About the Flaneur
![Gustave Caillebotte. Paris Street, Rainy Day (La Place de l’Europe, temps de pluie). 1877. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago. [Source: Wikimedia Commons]](../wp-content/uploads/2009/02/gustave_caillebotte_paris_street_rainy_day_1877_wiki.jpg "gustave_caillebotte_paris_street_rainy_day")
I walk through my blindness the way I wander down streets in Paris: unfettered and alive, alert to the raw material of the senses. I am a flaneur. Come along with me. Just don’t try to take my arm, unless I ask. What’s a flaneur? Read the first post, Return of the Flaneur to Galerie Vivienne. After that, try Foot Rage and the Blind Flaneur. Then stay tuned.Kiki: Man Ray’s Dada Muse
The legendary Kiki of Montparnasse posed for Man Ray’s Le violin de Ingres (1924). See more from Imaging Paris.Lee Miller: Surrealist Muse
Lee Miller traced a meteoric trajectory from flapper fashionista to surrealist muse. She played the Statue in Jean Cocteau's first movie. Picasso painted her portrait. She apprenticed with Man Ray and later became a noted war photographer for British Vogue. Read more.Miss Tic: Paris Street Art
Poet and street artist Miss Tic isn't exactly a kid in a hoodie with a can of spray paint. Maybe she can still run like hell when the police show up, but can she sprint in high heels? Well-known in international avant-garde circles, her work is exhibited now at the Venice Biennale as well as the alleys of Paris. Read more. See Ethics of Love for a video montage of Miss Tic's provacative poetry. More Paris Street Art.
The Lake and the River
![Fog at Isle Royale [Source: wildmengoneborneo.com]](../wp-content/uploads/2008/04/isle_royale_fog.jpg "Fog at Isle Royale [Source: wildmengoneborneo.com]")
I’ve canoed on Lake Superior for almost as many years as I’ve been losing eyesight. I return year after year like a migrating loon to learn the other side of a slow, uncertain process that we could call “going blind.” After 35 years with the lake as my teacher, I know what lies on the other side. I call it letting go of sight. Read Big Water. See more about the Great Lakes.
What is a village? A small place, yes, as wide as the world, layered with histories and stories, where you can walk wherever you want to go. My vision of that place is Yellow Springs 2.0.
Not This Pig
If there is an emerging genetic underclass, I could run for class president or class clown. Read more in Not This Pig (2003).Blind Photographers
In the moment when Paul Strand photographed her surreptitiously on the street in New York, the social engineers who created a system for licensing beggars never imagined that a blind woman had culture or could make culture. She herself may not have imagined it. Paul Strand probably didn’t give her much credit for making culture, either. Read more: Curiosity & The Blind Photographer [MiT5 2007] See more on blind photographers.BottomFeeder U.S.A.
![Grant Wood. Parson Weem’s’ Fable. 1939. Amon Carter Museum, Forth Worth.. Steven Biel describes the painting: “Parson Weems, imitating Charles Willson Peale’s pose in The Artist in His Museum (1822), opens a red velvet curtain on the legendary scene: Augustine Washington, elegant in crimson coat, white ruffle, tan breeches, silver-buckled pumps, and green tricornered hat, grasps in his right hand the slim trunk of the bent cherry tree. A row of cherries dangles from the perfectly rounded treetop, mirroring the very cherry-like fringe of the Parson’s curtain. Augustine’s outstretched left palm and furrowed brow signal a serious inquiry. His son George, boyish in stature and dress—coatless, with sky-blue breeches and petite buckled pumps—is manly in his expression. In fact, his white-wigged head is that of Gilbert Stuart’s portrait and the dollar bill. He points with his right hand to the hatchet in his left. Wood chips lie in the circle of soil at the base of the tree, its lower trunk smoothly incised and poised to split off. In the background, a well-dressed slave couple harvests the fruit of a second tree.” [Alt Text Source: Common-Place/ http://www.common-place.org/vol-06/no-04/biel/ ]](../wp-content/uploads/2011/08/grant_wood_parson_weems_fable_200px.jpg "grant_wood_parson_weems_fable_200px")
BottomFeeder U.S.A.- Attention Economy – October 14, 2023
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Category Archives: blind photographers
“Dark Light: The Art of Blind Photographers”
Dark Light: The Art of Blind Photographers is a documentary short featuring Henry Butler, Pete Eckert and Bruce Hall. It was directed by Neil Leifer and produced by Corinne Marrinan and Neil Leifer. HBO broadcast the documentary last week, which may explain the uptick in web traffic to my essay, Curiosity and the Blind Photographer (presented at M.I.T. in 2007), which features this photo by Henry Butler. Continue reading
Imaging Paris: From Mouffe to the Marais
Rue des Rosiers. [Photo by lodrorigdzin; all rights reserved] I didn’t realize Friday night that when Alex said he dropped by Café Mouffe, he wasn’t simply humoring my imaginary conceit. He was there, in Paris, and the photos of Café … Continue reading
Imaging Paris: Café Delmas
Delmas-mouffetard. [Photo by lodrorigdzin; all rights reserved] Here are two more of Alex’s photos shot yesterday at Café Delmas, the inspiration for Café Mouffe. Of the shot above he writes: “at last, at last, I have a coffee cup shot … Continue reading
Where the Mouffe Begins: Delmas
Alex dropped by Café Mouffe tonight with this photo of the Mouffe’s inspiration, Café Delmas on Place de la Contrascarppe. Many thanks!
Imaging Paris: Bouquinistes
[Photos by lodrorigdzin; all rights reserved] Alex was in Paris last week, and he kindly asked if he could photograph anything in particular for me. He knew I’d love these images of the book stalls on the Seine. The offer … Continue reading
Hiatus: Stop and Smell the Roses
Mary Rose (above) vied with the climbing Colette as the first rose of the season. I’ve tried a variety of David Austin’s line of English roses over the years, and this is one of the few to thrive in my … Continue reading
In the Company of Irises
Two companions have led me astray this week as I swore off blogging so I could work on restoring my gardens. One is this startling white iris, which I’ve waited three years to bring again to bloom. The other is … Continue reading
In the Glen: Solomon’s Seal, True or False?
Updated 030210: False Solomon’s Seal (Smilacina racemosa) blooms in the Glen beginning in mid-May. [Photo by a blind flaneur] As a kid I learned to distinguish two flowers called Solomon’s seal, one identified as “True” and the other “False.” The … Continue reading
Augmented Illusions: Tapping
Alex de Jong recommends headphones for the full effect of tapping. The video is accompanied by this text: Natural behaviour of blind people is all too often seen as deviant. Many who are are blind are told not to click, … Continue reading
