Category: Photography

My Green New Deal, Part 1

2/28/2019

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Trainwork USA, 1987 By Evelyn R. Swett

What happens
when you clean out your studio
and come upon a project that is more than 30 years old?

By the tracks, 1987 By Evelyn R. Swett

There are black and
white prints in carefully labeled files,

Scrapbook images are so different from reality outside, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

two scrapbooks with detailed annotations,

32 year old slides in the artist's studio, 2019 by Evelyn R. Swett

and two binders full of color slides.

Lovers on a summer adventure, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

More importantly,
what happens when that project
contains raw material that relates directly to one
of the hottest topics in Washington DC?

Waiting in Kansas City, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

No, I'm not talking
about the impact or reality of an aging
population or racism
in our country.

Somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

I'm talking about
The Green New Deal and
all the controversy it is inspiring.

The map. Two months, 14 cities. Lots of photographs.

It turns out,
that in 1987, at the age of 21,
I traveled around the United States
on Amtrak, stayed with alumni from my college in twelve
different cities, and researched murals painted
during the Great Depression in Post
Offices and other public
buildings.

Slides, Farmersville, TX, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

The highlight was
visiting the small town of Farmersville, Texas,
photographing the mural in the post office and then, a few days
later, meeting the artist, Jerry Bywaters,
who created that work.

Scrapbook page. Jerry Bywaters & sketches from a New Deal Art Project, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

The New Deal
is about as good as it gets
when it comes to the convergence of
creativity and climate
action.

All Aboard Amtrak - Somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

FDR's programs
were comprehensive, universal
and profoundly innovative. They impacted every
aspect of our country's infrastructure and re-inspired hope
for millions in the dream that once was
once America.

Boyscouts, middle of the night in Kansas City, MO, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

Only by
getting out of the
world I knew, was I able to see the
great promise of FDR's vision. At the same time,
I witnessed the reality that fifty years
later, that promise remained
elusive for many,

Street corner murals, somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

So here I am.
It's 8:30 on a Saturday night.
Calvin, the dog, is asleep at my feet and I am in
heaven, remembering a very long
Saturday night in the
summer of
1987.

The waiting room, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

I was changing
trains in Kansas City. The
Southwest Chief was six hours late.
There were no cell phones or laptop computers,
so we got to know each other in that pre-digital waiting-room
kind of way. We were more concerned for the
well-being of those involved in the
accident on the track, than
we were with being
late.

Amtrak Stationmaster, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

Amtrak employees
provided hats for the kids. I got
out my camera and made friends. These places,
people and works of public art I was so
inspired by thirty-two years ago
are why I care so
much.

Gorgeous Compost, 8 Black & White, by Evelyn R. Swett

When I say
that compost is like America,
I mean it. We are nothing without our diversity,
perseverance, and patience. We are also nothing without our audacity.
What the hell? Why not give it a try?
A Green New Deal might
be just be what
we need.

Evelyn R. Swett, 1987

What happens
when I discover a project from
decades ago and my husband is out of town
and I'm feeling reflective?
A lot, I guess.

To learn more, check out The Living New Deal Project, which documents and celebrates New Deal
Public Art projects and also provides a helpful connection to the Green New Deal.

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Re-imaging Adams - - So Cool

2/11/2019

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Last week I saw
"Ansel Adams in Our Time,"
an exhibit at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
It was totally cool.

It is clear
that Adams witnessed
and understood a whole lot more
about the human condition than his reverent
landscapes had ever revealed to
me on their own.

Check out
this intimate portrait
of a Mexican boy, this stunning
close-up of a fern, and this panoramic
view of human development.

It gave me
the chills. Adams
understood our reciprocal
relationship with the natural world and
the fragility of our co-
dependence.

There I was,
reflected in the glass,
paying attention to these imaginative
re-imagings of Ansel Adams's world. In Abelardo
Morell's exploration of the microcosmos and the macrocosmos
I saw the tenuous balance between individual
rights and collective responsibility
necessary in any
democracy.

And I laughed
when I saw myself in Mitch
Epstein's "Altamont Pass Wind Farm."
So funny how we play games with
each other, with nature and
with ourselves.

And,
I loved Luis
Faglio's reflection about beach
restoration, how it celebrates the "hope
and the irony that we are able
to move sand."

Strange,
to feel at home
in a large, meandering
exhibit in an even larger museum,
but the message of these works was close
to home. Yes, we can move sand. Yes,
lupine does grow after a fire.Yes,
we have the power to renew
not just ourselves, but the
planet as well.
Yes.

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My Green New Deal, Part 1

Re-imaging Adams - - So Cool

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My Green New Deal, Part 1

Re-imaging Adams - - So Cool

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Subscribe to
Let's ReFrame!