Sunday, January 07, 2007

Juxtapositions


Click image to see larger size picture.

A living city creates visual cacophony. In particular, advertising images surround us. We protect ourselves by learning not to see most of them.

But because I am trying to practice more visual awareness in order to see more interesting potential photographs, I'm not screening it all out these days. Consequently I noticed the wall pictured above.

Now there's a true cacophony of themes. Can you decode them?

Some hints starting at the bottom and working up:
  • This might explain why the lowest billboard is there -- it has been up for months.
  • This explains the middle image. So does this. Must be tough going when the client is best known for dropping cluster bombs on other people's countries, walling farmers off from their land, and threatening neighbors with nukes.
  • And this points to the probable reason for the graffiti style proclamation at the top. Caution: whatever good deeds they do and I have no reason to doubt they do some, they link to professional homophobe and authoritarian James Dobson's organization, Focus on the Family.
So that's the cast of characters on a wall near me -- and perfunctory enquiries suggest that most passersby have long ago screened out ALL those messages.

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