Integrative Seminar Bridge #4
As we walked down the quaint Chinatown streets, we heard the sounds of people’s lives all around us: crinkling plastic bags, shoes tapping the pavement, and doors opening and closing. We heard people–locals and tourists alike–speaking in all different kinds of languages, and vendors pitching to those walking by, trying to convince them to purchase their products or enter their restaurants. As a group we noticed how this section of New York, although a type of ‘tourist attraction’ is also the home of many. As the night falls, locals are on their way back from work, from their days out, from school. They’re tired and ready to get back to their homes for the day. In a way, what we saw was the fact that a place that has been pretty commercialized has a sense of normalcy which is seen by the residents of the area. While tourists walk around searching for a place to eat or things to buy, residents are hauling their groceries back to their apartments. These two aspects of Chinatown are melded together in a very fluid way, and it’s amazing that each extreme is so present and important to the other to create this ambience.
To present our haikus, we decided to take objects that were the sources of a lot of the sounds that we heard, such as plastic bags, shoes, bubble wrap, etc., and used them as our ‘brushes’ to create an abstract painting. We then decided to put a layer of translucent plastic on top of the painting, which gives it an extra dimension and also in my opinion represents the sort of surreal quality/ambience that we found in Chinatown. This is the layer on which we wrote our haikus so that they would be legible.
Haikus by me:
The Young Vendor
A young voice speaks out
Getting people’s attention,
“Come get some Dim Sum.”
Voices
Different voices speak,
Locals and strangers alike;
Communicating.
Routines
The crinkling plastic
Carried back by residents.
People live their lives.
Haikus written by Hayley, Tata, and Rachel E.:
Waves Blow Past Me
Rustling plastic
Wheels shake on the rough pavement
In a windy sea
Shiny Plastic and A Shiny Philtrum
Little lungs coughing
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
The toy sings to him
Heartbeat
Cops keys jingle slow
A distant thumping calls me
The woman plays on
Diversity
foreign languages
echoes in every corner
livens atmosphere
Law
bustling area
filled with various noises
sirens of police car
Cars
Engines are revving
The cars are heard but not seen
Just one street over
Subway
Underground noises
The subway is rolling by
It makes the street warm
Pictures:
1. Full sized canvas (pic #1)
2. Full sized canvas (pic #2)
3. Haiku 1
4. Haiku 2
5. Haiku 3
6. Close up of canvas
