Wall art

It just keeps getting more intense for me - the more I look for these sorts of images, the more I see. That’s not really surprising, now that I think of it. Yet I’m surprised. Part of the reason these images are standing out is a more aggressive post-processing approach. That’s another way of saying that what was on the wall was not as intense or dramatic as what we see here. But what we see is what was there, just a tweak to contrast and a bit to saturation. So it’s real in its own way.

More important for me is remembering the act of capturing these images. I walk along the Neponset River bikeway that parallels the Ashmont-Mattapan trolley tracks, looking at the decaying retaining walls, seeing abstractions of texture and color. And yes, it’s infrastructure. It’s falling apart. And it’s beautiful. And it’s a problem. How do we look at these signs of decay and see the beauty but also the call to action they represent?

I’m not sure what the answer is but I know that this work, started many years ago but blooming now, calls on me to figure it out! I’m surely open to your thoughts on this - comment below!