I felt an immediate joy at the aesthetics of this series-- the bright punchy colors of the cups contrasting against the green felt simultaneously critical and humorous. The use of many images worked to create an exciting visual out of ordinary objects. I was left imagining nights of debauchery and their toxic-after-affects.
I was left wondering what or who was the subject of toxicity in this image? Are the cups signs of intoxicated (by alcohol by entitlement) youth? Is it those that encounter the trash in the morning? Does trash intoxicate space, the visual field... or both? Does it represent the general overconsuption and pollution of plastics and petroleum?
The first item in this collage that caught my attention and, in fact, required that I stop and take a moment is the image of the red undergarment-appearing piece of clothing third image from the top in the first column. The red fabric is contrasted by the concrete backdrop of the ground. The first thoughts/images that came to mind were that of sexual violence and assault on university campuses and UCLA no exception. The red piece of fabric when viewed in relation to the cement, reads as warmth in body and color against the concrete, lifelessness of pavement.
I appreciate the author's concern that the images may be flat and moralizing, while they want to express more than that. I I think the images express the impossibility of dealing with all the stuff of the world. College represents a period in which people suddenly encounter themselves as responsible for diposal at new scales. One can feel unwittingly responsible for disposal of a multitude of objects that litter one's daily life and which are often imposed upon them.
As a native of Los Angeles, I have witnessed the smog worsen over the years. These photographs serve to complicate and add nuance to how people have conceptualized smog as a problem in LA. In the first picture, we are able to see and understand how smog can interupt the daily lives of LA natives as it seems like the person in the image is affected by the smog.
Isn't the 3rd year here 1990? Notably, all three years correspond to major developments in air polluition regulation in the US: 1955 Air Pollution Control Act was the first U.S. federal legislation that pertained to air pollution1970 Clean Air Act1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (important ones)
The three images produce an eery effect, moving from a more focused but low-resolution image of a man amidst smog to a mid-density, mid-range black and white image of a polluted cityscape and then finally to a color image, in higher resolution and at a greater distance. I wish I had lingered longer before I read the caption. The author mentions that the movement through time should be implicit and then I wondered whether I noticed it.
While there is something pleasing about seeing the bars jut out of neighborhoods to help visualize scales of smog exposure, there is not enough information in the image itself to make it meaningful. I would suggest providing more bars of other neighborhoods with less exposure to create a topographical effect. I would also suggest including a color code to signal immediately to the viewer what the colors represent economically/demographically.
The still communicates the evidentiary authority that judicious courts and broaded public courts of opinion ascribe to images, while also pointing to how images alone are insufficient- the Senator is also holding a physical snowball. Knowing the context of this image makes it feel like a meme-able image. The still communicates the latent potentiality of images as serious and humorous depending on their recontexualization. There are multiple paradoxes at play in this still.
