We have had (along with the eastern half of the country) a lot of rain recently. When it has precipitated, it hasn’t been gentle rains, but rather torrential, monsoon-like downpours. Consequently, everything is saturated and the Ohio River has quickly risen to engulf the riverbanks that are normally wide and clear this time of year. I took a chance between rain showers to see if I could access my site for a few hours. Maneuvering through the underbrush I was able to investigate the river’s edge that was slowly but surely creeping inland. As a gauge to how high the river has risen, in the above photos…you should be able to walk out to those willow trees that are now in the middle of the river. I watched columns of ants marching for higher ground. The river’s edge attracts animals, particularly birds, that are hunting insects being driven by the advancing water. I’m here doing a similar thing…except I’m looking for interesting junk that has floated in with the driftwood. I always find something and here are a few recent images of this river treasure.
This is a plastic bell pepper to add to my ever growing collection of faux food. This collection has grown considerably since I last photographed it in its entirety. I’ve added several fast food items and I now can boast owning several plastic hamburgers and hotdogs to accompany the fruits and vegetables.
I don’t recognize this character’s head, but I responded to the tongue sticking out! It was this discovery that caused me to go on a tangent. I decided that in the relatively restricted area I was investigating that I was going to collect all the different green plastic items the river was delivering to me. This is what I came up with.
I was amazed at the collection I was able to put together in less than an hour’s time. Each item is unique…even the green plastic bottles which are different sizes, designs, and have different colored bottle caps. Among my other finds include green discarded fishing line, a green “Lincoln log”, a lost lip balm cylinder, a hair curler, a circular green plastic “smokeless” tobacco “tin”, a flip flop, etc…
I then took my 21 green artificial objects and arranged them in a line on an interesting wooden object I found that looked very alter-like. This is a very different expression of what it is to be “green” and the plants behind these objects concur. It was now time to visit my site and see if anything had happened there and perhaps to make something new.
I had that “oh no” feeling upon arriving. There were several changes since my last visit. Whomever is building this structure appears to be trying to construct a roof over my spot. Most of the materials that I have gathered over the months were just thrown out and around the site. There is no way for me to work here now in its present configuration. I wonder if the rain prevented the “work” from being completed? And then it dawned on me…where is the figure I left here? I found him a short distance away.
This is how I found him disarticulated and face down. It appears that he was just lifted up and thrown aside. I knew if I was to learn what had happened that I would need to reconstruct him. It took me a bit of time to find his various parts, but I ultimately was successful and set him up on the “roof” in a sitting position.
I said…”Dude, what happened here and to you?” My friend was quite excitable in retelling the tale. He said a couple of people came by a day or so after I was last here and just started ransacking the place. The last thing he remembers was flying through the air and then blackness. He at least confirmed my suspicions that more than one person was involved. Here is the evidence I used to draw that conclusion.
The last time I was here I noted a giant polystyrene cup lying in the sand just outside my space. Upon returning, I picked up these additional cups and the blue bottle that were casually thrown on the ground and photographed them on a nearby log. I’m deducing that these people live in the area since they sell these mega drinks at a nearby gas station. Now as much as I’m torqued about being evicted from my spot…finding these added cups here makes me mad! There is already enough junk in the river without bringing more and leaving it here! It seems the height of disrespect and irresponsibility and my remade figure concurred.
My friend was growing excited with the thought of his recent tormentors returning to the scene of the crime. He asked me what I was going to do about this and I have to admit it’s a dilemma for me. Generally, I appreciate it when people interact with my art, however, there is little evidence that there are respectful spirits at play here. I decided that if the river kept rising (and at this point it was about twenty meters away) that matters would become moot. The water would rearrange the context here and I would simply begin again. If, however, the river doesn’t reclaim this spot…I promised my figure that I would reassert my will. I might do a little engineering of my own and see how I might modify the structure to suit my needs. If you were me…what would you do? I told my mustachioed figure to sit tight and that I would return the following weekend if the river would allow it. To be continued…?
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 