Category: Poiesis

by jad

Houston: Y’All Come Back Now

There’s a place in the mall where I’m staying (yes, my hotel is in the mall) that’s called the museum of illusions, which sounds a lot like how this part of Houston feels, especially in the early morning fog. I took these after breakfast yesterday. I could have stared at that thing for hours. It’s fascinating how much this part of Houston reminded me of Dubai, even in its muggy evening breeze that indicated to me that there’s a gulf out there somewhere around here. More street scenes from my first Texan morning. The first breakfast wasn’t included in the … Continue reading “Houston: Y’All Come Back Now” →

by jad

Kalama, Mt. St. Helens, PDX

We spent a couple of nights in Kalama, a whistlestop town on I-5 partway between Seattle and Portland. It was “basecamp” for our drive around both sides of Mount St. Helens. Our literal “base camp” was up in the hills above Kalama’s business district, on a homestead farm called Highland & Co Acres. The experience was like stepping into one of those Netflix design shows, spending two nights in a tiny cabin made from shipping containers. We had fresh eggs and wildberry jam for breakfast sourced from the property. A rooster literally crowed us awake in the morning. It was … Continue reading “Kalama, Mt. St. Helens, PDX” →

by jad

Valentine

Next year, it’ll be 20 years since a defining moment in my life and in the lives millions of people in Lebanon, which feels unthinkable, so I’d rather do that thinking today, when it’s “only” been 19 – where has the time gone? On Valentine’s Day in 2005, a massive car bomb tore through Rafik Hariri’s motorcade and changed the course of Lebanese history. That’s saying a lot in a storied place like that, but this is my witness, and for me and for my generation, the arc of time abruptly swerved off of its tracks that day. I rethought … Continue reading “Valentine” →

by jad

Seattle Central Library

I remember watching a lecture by Rem Koolhaas on his practice and philosophy that included his work on the Seattle Central Library before ever moving here. There was a part where he showed how a statistical bar graph of some kind (I could look this up) was used very literally as the basis for the multiple volumes of space that make up this strange civic monument. He called OMA’s approach “parametricism,” which became a whole architectural style that “relies on programs, algorithms, and computers to manipulate equations for design purposes.” That word stuck with me. I still use it today … Continue reading “Seattle Central Library” →

by jad

First Impressions

It always fascinates me to hear about how I seem to someone else; not in the egotistical way of commanding attention, but rather, like a switch on a circuit that suddenly sparks a very different array of connections than I had before. Like how I might seem detached; or is it unencumbered? Or how I seem reserved; or is it responsive? That sort of “first impression” story has dogged me for as long as I can remember, with different friends having different versions, always to laugh about together years later, but also always a little bit mystifying for me to … Continue reading “First Impressions” →

by jad

Year of the Dragon

It’s almost the Lunar New Year of the Dragon, which means that this year is gon’ be Christine’s year (it’s her year, it’s gon’ be her year) in more ways than one. And, apparently, it’s also going to be our year – every one of us: “Dragon years are considered the most auspicious years of any in the Chinese Zodiac. As the only mythical creature of the zodiac, the Dragon is considered to be both powerful and benevolent. Because the rules of the earthly realm don’t apply to dragons (think about it: dragons can fly), this year has infinite possibilities. … Continue reading “Year of the Dragon” →

by jad

Stuck on Repeat

I brought a bunch of my old CDs back with me from Lebanon, prioritizing the harder-to-find local releases I listened to in high school and undergrad, like Soap Kills, Scrambled Eggs, Zeid and the Wings, and the one and only major label release by the 90s rap group, Aks’ser. That album in particular is a weird trip back down memory lane, which is appropriate enough, given the transport metaphor in the group’s name (it can be read as both “going the wrong way down a one-way street” and “against the current”). It features several self-referential call-backs to earlier parts of … Continue reading “Stuck on Repeat” →

by jad

Photography is Slow Montage

“Our art is for someone – even if it starts as for just ourselves.” Wise words from @thecryptidofyourheart. There’s something to be said about the symbiotic relationship between urbanism and photography; the two seem inseparable to me, so much so that “street photography” feels like a tautology – it should just be photography, with “studio photography” being the bastard child. That’s why photography and public transport are such a good fit. But I don’t know if I even think photographically, if I’m honest. I know more about Robert Bresson than Henri Cartier-Bresson, and though I’m not much of a cinéaste … Continue reading “Photography is Slow Montage” →

by jad

Thereness & Hereness

Yesterday, I used the word “thereness” to express how I look at the world photographically, but that’s a retrospective notion – in the moment of decision, the feeling is best captured by “hereness” – here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, so help me God. I’ve noticed this before, whenever I’ve walked through familiar places with a camera in hand; somehow, the world makes itself manifest in a different light that way. But a photo walk with others doing the same adds yet another dimension: the rhythm becomes corporate, a pooling of a liturgy of attention that’s more than idiosyncratic. … Continue reading “Thereness & Hereness” →

by jad

Aquarian Eye

“Many people, when writing about photography say that it always shows what we already know—that which is common knowledge. I think this assertion should be corrected to say instead: photography always shows what we think we know.” (Luigi Ghirri) I woke up today to a message from a Lebanese visual artist that rattled me a little, given that we’d never interacted before, and that I respect their work. It said, in response to a thing about astrology I’d thrown up in my stories: “The aqua moon explains how I can never grasp your point of view through your photography. Not … Continue reading “Aquarian Eye” →