Wednesday, January 11, 2012

All

so far. 



They seem to look like more in person. 

Anyway, Philly must have stronger gravity because everything ends up on the ground.  Whatever it is, generally speaking its too heavy or too much of a burden for anyone to carry anything to a trash can.  Or maybe there is a lack of pockets in the pants and jackets of residents of Philadelphia.  Being here and walking everywhere allows me to analyze the behavior of the people simply by the things they leave behind.  Rubber bands, scratch off lotto tickets, broken headphones, expired bus passes, shadows from discarded chewing gum.

The rubber bands became apparent to me when a friend of mine pointed them out one evening walking around Old City.  I began to notice them everywhere, as he said would happen.  Immediately the bands became something I had to solve and realized the postman was dropping them at almost every mailbox. Once you start to notice the rubber bands it is hard to stop seeing them.  I have friends scooping up discarded rubber bands for me and contributing to the growing pile.

Objects in the street, both the things we use and don't use, serve a purpose.  If we use them or have ever use them, they have the ability to trigger a memory or offer a sense of nostalgia.  The familiarity of things in our day to day can give us a feeling of belonging and place.