Marked Taxi's

In Mexico City, all Taxi's are marked with numbers on their roof and side.

I was told the reason for this is because many kidnappings and robberies we're taking place in Taxi's. The numbers were a way to create safety and easy identification. Check out the below internet article....

Kidnappings are out of control in Mexico

By Barnard R. Thompson

Mexico’s crime wave continues, with violent kidnappings for ransom, extortion or worse rising to tsunami levels in greater Mexico City.  And while many, in desperate hope for the safe return of kidnapped family members and loved ones meet ransom demands, time and again the victims are found dead, often with clear evidence of torture and abuse before their brutal murders.

No longer a cottage industry targeting the privileged few, today nearly everyone, rich to middle class to those of lesser means, faces the threat of kidnapping by organized gangs or the unorganized.  Kidnapping for ransom demands are tailored to the victims, and if family or friends lag in paying even small amounts they may be sent crudely amputated body parts as a sign of worse to come.

There are “express kidnappings,” with victims carjacked or otherwise driven (often in taxis they foolishly hail on the street as some cabdrivers work in concert with other criminals) from one bank or ATM machine to another until a victim’s credit and cash withdrawal card funds are exhausted.

In recent weeks five more heinous murders of kidnap victims in Mexico City have pushed citizens to unprecedented levels of outrage.  As such, people are protesting the “severe national security problem,” while at the same time demanding not just protection but also for real action to be taken at all levels of government against the steady flood of crime.

Unmarked Plane

I once flew on an unmarked aeroplane. It made me feel very vulnerable.

A Killer Whale's Jaw

When I was living on a small island in Canada and working as a dish pig, I read a book called the artists way... It was more like a short course in how to break your mind in half.... The kinds of things it was trying to teach was to release yourself from the social expectations and let creativity and the process of it take over. The book proposes that creativity is God... (don't be afraid of the God word). One of the main lessons in the book was to stop being critical of yourself... Something I have never learned how to do yet. Ha! Apart of the books process was that you had to wake up every morning and write anything that came to your head for 1/2 an hour. 

On the morning I took this photo I woke up and wrote a short story named 'A killer whale's jaw'. It was a 'Orwellian' influenced story and its focus was on the killer whale and its relationship with the seal during feeding hours. In my mind the killer whale in the story was a metaphor for huge corporations and government, the seal on the other hand was a metaphor for individuals within society. The night before I had watched this youtube clip where a killer whale comes out of a deep ocean slides up onto the beach packed full with lethargic sun tanning seals and with its massive jaw just eats one of the seals. All the other seals just turn their heads slightly away from the scene and seem to forget about that moment as soon as it happens. In the story I was trying to describe fear... I guess I had a fear of become the sacrificed seal, of being eaten by society... But now I know i am just so happy to be one of those lethargic sun tanning seals that turn their head slightly. I do it everyday... I read the world section of the news paper... Then I go about my day.

So I put my pen down and I walk out side my apartment and right in front of the house was this huge inflatable plastic killer whale... I thought God was playing a trick on me and I didn't even believe in God, so I grabbed my camera and ran after it ducking through the streets of Prince Edward Island looking for a good shot. I was never really happy with the shots I got. I wanted it to be more epic or something... There a few ok ones... Here is one.

Subliminal Messaging

In 2009 I lived in Mexico City for 6 months. During this time I photographed these billboards... In my head they were a symbol of growth and expansion. When I was a kid i used to count things... How many times I touched objects. How many other cars were on the road at the same time as us. I had a fascination with population growth and its steadily increasing nature. Numbers.... Mexico city is one of the most populated cities in the world and numbers just keep flashing at you everywhere you go. I could not help but feel that something was trying to communicate with me.

Scribble

I had to admire the fluidity of this mark making.

I know these lines were probably created by some random non-artist in a fluro vest but god I wish I could draw lines like that. It just goes to show... everyone is an artist.... and it is often in the innocence and un-selfconsciousness that the beautiful art is made.

Get Sex

Get Sex. Words can only express what words can express. They can't express what an image can express or what a painting can express. It's interesting when words merger with images to form a heighten language.

Dogs at Mardi Gras

I attended the launch of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras over the weekend. One of the things that surprised me was the amount dogs gay and lesbian couples owned. Not just one dog, often they were the parents of two or more dogs of the same breed. Compensation for not having children?

One lady demanded that I ask her for permission before photographing her dogs.When I enquired further she explain that her dogs were an expensive breed and she was afraid I could be a dog snatcher ready to take her kids away. Since when have dog snatchers carried around expensive cameras and photographed dogs before taking them? Have we reached a new level of paranoia?