I don’t think a phalanx of police on horseback will come
charging down Sydney Road to prevent me photographing ghost signs. No, that is
not what I mean.
“Was sind das fuer Zeiten, wo ein Gespraech ueber Baeume
fast ein Verbrechen ist weil es ein Schweigen ueber so viele Untaten
einschliesst.” (Bertolt Brecht, An die Nachgeborenen)
(
What times are these, when a conversation about trees is almost
a crime, as it implies silence about so many horrors! )
So many horrors happening around us in the world, however I would
like to think of my small excursions into my neighbourhood in search of relics
from an earlier time not as an escape or a flight from current reality and the
troubles of the present. I think I am looking for small items of sociological
wonder. Perhaps it is also reaching back to what we like to think of as simpler
times. However, those times were no less dark or no more simple than ours. As
these signs were being written on the shopfronts of small businesses in
Brunswick, there were wars waging, imperial conquests occurring and people
fleeing from their homes.
The people have come and gone, like Nissen. (were they from another place, what brought them here?) but the signs are still there,
disappearing slowly, more slowly than we who live in dark times.
Great post. You could really ask that question about anything we do in our lives that is small-scale, local and seemingly inconsequential, when so much is going on around us politically and environmentally. But it's also true (as you allude to) that human beings need small sanctuaries of one kind or another to recalibrate and to keep our sense of balance and optimism. Otherwise it would all get too overwhelming - since so much of the big stuff we can't control. Like you, I don't think it's about escaping reality - more like eking out a sense of perspective and balance. For me, looking for ghost signs is both calming and energising - it forces you (ironically) into the the here and now, to look carefully and to be embodied in local places :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. There are so many layers of existence, just like layers of paint on a wall....
DeleteJust what I need, an existential crisis concerning the hours/days/nights/years I have spent on these inconsequential pieces of urban paint when there is a big bad world to whip into shape out there!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, this isn't the first time the thought has crossed my mind, especially after my experience volunteering in Cambodia. We in the 'West' are extremely lucky that we are able to indulge our passions and interests in ways that many others can't through the necessity of having to earn a crust. The concept of a 'hobby' was often difficult to convey to my Cambodian colleagues, many of whom worked evening and weekend jobs in addition to their regular day job.
While this won't stop me on my mission to document every ghostsign in the world, it does give pause for thought to make sure that I do things in other parts of my life that make a more significant and meaningful contribution to the world.
Thank you for these thoughts and congratulations on your websites. We never know what things we do will have the most impact. Perhaps our "day job", perhaps our "hobby".
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