baltimore/dc

i'm spending the week in baltimore. the city has such character - there are tons of decrepit buildings and awesome murals that i'm dying to take pictures of. i want to walk around the area where i'm staying with friends and try to get these pictures before leaving. visiting new places is always such a source of inspiration.

well, except dc. we walked from georgetown into the mall today, and there was only one building i kind of wanted to take a picture of but then didn't. dc is always so grey when i'm there, and the buidlings kind of blend in with the weather. when i do see cool stuff, like boldly colored row houses, we're in the car, and i'm not yet skilled enough to get my camera set up to take pictures quickly. i was also disappointed that the national gallery didn't have a photography section. maybe that's why i was so uninspired by dc. how can the national gallery not have a photography section? i hope we just missed it, not that the gallery didn't have one. it would be too sad if the latter was the case.

but we did see this one piece composed of mussel shells glued to a square canvas. for some reason, my friend and i were both drawn to it. i loved the green paint that blotted some of the insides of the shells to give them a sense of freshness, almost invoking the smell of the ocean. also, the dark, black/grey shells in 3-dimension made me think of an industrious city - metal/steel structures that evolve into skyscrapers, dirt and grime covering surface, smoke creating a layer of grey blanket that covers the city - and the fishing industry that is threatening ocean life. the splashes of green represents to me the few trees/greenery that manage to survive in this environment, as many cities have planted trees along streets and have created small parks, and also the beautiful spots in the ocean are still untouched by the spoils of human demands. the juxtaposition of the colors and textures characterizes the struggle between nature and human creations. the irony is that human beings are nature's creations, and sometimes i think that our supposed destruction of the planet is part of nature's plan.

or it's getting late and i'm just babbling because i really need to get some sleep after a long day...