East Jesus, Slab City Lifestyle Photos |Frank Vinyl
These were the televisions I was wanting to see when I first heard about East Jesus in Slab City! Strange times now where the media’s reporting on an epidemic and now pandemic should be adhered to where in the past it might have been viewed as a scare tactic. I read in an article somewhere it’s like the media cried wolf and this time it’s real! As a lifestyle photographer, we sometimes get to incorporate real world issues into our photos in real time, and this is one of those times, with Frank Vinyl.
The TV wall was constructed by photographer Flip Cassidy. As stated on the East Jesus Website: On the edge of a world saturated by media, in a desert outpost where it hardly seems to touch, Flip Cassidy has constructed a veritable wall of cynical-tongue-in-cynical-cheek commentary on this looming, pervasive force in our lives. This sculpture is made entirely from found and collected TV sets and computer monitors (most of which have had their circuit boards harvested for different art projects), and lets this castrated pile of technology complain silently to the desert and its passerby about how our society has decided to use it. As long as there is room to add to the breadth and height of the wall, it will remain a work in progress.
I hope this experience of the COVID-19 changes our perspective on our priorities, on our environment, on compassion we have for other humans. This is something that is AFFECTING everyone!! We are told to isolate ourselves and of course people want to do the opposite. We all wish we could work from home and now that is what is being encouraged but some people are complaining about being at home. It seems for some, we want what we can’t have. Let’s take this time to re-evaluate what it is we really want and to make sure that when we have it, we are grateful for it and work hard to keep it!
