The Other Side - Tumblr Posts
For the past month I've been working on the most challenging and enjoyable art project I've ever undertaken, one I'm calling The Other Side. Inspired by Chicago's hyper-segregation and the concept of a dérive, I've spent multiple days each week riding my bike aimlessly through Chicago's south side neighborhoods taking photographs of ugly, beautiful, and generally interesting places.
The idea is to capture images of the south side and record their addresses, then relying on the city's systematic address system, I'll flip the addresses of the photographs and place them at their north side "mirror" locations. So, for instance a photograph taken at 4500 South Kedzie would be placed at 4500 North Kedzie. The idea that the majority of Chicagoans ignore and never experience the deep beauty, suffering, and humanity of the city's south side has always unsettled me. With the 313 photographs from this project, I hope to make the south side a bit harder to ignore.
Expect north side/south side diptychs in a few weeks.
My nights this week are still filled with editing the south side photos from The Other Side project. I can't wait to escape the computer screen and start placing the photos throughout the north side. If exploring Chicago's south side for this project forced me to rethink a lot of my beliefs and misconceptions about that part of the city, I hope traveling to new parts of the north side will similarly open my mind about that smaller, more populated section of Chicago.
After spending the better part of June and July taking hundreds of photographs throughout Chicago's south side, I launched the second half of The Other Side project in late July. The idea was to narrow down, edit, and print the south side photos (which amounted to 313) and then place them on the north side. The placement would be determined by Chicago's systematic address system with an image of 3500 S. Halsted placed at 3500 N. Halsted and so on. I learned so much about the south side by exploring it for this project. Though I can't pretend to understand the lives of those who live on there, I understand now just how many misconceptions and assumptions I'd had about their neighborhoods before seeing things for myself. Warnings from roommates, friends, and the press had caused me to paint the south side as largely poor and dangerous. However, much of it proved to be, at least on the surface, perfectly safe. Middle class areas abounded and even poorer areas were never totally impoverished. Even amongst hardship, people seemed to be striving hard to keep their lives together and make things work. The idea that the majority of Chicagoans ignore and never experience the deep beauty, suffering, and humanity of the city’s south side has always unsettled me. So, with this second phase of the project, I was excited to insert the south side into the everyday lives of north side Chicagoans. I started out by placing 60 of the photographs throughout Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Edgewater, Uptown, and nearby neighborhoods. From those placements, I've begun creating diptychs between the north and south side locations. The first six are above. To see other south side photos click here.
The four latest photos from The Other Side series.
The final batch of diptychs for the time being from The Other Side series.
Ten of the sixty photos placed throughout Chicago's Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Edgewater, Lincoln Square, and surrounding neighborhoods in July as part of the The Other Side series.
After spending June and July of 2012 taking hundreds of photographs throughout Chicago’s south side, I began to print and place those photos on the north side. I determine the placement by Chicago’s systematic address system, thus an image of 3500 S. Halsted would be placed at 3500 N. Halsted and so on. I then take an image of the north side location and combine the two into a diptych. I learned so much about the south side by exploring it for this project. Though I can’t pretend to understand the lives of those who live on there, I understand now just how many misconceptions and assumptions I’d had about their neighborhoods before seeing things for myself. Warnings from roommates, friends, and the press had caused me to paint the south side as largely poor and dangerous. However, much of it proved to be, at least on the surface, perfectly safe. Middle class areas abounded and even poorer areas were never totally impoverished. Even amongst hardship, people seemed to be striving hard to keep their lives together and make things work. I've always been unsettled by the idea that the majority of Chicagoans ignore and never experience the deep beauty, suffering, and humanity of the city’s south side. So, coming back to this project after two years in Japan, I'm excited to continue inserting the south side into the everyday lives of north siders. To see other south side photos click here.
I wanna hear someone do Rewrite the Stars, but genderbent. Like, a girl singing Zac Efron’s part and a boy singing Zendaya’s.
Edit: The Other Side with a boy and a girl instead of two boys or two girls would be cool too. Idc who sings which part.
WAT WAAAAT WAAAAAAAAAA-
── My mistakes were made for you.
Hi!
I have a question for the Tales From The SMP theorists. I have seen some people think/theories that maybe The Inbetween isn’t evil and it was just trying to keep Karl out of harms way but, went about it the wrong way and The Other Side fed into Karl’s paranoia of The Inbetween being evil.
My question is what do you think of this idea and if you do support this theory why?
(No real reason why I’m asking this, I just like talking about theories and personally I think this one is kinda cool)
The Other Side
“If I come out of this alive… I’ll look for you on the other side.”
She didn’t know when he’d found the time to scrawl that note. Didn’t know when he’d had the opportunity to tuck it into her back pocket. Had she been so distracted by his eyes… so caught up in the words coming out of his mouth… so distressed by her own emotional response to what felt like the end of this life she’d finally begun to accept… so lost that he was able to slip that note on her person without her notice?
It did not bode well for her ability to be hyper aware of a situation.
She wondered… if she hadn’t been such a mess in the aftermath of her memories returning… if she hadn’t been so conflicted on who she was and who she is now and whether those differing personalities could possibly coexist… would she have caught him in the act?
There was no room in her life for hesitation or for grief or for preoccupation. Those type of reactions and feelings were things that could get her killed out there in the real world. Here in the haven of the hull of the ship, well, she could give herself some leniency. She had to hold herself to higher standards out in the wild but in this safe harbor she could cut herself some slack.
If anyone could sneak something by her here, obviously it would be Spike. He was a master at sleight-of-hand after all. Far better than even she, and Faye knew she was no slouch there.
She had discovered the note when she crumpled to the floor, distraught over the upheaval that she wasn’t prepared to face. Her life had literally just fallen apart when she found her home razed to the ground and no one from her previous existence still alive save for one old woman she was too afraid to face for answers. She wasn’t ready to let go of this hard-won life she’d managed to forge with Spike and Jet here on the ship. Wasn’t ready to accept that Ed and Ein were gone - it couldn’t be gone for good, it had to only be gone for now. Like Spike.
He hadn’t actually promised he would return. He had said he was going to find out if he was truly alive. He couldn’t use his voice to assure her of anything because he wasn’t the type to make empty vows… he wouldn’t put to words anything he couldn’t bring about in reality.
But the note gave her a touch of hope.
He might still die. But if he managed to make it through… if he discovered he was indeed alive and was able to cling to that and come out on the other side of this brutal affair… his note pretty much assured her that he would find her.
She had faith in his survival skills.
So she dried her tears and moved to stand. She would join Jet on the bridge and watch the stars come out to shine. She would wait for him, here on the other side.
