ANOTHER reason to bomb the Middle East

a couple weeks ago I found two instances of this stencil on college street west (one of them has since been painted over… boo-urns). I knew this new one at College and Spadina had been there for a while, but I only got around to photographing it now. Shut up, I’m busy.

this dude came up to me as I was photographing it and asked who the person depicted was. I said i didn’t know. The dude then went on to say that he was from the Middle East and that this piece intrigued him.

people are always coming up to me when i’m photographing graffiti, asking questions and commenting on stuff. I kind of like it. In fact, I encourage more of it! Every day people walk down the street, and they are either looking down at their feet, or their eyes are covered by shades, and their ears are plugged with music. they cut themselves off from the experience of BEING IN THEIR OWN CITY.

in Weimar Germany, the act of experiencing ones own city was known as Flânerie – whereby you “make the familiar strange” by REALLY looking at your city and all the ephemeral experiences one can have in a given moment, in a given spot, that may not ever occur again.

if more people kept their eyes open and their wits about them, they wouldn’t have to rely on the odd sight of a girl like me photographing A WALL for them to see what they otherwise overlook.

just sayin’

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