Fails To Die, Enjoys Breakfast

An abandoned theater in Rochester, New York. Formerly a pornographic theater, then just a facade after the Walgreens next door gutted it to use as a warehouse. The Walgreens with it's shampoo and baby formula and half of the store locked in cages; the contradictions stare into you. You go because it is the nearest pharmacy, close in walking distance for you and your disabled loved ones.

The Walgreens shuts down and it too, is now just a vacant facade, next to a vacant facade. You stare into the large windows meant to advertise it's contents, now only showcasing absence. A wide open space with torn up floors. You think about how perfect the location could be for low income housing, for squatting, for anything other than standing as a constant reminder of the city's failures to her people. The parking lot is empty, save for the occasional cop car, to ensure no one uses the lot or the building for anything at all. The cop ensures the space will stay as useless as himself.

They add letters to the theater's marquee; a reminder and encouragement of surveillance. "If you see something, say something. In progress call 911, over and done call 311." They board up the doors, ensuring that the space will stay in it's intended form: empty, useless, an eyesore that reminds everyone of their place. The freshly boarded up door has been emblazoned with a message from those who lack.

Pictured above is Rain, an artwork by Thurlow Small Architecture, hung from the M Street NE underpass in the NoMa neighborhood of Washington, DC. It’s one of three artworks in a series commissioned by the neighborhood to beautify the area.

And by beautify, I mean drive out the unsightly homeless.

Local law states that the homeless cannot encamp on, in, or under public art, so the NoMa Parks Foundation identified three underpasses uniquely situated out of the elements and targeted them for their installations. Now of course, it doesn’t completely deter souls seeking shelter, but it does empower law enforcement to harass them and drive them into more hidden, less comfortable crevices of the city. Out of sight and out of mind.

My recent trip to Polish/Czech mountains reminded me of working on this series of illustrations for the Carved in Stone book 🖤 while our countries are far away, all the beautiful heathers, ferns and mossy rocks reminded me of making the reasearch for these! I'm still so, so happy and thankful I had a chance to work on them.

Behold my Hercules beetle! I took a huge chunk of time away from piecing and sewing in general due to work insanity, but I finally got around to finishing this boy.

The fabric is all second hand: the background fabric came from a local craft thrift store, and the green/orange and brown/gold speckled fabrics are twice reused kimono silks. The kimono fabric was gifted to me by the wonderful Madame Button, who used the original garments to make these gorgeous corsets.

She got the kimono because they were either new dead stock, or in such bad condition that they couldn't be worn. She can't use the fabric once it's cut up smaller than a corset panel, so she's been chucking the scraps at me for a while, and I've finally gotten over my fear of cutting up such beautiful silks. Go check out The Bad Button on Instagram and Facebook and drool over her other gorgeous pieces.

I decided to forgo sandwiching and quilting this because I wanted the piecing lines to be the highlight. For now it's tacked to a plain cotton bed sheet until I can find a nicer frame for it.