I live near, and work in, in a city (Reading, PA) which has a history dating back to Colonial times and which, in its day, was one of Pennsylvania's premier commercial, industrial and financial centers. At this point in history, however, dear old Reading is wandering in a wilderness of social and ethnic change. My work takes me through some of the rather sadly rundown parts of Reading where, among other things, there's a peculiarly archetypal form of local folk art which, like the cave-paintings of our prehistoric ancestors, seems to evoke something which language does not convey very well. So...
Urban Hieroglyphics I:
And Urban Hieroglyphics II:
And Urban Hieroglyphics III:
Don't ask me why, but I find these images arresting. The round one I take to be a male figure. In two of the three drawings, he's wearing something on his head -- some totemic symbol of dominance, perhaps. The teardrop-shaped figure I take to be a female symbol.
I'd be interested to know if anyone visiting this blog has anything to add to my off-the-cuff and very incomplete interpretation. I've spent a lot of my life being full of baloney, and it won't kill me to go there yet again.
And Urban Hieroglyphics II:
And Urban Hieroglyphics III:
Don't ask me why, but I find these images arresting. The round one I take to be a male figure. In two of the three drawings, he's wearing something on his head -- some totemic symbol of dominance, perhaps. The teardrop-shaped figure I take to be a female symbol.
I'd be interested to know if anyone visiting this blog has anything to add to my off-the-cuff and very incomplete interpretation. I've spent a lot of my life being full of baloney, and it won't kill me to go there yet again.
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