenges the support of the Vietnam War.

House Beautiful c. 1967-72 Artist- Martha Rosler

And so, I departed my room on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on 97th street. As I exited through the revolving doors, the cold Autumn air hit my face hard causing me to throw my hands in my pockets and tighten my hold on my own body. I began to walk downtown, but not 10 paces in front of me before I heard a man beg me for money. Quickly, almost instinctively, I shook my head at him, not even breaking stride. As I looked at the halal cart on that corner, I wondered the question that has eluded mayors, governors, presidents: how do we get people off the streets and into shelters, homes, and jobs. What is it that we can do to help people who are in need. I hurried across the busy 96th street intersection as the light was for the cars and I made it just before their light turned green.

My attention was shifted from that of the homeless crisis in New York City to a very innocent dog leashed to its owner. It walked with pompous and was practically walking its person. It was brief, but any sight of a dog always brings me happiness, confidence, and joy no matter what my state of mind is at the moment.

My feet carried me beneath one of the millions of scaffoldings in New York City. It always seems like this city is under construction and being repaired and nothing is ever working. But my mind began to ponder the thought, “If the city is under construction all the time, is that good or bad? Does it mean that nothing in this city works, and that it is in constant need of repair? Or does it remind people in the hustling bustling New York City moment that this city is always striving to be better than the past?” These questions kept repeating in my mind for the next couple of blocks as the corner stores and delis receded and in their place, passed Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks, giving me the reassurance that I was indeed nearing the fast paced, commercialized 86th street.

To get away from this, I made a quick right that would put me onto Lexington Avenue, and as I walked along the two way street, many cars honked and many people yelled. It wasn’t music to my ears, but it was my New York City white noise. The cars’ engines revving, the loud honks, the exclaims of unhappy pedestrians, the light footsteps of people on the sidewalk. It’s been apart of my life since I could remember and as I recollected on my childhood, I spun-move around a woman that was exiting a restaurant. It was a basketball-like spin move and I finished it off with a fake scoop layup off my left leg with my right leg bent to my hip. With a smile on my face, I went back to normally walking. I love making strangers on the street smile from my random, unorthodox ways of getting around people. I suddenly got a burst of energy and began to speed up my walking, and rerouted my path from the regular sidewalk to walking along the curb near the street-trees and dips of the sidewalk for commercial driveways. I passed so many people with my brisk walking and kept listening. I saw a man in a tailored suit yell for a cab going in the direction of downtown; I saw an older man sitting on a bench reading the newspaper. I saw myself in these men. Not really, but I hope to become a man that will be successful and be busy, like the man in the suit. But I also hope to be like the older man, being able to leisurely read a newspaper in the middle of the afternoon. We’ll see who I become, but for now, I’ll continue walking among New York City.

It was a warm but windy Halloween night on the Lower East Side. The streets were bustling with people just getting out of work and the clothing stores were starting to fill up. The doors of clubs and bars were beginning to be guarded by a velvet rope accompanied by a large man, waiting to permit patrons to enter. But on Chrystie Street across from Roosevelt Park, stood a small coffee shop: Dixon Place. It was calm, quiet, and inviting. It didn’t have a single piece of Halloween decor and instead, it was Broadway themed. There was a stage with curtains on the wall to give the feeling of a Broadway stage and there were abstract paintings along the walls.

Inside were about 6-10 people, all dressed in a range from casual to semi-formal. I saw my friends Teona and Rushab waiting for me with an empty seat for me to sit in, and shortly after, Yussef showed up. Our chairs were set up to face the stage and free water was being served  during the readings. There was a pile of advertisements for Dixon Place that showed the Fall Guerilla Lit Reading events. On October 31st, there were three readers: Laura Catherine Brown, Brian Leung, and Jacob M. Appel. One particular reader, Jacob M. Appel, caught my attention the most.

Jacob was the first author to read. He was dressed in a blue shirt, blue jeans, and a black hoody. He had long, dark, curly hair. He started his reading by describing a time when he and his girlfriend wanted to have a pet. Jacob wanted a dog, preferably a Doberman Pincher and his girlfriend wanted a baby. He comically then said “so we compromised and got a hedgehog”. He was very calm and laid back when he gave his reading. He was slouching, had one hand in the pocket of his jeans with the other hand keeping the book open with his thumb in the binding so he could see both pages. He shifted the book a bit when he went from the left page to the right page, giving me the idea that maybe one of his eyes are stronger than the other when he read. He fluctuated the first syllable whenever he said his girlfriend’s name, Adeline. He did not change his tone for any other word except his girlfriend’s name. He went on to talk about how Adeline did not believe the hedgehog was happy where it was and that they should hire a pet therapist to see if it was anything serious. Jacob described that he was not as eager as his girlfriend to hire this therapist and in a heated argument, he finally gave in. When they met with the therapist, Jacob realized that he treated both humans and animals in the same office and found this very peculiar. This is when Jacob said “I will stop here. Thank you very much” and I remembered that I wasn’t watching him and his girlfriend fight about their hedgehog in New York City, but in-fact I was still sitting with everyone in Dixon Place and began clapping along with the small crowd attending. I was entranced by his use of syntax and laid back tone that I forgot I was in a coffee shop at 7:30 on Halloween night. I thoroughly enjoyed his reading.

I spoke with Jacob after all the authors finished reading and asked how long it took to write his book and if he’d written anything else. He told me that it took him about six months to a year to write his book and he gave me an answer to my second question but I can’t remember the titles. But I know he had written more books. He told me that he was a chef in a small restaurant but to my surprise, he did not want me to come by because he said they still needed to get some things figured out. Nonetheless, he enjoyed talking with me, as did I, and he gave me a copy of the book that he read. He reached into a large sack of books and pulled one out that had “Einstein’s Beach House Stories” written by him. I really liked Jacob’s reading and intend on reading his full book.

Untitled (New York, NY 1974) Photo taken by: Elliot Erwitt(July 26, 1928-Present)

Elliot Erwitt’s mission when taking photos was to show the viewer a perspective that had eluded their sight before. Erwitt was born in France, but being born from Jewish-Russian parents at that time, they emigrated to Italy. Finally, at the age of 10, Erwitt and his family emigrated to the U.S. After studying photography in California and working as a photographer’s assistant in 1951 during the war, Erwitt gained a lot of experience taking photos of people, families, and photographs from peculiar angles. He was given the opportunity to photograph important figures such as Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow.

The photograph taken above is not of a famous person and not of a family portrait, but of a pair of paws, feet, and a small dog. Previously stated, Erwitt’s mission is to show the viewer a perspective that they would not have thought about previously which is why I chose this is the photo in his collection that grabbed me the most.

The studium seems to be that Erwitt wanted to show the perspective a small dog in New York City in the year 1974. The studium is of a New York City street that includes a cobblestone road with foliage in the background. There are leaves on the ground and the figure in the middle seems to be wearing a large coat and boots; suggesting that the season is fall. To me, Erwitt wanted to capture how different the world is for a small dog than that of a larger being and this is supported by the angle at which Erwitt chooses to take this photograph. Not only did he have to get close to the ground, but he also decided to cut off the left two figure’s upper bodies. This emphasizes that the studium is not only of a New York city street during the fall, but also from the perspective of a small animal.

For me, the punctum, the object that draws my attention beyond the image, is that of the dog’s clothes. The dog is dressed in a flamboyant striped hat along with what seems to be a knitted coat with pom poms near its neck area. Before I saw this dog’s clothing, I just saw the long paws on the left, a person with high boots in the middle, and a small dog looking directly into the camera on the right. The dog’s clothing leads me to presume that the owner cares about the dog’s appearance and may even be of higher status to dress a dog in such vibrant clothing. Elliot Erwitt’s style and angle of this photo helped me to see New York City in a different light.

As my partner and I took refuge in the Garth Greenan Gallery from the rain, we were surrounded by white walls with paintings, sculptures, and abstract art. There were mostly paintings on the walls but there were a few sculptures that glistened in the florescent white lights. Many of the first paintings in the gallery seemed to be very intricate, with many styles of painting and colors to contrast the different pieces of artwork. As I moved through the gallery, I noticed that the pieces were in a chronological order; starting from the oldest piece in the gallery all the way to the most modern paintings and sculptures. This piece resided in a side room on the first floor of the gallery and as soon as you walk into the room, you notice that it shares the white wall with a painting much like itself, and also created by the same artist. I did not take a picture of the pair though because only the painting on the right caught my eye. This painting, created by Leonor Fini, seemed as if it was popping out of the frame to jump out of the black background and enter the world that I was in. I looked at the piece and immediately thought it was of a woman in a dress, but upon further inspection, I had a countering thought that maybe this person could be a warrior of some sort. Starting from the bottom of the painting, this person is upon a pedestal, as if to imply they are a person of great importance. Their boots are geometrically perfect in that they are the same height, width, and symmetrical in every way. Each boot has two semicircles that look like protractors that stop just halfway above the shin. The upper legs of this figure are stout and strong. There are triangles all of the piece, and the figure is holding one in their right hand, with a tape measure wrapped around their wrist. The right arm is straight and relaxed. The left arm is bent and the hand is located on their hip. On both arms, there are triangular shapes on the elbows and shoulders, as well as tape measures on their wrists, and compasses circling their upper arm. The figure’s left elbow protrudes the borders of the painting as well as the right hand holding the triangular object. The figure’s dress covers the entire torso and the upper legs. The ruffles of the dress have protractor-like images towards the end and right above them are tape measures aligned in a “V” formation around the figure’s waist. The design on the torso is completely symmetrical and curves towards the shoulders just like the collarbone would. The necklace that they are wearing is tight around their neck and has a ring attached to it. Their eyes are looking down and to their right with nostrils flared but no expression. The figure’s hair is curly and done upwards around a crown in a shape similar to the design of the dress.

This painting brought the room’s dimensions of the gallery into consideration and helped me appreciate the geometry and architecture of the building. Likewise, the white walls around the piece contrasted the colors so that it was more prominent.

My friends and I were walking home from the Macaulay Honors Building and came across this wonderful sculpture. This is a sculpture of a famous sled dog named Balto. The bronze sculpture glistened in the sunlight and reflected off of its fur. Balto is standing on a rock that is risen about 8 feet above the ground and along with that, he is placed on a pedestal. Balto is positioned so that he is sitting with his hind legs bent underneath him and his front legs straight and firm. His fur is layered and near his shoulders, there are many ruffles of fur. His mouth is open with his tongue out. His eyes are welcoming and ears are up and alert.

I used to watch the movie depicting Balto as the hero of Alaska during a disease outbreak and always dreamed of seeing the statue of him in Central Park, but never knew where to look. It was funny that I stumbled upon the statue, which was around a bend of the trail. Walking from west to east, he is closer to the east side. Balto seemed to actually be standing there on that rock like a hero and not just a frozen statue. He brought hope to the children in Alaska and his legacy lives on among the people of New York City.

Marble Right-Hand Short Side of a Sarcophagus

Roman, Severan, 220 A.D.

The first thing that catches my attention is the lion biting the deer’s head. Then I noticed a person behind the lion, raising their hand almost as if they are trying to order the lion to do something. The person has short curly hair, is wearing a type of robe, and holding a staff-like object. From my perspective, this person seems to be of low status such as a sheep herder. The lion takes up most of the basin. It has a tail thats end is out of our vision. Its hind feet are tensed and you can visually see its muscles on its leg. As we follow the tensed muscles up its back, we may not notice that their is no waves of hair on it. The lion’s fur is flat and you cannot see the sea of hairs on its body. Now, its mane is extremely detailed. There are many hairs going in separate directions and almost seems to resemble the same hair on  the person’s head. There are small holes above the lion’s eyes to resemble eyebrows and they are raised so it looks to be angry. The eyes itself are not looking at the deer but instead into the distance, almost like it is staring at the viewer. Its nostrils are flared and the formation of the nose is extremely distinct. It does not look like a dog or a human, but an actual lion’s face. Its teeth are sunken into the deer’s head, but the front two teeth are visible to the viewer. The lion is represented in a position of power and intimidation. I believe that this lion is presented on a bathing basin in order to be scary or intimidating.  If a person is bathing, they are very vulnerable so the lion is placed on the basin to “protect” the vulnerable person and look out in the distance for potential intruders. This is my interpretation of the lion sculpture on the basin.