Don't Tread On Me

Don't Tread On Me from E. Adam Attia on Vimeo.



Four or five years ago, after my service in the US Army and once I had move to NYC I realized a great ideological divide in the American people.  This caused me to further explore the concerns we all have as individuals and I became more perplexed by the partisan views most of us hold so dear to our hearts. I created this video as my first attempt in the medium and as a means to express my fear of what polarized greed will result in.

Postmasters Gallery presents Chris Verene

At the Postmasters gallery Chris Verene displayed a series of forty photographs taken over the course of the last 26 years documenting the lives of his immediate family and friends, and eventually the affects of the economic collapse on their lives. The images resemble enormous Polaroid’s with hand written notes in the margins, the choice of display though quite cheesy aids in the understanding of the family dynamic. The photographs are sullen and have and sense of despair: taken in rural Illinois the images open our eyes to a reality little know or recognized by much of the New York audience. The work is a reminder of Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange, portraying the hard realities of life for those worst affected by a nations crumbling economy. An image of a young mother living with her two children in a car and another shortly thereafter of the same mother alone because human services has taken the children away are strong examples of the hardships American citizens face today and illustrate strongly the priorities of our nation, for better or worse. An image of a man standing by a children’s swing set stands out, instead of children swinging we see the subject hanging hub caps from the swing set. Are they some strange neurotic coping mechanism for his loses or is he simply hang freshly painted hubcaps to dry? The caption reads “Steve and the hub caps on the girls’ old swing set. After the divorce Steve never saw his girls again.” This sad portrayal of a man seemingly alone in the world with nothing left but his hubcaps is a disappointment to the state of our nation and our culture.

Though the show has come down in the past couple days I felt it was worth noting.