Author: Micole

On December 5th, we went to see The Jungle at St. Anns Warehouse. This play was the most intense and moving production I’ve ever been part of or got the chance to see. The production was so much more than I expected it to be and it was so eye-opening. Previously to our IDC course I had never heard about The Jungle to this extent, I knew of its existence but not much else beside that. To be flooded with so much information about it in a relatively short time made me somewhat uncomfortable but, that’s how we should feel when we hear of things like this. My flood of thoughts and information on this topic made me think of the place itself and how refugees were flooding in whether or not the current inhabitants of The Jungle were ready or not.

One scene in this play that was the most moving, was the last one with the man doing the monologue of his process of seeking asylum in the UK and how he wishes that he could go back to Aleppo and how if he ever did all of us would be welcome. There was something about these final words that made me think about the whole play, it made me think about how we need to be exposed to this so much more than we are, it made me think about our ignorance as Americans, it made me think about myself and my blindness from the rest of the world due to being born here, it made me think of one of my best friends who came here from Aleppo just a few short years before the existence of The Jungle. It made me think of so many things I was so overcome with emotions that I just started to cry.

The truth is, most of us do not know the experiences of the refugees, nor will we ever even begin to know them but, it is our job to understand them, to listen to them, to support them, and to stand in solidarity with them. The reason that particular monologue stood out to me was because the man, the speaker was on stage alone, so we were forced to listen to him and his story. While he was talking he showed us the video of present day Calais where the refugees are still in the area of The Jungle, they have no shelter, they are being actively removed forcibly by the French government. This got me thinking about how even tough he physical place of The Jungle has been removed, the people and the stories are still there. After I thought about France I thought about us, Americans, the US, and I realized that the refugee crisis is here, it’s in our home, it’s at our border right now where people seeking asylum are being tear gassed and dragged away from our country.

After this whole experience, I went and I spoke with my best friend I told him I understood him and that I will never claim to know his experiences but I will always understand the fact that the inside of him has suffered multiple deaths and that I felt so bad that his home now the US turned his real home in Aleppo, Syria into not a home at all. I empathized with him and it was just a whole emotional experience during and after, everything was emotional.

The refugee crisis is here, people are being gassed, children are being shot, and we have the audacity to call ourselves “the greatest country in the world.” I was thinking of this when I heard the sound of gun shots which made me scared and shaky because of my own traumas and I remembered the gun issues in our country and how so many people are affected by them. I wish there would’ve been a trigger warning or something to warn us that there would be sensitive material in the show.

Refugees are here, and they need our help, it is our job to call out our country on it’s wrong and help the people who don’t have everything that we have. It is our job to be the voices of the people who’s voices are currently being silenced by our government. We are the people, we are the voices of the people who need us. The French government is not blameless, the British government is not blameless, the American government is not blameless, the people of the respective countries are not blameless. If we are letting actions in our country slide that should not slide we are to blame. It is never enough to watch something and then make a post on social media and move on with our lives. We have to speak for the people who need us, we need to make them known for the time that they cannot make themselves known, we are responsible for the people who are dying.

I structured this blog post in short thoughts/ paragraphs because these thoughts, these stories are not mine to tell nor are they mine to portray, I am extremely privileged, as are most of us who live freely in this country, the stories of the refugees, their experiences, their survival is not my story so I will not tell it, I will not claim to know it, and I will not comment on them. Those stories are for us to listen to and process individually.  We should always note the last point in the speakers monologue, if he could go home to his city in Aleppo, all of us would be welcomed. Throughout everything that the refugees have been put through, they are still willing to accept people into their home, they are still willing to take responsibility and have empathy for those who need a voice and help. The refugees are doing this and they have died multiple times, we live freely and we still don’t.

The refugee crisis is in France, it is in the UK, it is in almost any country you can think of but, most importantly the refugee crisis is home, we have no excuses, and we are responsible.

Manhattan, Friday:

On Friday’s, I come to Baruch in the morning for the Friday section of my math class which ends at 10:20. After my class, I usually dart to the bus stop to get on the express bus back to Staten Island. This time I didn’t, I thought hey it’s Friday and an adventure never hurt anyone. I walked out of Baruch’s Vertical Campus through the main entrance on 24th Street as I normally do. I began to walk up towards Park Avenue South and I saw the homeless man who’s sign was featured in my photography project. I looked at his sign, briefly thought about the instagram assignment and walked on towards Madison Square Park. I walked through the park heading towards the uptown R train. It’s finally getting cold I thought to myself and internally promised I would start wearing hates to keep my head and ears warm even though, I never do. I walked into the uptown R station and took the train up. The train stopped for an extended period of time at 34th Street so, I got off. The platform I had gotten off onto was relatively empty and the only sounds came from the departing train.

I walked up the stairs and immediately I was greeted by a sound that I knew was a violin from my many years of musical training. I walked all around to find the source of this music, going right, left, and right again. Finally I saw the woman who was playing right near the entrance to the Downtown B,D, F and M train platform. I stopped and leaned against a pole with a Victoria secret advertisement on it, and listened to the woman playing her violin. She was middle aged and her playing was physically soft but the sound she created could fill rooms, and it did. I gave her a dollar while she playing as I thought about my musical career and how I love to play for people. I finally entered the downtown platform that I had been standing near and got on the F train that had just come. I couldn’t decide what stop to get off at so I chose 2nd Avenue, I like even numbers, it seemed like sound logic.

I got off as 2nd Avenue and followed the signs for the Houston Street, Allen Street exit, I had never been here. When I exited, I was welcomed with a crowd of people. They were clearly tourists, huddled around a map, looking at subway lines and pointing to street signs. One woman almost stopped out of the crowd to ask me for directions but then quietly stepped back in. From the exit I headed towards Stanton Street (pictured above) and took a right and headed into what seemed like a park with basketball courts and a play ground for children. There were a few teenage boys playing basketball and I quickly remembered the basketball courts at my high school and seeing the boys and girls playing there. Across from the basketball courts I saw something that caught my eye, an overfilled garbage can that clearly needed to be attended to ( pictured above). I thought about how it was something I would’ve photographed in my photography series. I thought about how the boys playing basketball ignored it even though it was right next to them and how the bystanders also ignored it. I thought how this was just another factor of our everyday lives, trash that was not being attended and producing waste much faster than it can be removed.

Immediately across the street, something I saw when I picked my head up from photographing the garbage can, was a mailbox ( pictured above) It caught my again because again, it was something I would have used for my photography project. I looked at all the graffiti on it in all the different colors and began to think how it was drawn on as if it wasn’t important to us anymore. I thought after this about our electronic society and how we use mail now to only deliver packages that we ordered online. I thought about how people used to write their thoughts on paper and now our thoughts are all in texts floating around somewhere in the digital cloud. As I thought about the cloud, I looked up at the actual clouds and realized that it would be getting dark very soon and that it was probably time to head home.

Sunday in Staten Island:

On Sunday’s, I work at my neighborhood bakery that has been around since 1892. I had been going to this bakery since I was a child and knew everyone that worked there, it was a staple of our neighborhood. After leaving work at 6PM even though it felt like 10PM by how dark it was outside, I decided to take a detour home instead of taking my 5 minute straight walk home. From the bakery I walked straight down Arthur Kill Road instead of my usually right on Gurley Avenue. I walked by some houses, houses I had seen frequently when driving by them to go places. These houses always gave me an unfamiliar yet familiar feeling. I knew them by appearance but I never knew the people inside, if they had been the same people for years, I wouldn’t have known, I didn’t know their stories or where they came from. In front of one of these houses which I noticed was close to the corner of Arthur Kill Road and Elverton Avenue was a campaign sign for Max Rose for Congress( pictured above). This is seemingly normal but, not for South Shore Staten Island, I live in a conservative neighborhood and my area’s politicians have always been strictly Republican so, this sign gave me a little hope and made me think about change and betterment for my community. As I kept walking straight towards Colon Avenue I was looking down while listening to fun.’s Some Nights album and I noticed someone’s home and I noticed their tiny entry area that seemed to be extremely worn out ( pictured above). While the rock was rust colored and cement colored I was focusing on the tiny pieces of nature underneath. The grass was bright green under the light and the bright red leaves stood out from the other crumpled brown ones. I started to think about nature, about seasons, about the quick passing of time and how it truly waits for no man. I thought about how I just started my first semester of college and how it is already over. Lost in my reflective thoughts, I hadn’t realized that I had walked all the way back home.

My niece having her first willing interaction with another child at a children’s reading and music event.

First, I chose this picture because and to capture it because this is my niece and she is very cute but also, she usually on most occasions refuses to interact with other children but, this was the first time she willingly interacted with another child her age. I thought this was much more important to capture than myself.

I attend this small library event with my niece, it was a reading of children’s literature after which followed a small music session with plastic kid instruments. This event in my local Staten Island library features the neighborhood children and their moms, dads, grandmothers, basically anyone that is willing to take their energetic toddler outside to the library. Many families are regulars and take part organizing each weekends event. Many moms take turns reading the book to the children and leading the session. Usually, the moms will read Dr. Seuss or a Sesame Street book or something very popular among the toddler audience but, this time was very different. This time the local Staten Island mom chose to read “What Do You Do With A Problem?” by Kobi Yamada. When I heard this title, it didn’t seem like a book that would be popular amongst a 2-4 year old audience, on a Saturday morning in the library. However, it was much different than I thought it would be. When she started to read, all the children were suddenly quiet, still, and very attentive, a state that I have not seen my niece in before. When she was reading, she would quickly read over the text at the bottom of each page, but that is not what kept the children so focused. It was her description of the images. She would specifically hold up the book and point to each image, showing the children what they should be focused on. She would point out small things in the illustrations rather than having the children focus on the whole image. She would point out the boy’s spike hair and how his umbrella matched his hair in the spikes and the color. She would point out that the boy in the illustrations was always caring a backpack. With her words she would always point to what she was describing helping to engage the children. She would even have the children come up and point to things like the boys backpack or his umbrella or his backpack. The colors in the illustrations were not particularly noticeable they were closer to dark tones and earth tones which I thought would be a problem for toddlers but her description of the purple sky and the boys characteristics and the continuities within the illustrations seemed to keep the children engaged. With each page, some children would point out saying “oh there is his backpack” or “there is his umbrella”, the reader gave the children something to look for in each page which kept them engaged. Personally, hearing something being so dramatized forced me to come out of my head and forced me to think beyond my own reading voice. It was different to see someone reading at me instead of my own reading voice reading at myself. It sort of took an inside experience and made it an outside experience. The gestures that the reader made changed my visualization of images and changed the way I see images now and the way I read imaginative words. When I read Open City, I imagined Teju Cole pointing to all the places he went which emphasized those images in my head and helped me remember them. Also, going to a public reading helped me realize that there is a whole sphere of reading beyond my head which made me fell kind of small, but really fascinated me at the same time, showing me that there is another whole way to understand readings and visualize them for this matter. All in all, definitely an enlightening experiencing and a good way to see how children in my area are engaged and being exposed to a new sphere of understanding, while seeing my niece come out of her shell!

The Street photographs, Shirley Baker

Shirley Baker ( 1932-2014) was a British photographer who was known for photographing the post- war, working class people of inner city areas. She was intrigued with photographing the places that most ordinary people easily overlooked. This photo found in an e-portfolio titled The Street photographs pictures just the topic that intrigued her and thus came on to intrigue me. Initially, you see here children who are playing jump rope with an adult, possibly one of their relatives. The children and the older man all look extremely happy as if that moment in their life was just the happiest they ever experienced. The older man is delightfully watching the girl in the middle jumping rope while the girl on the end turning the rope, the girl jumping in the middle, and the girl who is holding the mans hand are all looking at the camera and thus at us, at the viewers. That is the studium, the children are happy they are doing something outside that makes them happy, something they like to do, something that in the intrigue of the photographer is easily overlooked. No one, looking in from the side will think so deeply about children jumping rope however, the photographer captures that particular moment, in the action of jumping rope, that shows that such a simple and easily overlooked activity makes these children so happy especially during a time and place that isn’t so happy. However, that only covers the general interest. Here, personally the punctum is the two children in the back who seem to be walking. They are on the same side of the sidewalk as the children jumping rope but they are farther down the sidewalk, fairly close to the street. These children seem to be headlining for the street yet they are unattended, they seem to have no one watching them while they are outside, much less walking towards the street. It seems like every child in this picture has an adult that is supervising them except for those two children in the back. There is nothing to indicate that children should or can be going outside without supervision. It sparks thought about their stories and their lives because, we in this time period are not used to seeing unsupervised children. So, there is definitely thought of what could be different about them and what is there need to be outside, and since they are outside why are they outside together but not being watched, is there trust that because they are together they don’t need to be supervised, what is going on beyond this frame that we don’t know about?  Also, they seem like they’re boys and the rest of the children in the picture look like girls, so it could be entirely possible that because they are boys they don’t need to be supervised. Whichever the explanation is for this, it explains the intrigue of the photographer because to us now, seeing unsupervised children is uncommon but, here it seems to be just another aspect that is easily overlooked.

Untitled,  Robert Gober (2000-2001)

This piece was displayed in the David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea. Although most people chose some piece of art that was hanging up, I chose this one for its unique qualities and the way it would stand out amongst the rest. This particular piece that has no title was simply just displayed in the middle of a room with hanging pieces of art around it. It is also made of uncommon materials like human hair and beeswax. This pieces seems to be a sculpture that is encompassed in a wooden basket which represents the purposeful unity of all the parts of the sculpture ( body parts, shoes, cans, toothpaste), they are all meant to be together. The first thing that clearly stands out about this piece is the dismantled body parts, it half a woman’s chest and half a man’s chest put together to look as part of one body, and opposite each other. Between them are textured lines, that also seem to run throughout the whole work, to symbolize that the two sides are in a way being wrinkled together. There is a drain right in the middle of the work possibly to symbolize that whether it be body parts or shoes or chains, eventually everything is going down the drain. To the right and left of the combined chests are pieces of what visibly are shoes, cans, and parts of a toothpaste tube. These objects are opposite each other on both sides of the chests similar to the parts of the chests as well which are also opposite each other. In a way, this piece is a reflection of it self, because should you cut it down the middle, each side would represent a reflection of the other. Another notable detail is the shoes, cans, and toothpaste tube all look wrinkled and worn as if they have been discarded and considered garbage. The juxtaposition of the body parts with what looks like garbage really brings attention to that fact that whether its our body parts, or pieces of garbage, it will all decompose together and end up at the same place as part of the earth.

The environment of this piece was rather of a typical art gallery, the walls were white and the paintings were hung on the walls with just enough space for each piece of art to breathe and be unique.  However, because everything around this piece was hanging and this piece was just sitting on the floor, it added an aspect of estrangement. Usually, gallery floors are left empty so that spectators can walk around and view the art from different points in the room. As well, the floor is usually left empty to leave room for each piece or art to breathe or speak.  However here, not only was the floor black, a complete contrast to the walls but the floor also had this piece of art on it which helped draw immediate attention to it, as if the completely black contrasting color wasn’t enough. The piece being placed in this environment easily could make the spectator hesitant to approach it since, it looks like it doesn’t belong since the gallery floor is almost always left empty.

In this case, the gallery environment made this piece seem strange and out of place, which is adjacent to it’s subject matter. Had other pieces been placed on the floor it would’ve been different but, this piece was the only thing on the otherwise empty floor and amongst otherwise hanging pieces of art. The environment here distorts our perspective of the art because, before viewing it, it already gives us a sense of misplacement and discomfort. Before viewing the piece, we already feel weird about it, so we are naturally inclined to believe that the subject matter is meant to make us feel uncomfortable, which in this case, it does even if the environment didn’t set us up for it.

Drowning Liberty

The last time we had class, we were on our way to see a piece of public art titled Link. On our way, we encountered this piece that was used as an advertisement for the company Soda Stream but, was actually a brilliant piece of public art. Essentially, this piece is a rectangular metal, with horizontal and vertical lines creating a sort of barricade for all the garbage inside of it. Inside this box, are various containers of drinks, plastic bottles from water, soda cans, and many other drinks that we encounter on a daily basis. They were put their in such a way where plastic clear water bottles take up most of the space and there are pops of color from things like iced tea bottles with blue wrappers and red soda cans. On top of all this waste is the statue of liberty as it appears regularly just in smaller size, still holding her torch and her book as she always has been. However, the bottom half of the statue is immersed in all the waste. Essentially for advertisement purposes, it shows how we are drowning our land and most prized land marks in garbage from all the waste we produce. However, the meaning could be much deeper, with all the talk about deportation, building walls, and closing our borders to people coming in and out, it could represent that we are drowning our own values that the Statue of Liberty represents by saying all this “garbage”. Get it?

The environment was perfect for both purposes. Looking at the art as you see in the picture, behind it was the Flat Iron Building ( if you look from a slightly different angle, it will look like the statue is standing up against the building) as well as the stands that the Soda Stream company set up to sell their product, and many other New York City buildings that are structured brilliantly and add to the city scene behind the piece. In front of it was the plaza where people were talking, eating, and apparently filming The Bachelor in Paradise. To the left was Madison Square Park and to the left was the piece Link that we originally set up to see. The piece was in a densely populated public place which was perfect for the company and also perfect for showing that there is so many people and diversity to celebrate and encourage but we are instead now saying that diversity is not good for us and thus we should close ourselves off to the world, which of course drowns the virtues and values that Lady Liberty stands for.

In this case, the environment augments how we see the painting. The Soda Stream stands in front of it augment the view that we produce so much waste and garbage from our drinks that soon we will literally drown all of our space and precious land marks in it. The city scene behind the art and all the active, diverse population surrounding the statue augmented the view that we should celebrate our diverse population and embrace newcomers that contribute to it instead of drowning the values and virtues that our nation stands for with our actions.

Barthelemy Prieur, Lion Devouring a Doe

The painting above is titled Lion Devouring a Doe ( that is exactly what the sculpture depicts so, very original title!). It was sculpted by an artist named Barthelemy Prieur, who was a French Artist and lived from 1536 to 1611. Though the artist himself was French, this sculpture in particular is mostly inspired by works that were created in Italy at the time. It is said that the artist studied art in Rome in his youth which would explain the influence of Italian art in this sculpture. In fact, this sculpture is almost a copy of an Italian sculpture ( also on display at The Frick), where a lion is devouring a horse that is resisting the lion. Here, the horse though is replaced by a much less resisting and rather powerless doe. So, though the artist is French, the sculpture is heavily influenced by Italian Renaissance art, because of this it is predicted that the sculpture was made in the late 1500’s ( predicted to be 1583, or slightly before). This particular sculpture was made out of bronze, as was the inspiration for this sculpture by the Italian artist (Giovanni Francesco Susini) that depicted the horse instead of the doe.

In this sculpture, the lion is noticeably ferocious looking as a lion normally looks, which makes this lion look more realistic than some of the pieces we viewed in class. Almost immediately you notice the lion’s mane which is very textured to look like real fur, and it is depicted in a way in which when looked at you almost already know what that fur would feel like if you were to actually touch it. To me, it looks a lot like the hair of the beast from Beauty and the Beast. Taking a closer look, the eyes of the lion looks very vicious,  one of the eyes is looking more towards the viewer while the other is looking to the side, notice that neither of the lion’s eyes are looking at the doe which is being devoured, which makes the lion look somewhat apathetic. As well, the lion’s body looks very muscular which is strange for the metallic medium of the sculpture which is rather rigid but, here is used to created rather muscular limbs and body which, give the lion a heavily powerful look. The lion’s claws/ nails are heavily emphasized so though you cannot see the teeth the paw that is on the doe has very visibly sharp claws on it that can do a lot of damage to the pray.  As well, though the teeth are not visible, what is visible is sort of bite marks on the doe’s body that indicate the lion’s teeth are able to do fatal damage when used to devour.  Lastly, the dimensions of the lion in comparison to the dimensions of the doe are much bigger which is used to emphasize the point that the lion is superior in the situation and is generally a powerful animal when it comes to the action of devouring.