A Pilgrim's Progress

So You're Thinking of Doing A Public Art Piece?

(Above, the animation strip that went inside the giant zoetrope drum.)

Back in 2010, I was working part-time at UPenn and struggling to find my way as an artist. I had started my own non-profit project, Tsirkus Fotografika*, a few years prior, bringing an itinerant vintage photo studio to various parties and events. Steampunk was very big at the time. I loved the kind of public contact it encouraged. People would often get very creative in front of the lens, making for some memorable portraits. Participants were amazed that that a 70 year-old Graflex camera cold produce such solid photos (I was using Fuji peel-apart film, since discontinued). Being the “ringmaster” of all this creativity really suited my personality. However, there were some major drawbacks. It could be backbreaking work and long days of working out in the hot sun or into the wee hours of the morning. The profit was break-even unless it was the rare wedding gig. The shoots were mostly in NYC and I’m in Philadelphia with the gear being cumbersome and heavy. Logistics and keeping down expenses were difficult.

Mural Arts, the largest employer of artists in Philadelphia announced at that time that they were planning a new initiative surrounding immigration to South Philadelphia and I applied. I was already familiar with some of Philly’s Jewish history through my work at Penn in the Freedman Jewish Music Archive, and digging into this along with a nice fellowship and production budget ($25K in total as I recall), was a big draw. The area around 7th street on Bainbridge down to past Snyder Avenue in Philadelphia had been a large Jewish enclave and there was still a Jewish community center in the neighborhood that served elderly residents. (Since closed.) That corridor also has a large Cambodian presence, a culture I knew little about that I felt would be interesting to explore.

With my friend Susan advising me, I passed the initial proposal phase with flying colors. I wanted to have a temporary storefront photo studio where I would do portraits, interview people, and create a magic lantern show to be projected outside in the neighborhood as part of a multimedia presentation. I brought a glass sample slide to pass around, perhaps that clinched it.

Even though I was working side-by-side with an experienced ethnographer, we could make no significant inroads into working with the Cambodian population. It was too insular and wary of outside contact. We were rebuffed at one community center in the neighborhood that served what seemed to be a largely African American population, apparently due to something Mural Arts had done. That left the Jewish community center, which turned out to be fantastic. The attendees, many in their 90’s had lived in the neighborhood there whole lives. We clicked. They allowed me to interview on video and photograph them using my very old 4x5 camera and instant film.

The overall project manager was replaced, twice. There were a number of project reviews including at least one with the community at large. Work progressed more slowly than anticipated, I believe things were put on hold at a number of junctures. The project artists eventually banded together and pushed for a extension, which we got.

The storefront and projection show never happened. It morphed it a giant zoetrope (mechanical movie device using a slotted wheel) that took up residence in a a public park. The final device, built to my design and specs was big and impressive. I decorated the outside of the slotted drum with photos I had taken in the neighborhood. Inside, the portraits were arranged so they appeared and disappeared by rising and falling as the viewer turned a big crank. Many took glee in seeing how fast they could crank it, trying to make it fly off its bearings. (Very “Philly” IMHO). It was well built and took the abuse. I babysat the device a number of weekends at Capitolo Park (right across from Genos) in Philadelphia. The piece also did a brief stint inside the Stiffel Community Center where the portraits were taken.

Overall, it was a hit. The funder, The Knight Foundation, was very pleased. The project came in under budget and the financial support it provided me was very helpful. Still, I was a bit let down. I felt the zoetrope was just the beginning of a studio practice but was presented as if it were the end product. It looked impressive, but it lacked the spark I demand from my work. Primarily, the ability to set images into motion should have been explored more deeply. I am skeptical as to whether the formal qualities of the piece were impactful, communicating the relationship of immigrants to the neighborhood and its history.

A big criticism I have of Mural Arts is they vowed they’d invest time and attention to the neighborhood after the project. They have a reputation for going guns blazing when a project is in motion and then walking away until next time. They vowed they wouldn’t do that. I haven’t seen any big projects out of that part of town other than Angela Ortiz’s work in the 9th Street Market. I’m happy to be wrong on this one, so if you know, please comment.

It’s interesting that shortly after the zoetrope project I got very interested in working with pinhole photography and tackling the difficult problem of creating figure arrangement. These pieces, unlike the Mural Arts project were very inward facing where the goal was to achieve depth and resonance as I explored my own stories and mental landscape. Although it took around eight years to complete the series, it was one of my first successful groups of works, earning me a show and residency at Louis and Clarke State College in Lewiston, Idaho.

Would I do something like this again? Yes, but I would craft things very differently. I would look at the timeline much more carefully and manage my expectations better. I would do my best to dovetail it more closely into what my mission as an artist is and the techniques, materials and subjects I like to work with. Given the bent that Mural Arts has, it’s likely it just wouldn’t work, which is why going forward I’ll be looking for money from other sources. It’s food for thought as I move into a new phase of my art career and contemplate my next major project.

*A 501c3 sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, NYC that continues to this day. Tsirkus=Yiddish, Circus; Fotgrafika=Polish, Photography

The finished Zoetrope.