Orange Wall, Smudged Paint

Cozumel, Mexico (Artist Statement)

Orange Wall, Smudged Paint: Cozumel, Mexico (2010) - Abstract urban photograph showing smudges of grey paint on a crumbling orange concrete wall

There was a grey window frame in the doorway next to this orange wall, and some careless painter had smeared his fingers and daubed his brush, leaving streaks of hieroglyphics like messages to some foreign hobo. On this Mexican island, I was reminded of the old Japanese war posters inviting young men to fight. Streaked in the plaster were the smoky parades, the pomp and gesture and nationalism, and the final flights through the sunrise.

I photographed the smudged wall close up, separating the figures through the scene like departing planes. Scratches crackle into the distance like missiles, dripped paint plummets like bombs – but 70 years away in Mexico, all is quiet, the air is warm, and I am privileged to sit in a quiet doorway and read the mysterious writing left for me there.

— Orange Wall, Smudged Paint: Cozumel, Mexico (2010)

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