I captured the
photo shown my first week here on campus. Ben, my roommate and the one who is
shown, displays his excitement for the end of the school week. After the image
was taken, Ben and I planed to go to a music party, our first college
party. The photo was taken against one of the walls of the music building
classrooms.
The focus for me is the sign labeled “wet-paint”. The white paint of the music
building, and all the buildings on campus, is unique to Miami. Other Universities
need to paint their walls to keep up the integrity of the building. But, the
white color is so distinct. Any trace of dirt or other color is obviously
present against white. The white color creates two circumstances: dirty walls
are more obvious and the walls need to be painted more to be maintained.
The University of Miami works so hard to keep the image people associate with
the school pure. The white walls will undoubtedly get dirty, but the school can
just paint over the dirt. These white walls relate directly to the mobiles of
Miami and how they act. The idea that decisions and actions do not have
consequences because whatever happens can just be painted over and forgot. Little
do mobiles know that the they’re careless and destructive nature (economically,
socially) is as obvious as dirt on white walls. The real colors of the wall,
and Miami as a locale, are hidden beneath layers of think milky paint (not to
mention, more paint is on its way).
For me this picture stood out because I could not understand the easily
dirtied, yet still extremely gaudy, milk walls. Why was the school trying so
hard to wear these white walls? Regular walls would have functioned fine. With
time, many buildings in other college campuses seem to age. The process of
aging buildings shows signs of heavy use, security, comfort, and nostalgia. But
this is not the way the buildings in University of Miami are. This is not how
the mobiles act. Everything always needs to be new. Architecture must function
as an indicator of money and in result an indicator of greater identity
struggle.
I like the connection between the 'wet paint' sign, image and how it relates to mobiles. Your questions at the end serve as a kind of punctum, your connection and response to the photograph. I think the identity struggle could have been addressed more throughout the response, but overall I liked it.
ReplyDeleteGreat observation on white walls and how the school just continues to paint over them over and over again. They get dirty the fastest, yet show the purest image. People constantly sin and act immaturely, but they either spend money or put up a facade to rid themselves of these acts. Great post.
ReplyDeleteAidan,
ReplyDeleteI how specific you got when analyzing this picture. This is exactly the type of close-reading the class is trying to focus on. A passerby commuting to class would never stop to wonder why every other time Using the concept of architecture and aesthetics does reveal a lot about our school and how it functions. The strive for a perfect image on a practically weekly basis shows how much of an emphasis is put on the outer layer of the school which appeals to the mobiles.