Holiday Spirits
Posted on December 23, 2009
Mocko Jumbie - 2009
Colorfully costumed stilt dancers — or mocko jumbies — appear at many island festivals. Cultural icons and entertainers today, the mocko jumbies have ancient African origins. “Jumbies” are mischevious or evil spirits and ghosts, and one interpretation is that the mocko jumbies scare them away by mocking them. Their height allows them to see the spirits before they arrive to cause trouble. While there are other interpretations, they all relate to protection from the spirit world.
Now just imagine if it were a jumbie that had become manifest in the form of the young woman below…
I wish a happy holiday and good spirits to all!
(Learn more about the origin and cultural significance of the mocko jumbies.)
Elfin Dream-Girl - 2009
Rising Stars Steel Band and Grilled Meats in Red
Posted on December 16, 2009
Rising Stars Steel Band - 2009
Some of the best steel pan music in the world can be heard from the large orchestras that compete at Carnival time on the island of Trinidad in the southern Caribbean. This seems appropriate since Trinidad is the birthplace of the instrument. While perhaps not the best in the world, we are fortunate on St. Croix to have several steel pan orchestras of our own, including the “Rising Stars”. The dedication of these young people and their leaders to create such stirring music must be admired.
The original photograph for the image above was taken at night under the glare of orange sodium street lights, with just a hint of flash to create the specular highlights on the pan in the foreground. Post-processing focused on enhancing the moody atmospheric qualities of the scene.
While the image below was captured under similar conditions, its focus is more on social commentary than atmosphere. This was a street vendor selling grilled meats set up in front of a perfume and beauty product store window, creating the contrasts between the pattern of the vendor’s dress, the poster in the background, and the condiment bottles in the foreground.
Grilled Meats in Red - 2009
1961 Plymouth
Posted on December 10, 2009
Police cruiser - 2009
This classic was built at the end of an era of unusual excess in automobile design — the period of flamboyant fins, rocketship tail lights, and copious chrome. This had been a police cruiser, and was restored in that manner with one of the dual headlights converted to a red flasher.
Even in this earlier time, cars had become such an integral part of our cultural persona that we signaled our status, beliefs and view of ourselves by the cars we drove. The extreme design elements of the late 50’s and early 60’s surely said something about who we thought we were and where we thought we were headed.
Tail end (of the era) - 2009
A Modern Shrine
Posted on December 4, 2009
Room to wait - 2009
There is a new shopping mall near the airport in Orlando, Florida. It is called Mall at Millenia and is a part of a much larger mixed use (retail-residential) development called simply, and somewhat ominously, Millenia. These images are from the mall’s interior public spaces dedicated to the further glory of upscale consumption.
For a moment I had a vision of this magnificent public space as a shrine to human creativity instead of consumption, surrounded by galleries, performance spaces, reading rooms, and classrooms for the advancement of creative human endeavors. If only those were our cultural priorities… silly me. Rarely have I felt the tension between the possibilities and the realities of a place so strongly.
A scribe -- 2009
Trojan Ships
Posted on November 29, 2009
Trojan Ship - 2009
The cruise ships have returned to St. Croix. They arrive in the morning and disgorge their living cargo for a few hours ashore. Priorities are rearranged. New businesses spring up in an attempt to pry a few dollars from wallets. The ships are welcomed as a needed lift for the island economy, even though some activities threaten to destroy the local culture and natural beauty that many come to see.
Before sundown, the living cargo streams back to the ship’s hold in time for the evening feast, and the leviathon slips quiety into the evening almost as if it were never here. Almost.
Were they really here? - 2009
A suburban maze
Posted on November 23, 2009
Corridor's end -- 2009
What is at this glass corridor’s end? Is it the door to the vault where the secrets are kept? Or is it a way out, and with the right spin of the red dial the door will swing open? Or, is it the secret red button that when pushed will launch next wave to resolve the crisis? Whatever it is, I am not sure this is a place meant for people.
Bride to be
Posted on November 17, 2009
Bride to be -- 2009
Nude mannequins in store windows may be an overdone subject (like sunsets, razzbuffnik). Nevertheless, the play of light and reflections in this upscale bridal shop in Florida were compelling. The contrast between the in-store lighting and the outdoor light on the dismembered mannequin gave her an other wordly look, echoing the contrast between the romance inside and the reality outside glimpsed in storewindow’s mirror.
Emplacement
Posted on November 12, 2009
Emplacement
The two old Danish forts on St. Croix — one in Christiansted and the other in Frederiksted — were defended by cannons aimed seaward. The irony is that the real threat to the planter’s culture of that era came from the land in the form of the changing economics of the sugar trade, the end of slavery, and rebellions by workers against the oppressive conditions they endured.
I’m not sure if the cannons were ever fired, but many of them have now found their way to emplacements around the island where they are mounted barrel down on street corners and elsewhere to act as guardrails or barriers. This one, however, was placed into the rock at the ocean’s edge where the salt water and air is taking its toll on the old iron. It’s purpose is a mystery.
Just a few feet away from this relic of the past is a much larger relic of the future, the new clock tower built in the renovated plaza that greets cruise ship passengers as they disembark. On the rocks below the plaza were a pair of jeans and shirt with no owner visible in the water or elsewhere nearby. Perhaps he simply melted away, or even scampered away nude.
Where'd he go?
Friends
Posted on November 2, 2009
Friends - 2009
I promised Pat Coakley my next post would be something a little nicer, after the spooky “Green Ghoul” posted for Halloween.
These two women were clearly friends, and I hope their friendship and humanity come through.
For the Ghouls and Goblins
Posted on October 28, 2009
Green Ghoul -- 2009
A creature was lying on the beach, dead and half covered with sand and dried seagrass. I tried to breathe some life into him and he opened his eyes and looked at me sadly. Or was that just a dream?
A bit further on was the shell of a sailboat — someone’s home — that had blown ashore. Holed by the coral stone at the water’s edge, its bones had been picked clean by human vultures in search of anything of value. As the waves washed over it’s keel, I shuddered with the old boater’s fear in the night of losing one’s bearings, or of the anchor losing its grip on the bottom, and being shipwrecked on a reef or a rocky shore. Here was proof that it happens.
Blown Ashore - 2009
Made on Sight!
Posted on October 21, 2009
Made on Sight - 2009
We all see funny signs from time to time. Sometimes they are obvious errors, but this one made me wonder if they really mean what they say — that they won’t start cooking that omelet until they see the whites of your eyes! I guess that would be better than yesterday’s or last week’s omelet.
On a different subject, but still having fun, the neighbors had a problem with swarming bees the other day (not an infrequent occurrence here). They called the “bee-man” — a rasta fellow who knows what to do. He looked so strange on the rooftop after he donned all his gear.
Battle of the Bee-men - 2009
The Modern Butcher
Posted on October 15, 2009
The Butcher - 2009
I was slinking around the local warehouse food store with the camera the other day, and got this moody picture of the butcher, alone in his glass-enclosed cage. The image is a more recent extension of some of the work I did last month in preparation for an exhibit in Frederiksted.
The camera sees the colors of light so much more acutely than the eye. While we all know that retailers make the meat look redder with a little red in the light, it’s normally not so obvious. The two different qualities of light here – in the work room and on the counter – help deliver the message in this image.
The “Daily Strife” exhibit at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts opens Friday night, October 16. Six of my images were chosen to be part of the exhibit, including the one on the promotional flyer below. The show will be up until December 1, so stop in if you are on island.
St. Croix — Hotel Caravelle Artwork
Mocko Jumbies
Donald Diddams 