Imagined Spaces First Edition. Copyright Š 2016 Sonay Ban & Sarah Fry Photographs Š Copyright 2016 Sarah Fry All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic, mechanical (including photocopying, film video, recording, internet posting or any other information storage and retrieval system), without the prior written permission of Sonay Ban and Sarah Fry. The typefaces used in this book are Dolce Vita and Georgia.
Imagined Spaces Sonay Ban and Sarah Fry
Preface In an exploration to understand how the imagination works toward our understanding of reality and in spite of it we have created a book that encourages user participation. Imagined Spaces is meant to be an exercise in exploring one’s own imagination and what happens inside the mind when your particular reality is confronted with the photograph. As you read through this book we encourage you to first read the description we have provided of the place and then let your mind wander. Imagine the place. What are the particulars that you see? What exists within the periphery of your vision? Linger there for a moment. After each description we have provided you with a photograph or a set of images that represent the place that was described. Here we ask you to stay with this confrontation for a bit and discover the dispute between your imagination and the image of the place. What are your own differences that you created and does this change the opinions you intrinsically formed of the space before confronting the captured reality? John Berger and Jean Mohr took us on a similar journey in their book Another Way of Telling. After reading this book we understood that photographs are an ambiguous medium without accompanying text to affirm the truth of the image. “A photograph is a meeting place where the interest of the photographer, the photographed and the viewer and those who are using the photograph are often contradictory. These contradictions both hide and increase the natural ambiguity of the photographic image” (Berger & Mohr, 1982, p.7). Just as photographs are “liable to distortion” as David MacDougall has said, we see this is also true with the written word (MacDougall, 1991, p.2). Here we ask you to explore the ambiguity of text and while exploring one photographers view of ‘reality.’ While ethnography makes the strange familiar and surrealism makes the familiar strange we explore a place in between (Clifford, 1981, 542). Here we explore our own mind and how it shapes it’s own reality and then reshapes it upon seeing the ‘visual truth.’ Sources Berger, J. & Mohr, J. (1982). Another way of telling. New York: Pantheon Books. Clifford, J. (1981). On ethnographic surrealism. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 23(4), pp. 539-564. MacDougall, D. (1991). Whose story is it?. Visual Anthropology Review, 7(2) pp. 2-10.
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Route We walked from Temple University center city campus to Temple University main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 19, 2016. While we mostly stuck to Broad Street we meandered along the way, following interests as they naturally occurred. To the left is a map of where we walked. The images are shown in order. As the book progresses you are visually transported north of the center.
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Cold yet sunny morning in Love Park. The park area has been closed by wire fences due to renovation process. “No trespassing” notice on the fences while LOVE sign can be seen through them. The wall carries the writing “RIP LOVE PARK” as the skyscrapers are at the background.
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Three images with the same objects but different focuses. The Love Park statue sits at the background to the left. On the right, a couple stands before the fence. A young man and woman. He wears a red backpack. He tries to take a selfie with the sign at the back. He raises his arm to take the picture and both of them look at the camera. The next two pictures they admire their photograph. In the foreground a rose as red as the love sign is abandoned on the ground. The first shot focuses on the rose. The next shot focuses on the sign. The last shot focuses on the couple.
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A woman pushes a stroller on the sidewalk on Broad Street. She carries a medium-sized purse on her shoulder. She wears an ornamented leather jacket with red tassels and black and white pants. A pink earphone cable comes out of the pocket of her jacket. The cable is unnoticed and sweeps the pavement.
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A blue bicycle frame is U-locked to a street pole. Wheels and saddle have been removed. The bike chain is rusty. A shadow of the frame is cast by the sun.
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A plane sculpture looking as if the nose of the plane has been crushed and nailed on sideways. It gives the impression of a snapshot taken right when the crash started to happen. A woman in a black jacket walks past. A bench separates her from the sculpture.
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On the left and eight-story narrow building with it’s original name engraved onto it (Abbott building). A pizza place lives on the ground floor with a green sign with red and white lettering. The building seems to bear the traces of the past as the color of the facade is faded. It also provides the impression of renovation. To the left one can see another narrow building covered by glass with a modern look. Across the street on the right hand side stands a wide building with glass covering almost the entire building. The sun shines onto the glass building. The old building is caught in the middle of the two modern structures.
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A Mural Arts Program detail with a blue capital ‘E’ on the top. Right under the E reads “Independence Starts Here,” written with white paint. On the right side at the corner of the building is a surveillance camera.
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A parking area with multiple spaces between two buildings with six floors (right) and ten floors (left). The building on the right side has a mural covering half of it from the ground to the second floor. Pedestrians pass by as a standing panel says “Lot Full.� The pedestrians each have the color green with them and they pass in opposite directions.
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Firemen and police officers are about to enter a hospital while a woman is talking with a policeman. A man carrying a plastic bag passes them and looks toward the firemen. He wears a furry hat and black glasses. The second image shows the back of the fire truck on the right as City Hall is seen in the background very clearly and in the middle of the image.
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In the first image: a close-up shot depicting a red construction crane in the background raising next to tall buildings and a street light in the foreground. On the right the image is almost the same view taken from farther away where one can see two people walking on the sidewalk.
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A construction area behind fences. An old brick building half covered by a mural is behind ground of sand mixed with slop. The area is enclosed with caution tape. A white crane looks as if it will pick up a white concrete building.
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The old Inquirer building. The newspaper of the city. Two gold doors frame the old gold name plaque. The building has an ornate black architectural detail but it is badly deteriorating. Another image of the windows of the building show and Inquirer sign that reads “your life, your stories.� The windows are covered with black and red.
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The first image is of a street lamp in the foreground. A distant brick factory chimney is at the background which seems to be close to a tall old apartment building. The second image is zoomed in where the chimney is and shows it has “Inquirer� from top to bottom written in white paint. The apartment building looks parallel to each other. There are birds on the roof of the building. A plane soars above. The third images is zoomed in farther. Birds are flying around the top of the chimney with only the gloomy blue sky in the background.
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Close-up shots to the roof of the apartment building next to the brick factory chimney. One can see the cracks on the face of the building. The brown color of the building is compatible with dark-colored glass windows. The old orange doors stand out. Birds sit on the roof. The left side of the building has round balconies on each floor.
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The first image is of backpacks and a lunch tote. A plastic Mountain Dew bottle is left with the bags on a waist-tall cement wall. Behind the wall one can see the window and the name of an abandoned hot dog place called “Old Original Levis Hot Dogs,” written in white painting on a red background. The roof has a white and yellow flag. The hot dog stand is in a deteriorating train car. The final image shows the word “Yesum” is gratified in blue on an off-white paint. Right next to it one can see details of the glass window where a Veterans poster and a thin metal wire peace sign hangs by a string.
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The other side of the hot dog place showing a rusty roof. Two windows on which postcards and pieces of paper are seen pinned on the windows randomly.
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Close-up shots to the windows. It seems that the glass was broken and there is another layer of glass on top of it. There are writings on one of the big piece of cardboard. On the other window a piece of paper hangs with the words “liberty, women, freedom� and a pyramid drawn on it. A photo of a boy is in the collage in front of a snowflake gift bag. Other pieces of paper and blue paint are on the glass.
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Low angle shot of the upper side of a white apartment building. We see the upper six stories of the building. The right side has the windows covered, while the windows on the left are open. The covered windows have balconies on each floor.
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Four shots next to each other. All of them except the one on the right shows the doors of old brick houses. The first image has light blue doors and a small stoop. There is a car wash sign in front of it. The second shot is of a garage door with graffiti on it. There is a smaller door, maybe once for bails of hay above the garage door. The next shot has a door with green paint. The final shot is between the homes. It shows broken windows.
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Wooden boxes in different size and shapes left on the street. The plywood boxes are painted bright green and blue at the edges.
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The first image is of an old fancy carriage painted in white and blue parked in front of a warehouse. The second image shows the carriage on the right with a black garbage truck parked in the middle of the street while a man wearing a green shirt walks to the trucks door.
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Black metal horse heads line the sidewalk in front of a bar. They were once a place for people to park their horses. Now they act as a fancy bike rack.
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Street view with parked cars on the right side. A building on the left is next to parking area enclosed with fences. Old street lamps on telephone poles line the street. The building at the background is far away and has a giant eyes taken from Benjamin Franklin’s portrait. His eyes are looking at you. Big Ben is watching you on the facade of Benjamin Franklin High School.
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Three images, each getting closer to the subject. The first is of an old dark brown tall door. Above the door reads “A House of Prayer.” Both sides of the door and above the door are colorful and have beautiful designs. It is an ornate Temple. There are two concrete placards with Hebrew letters on it. The second image is a low-angle shot of the ornaments above the door. You can see the ornate tile work in green, blue, gold and white. The last image is a pile of newspapers wrapped in twine. It reads headlines such as “Man shot near Gayborhood” and “Lesbian judge suspended without pay.”
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The bottom of a red heart-shaped chocolate box lying upside down in a brush area.
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Close-up shot of a tree limb where the branches start to grow. One of the branches wears a red plastic bracelet with numbers on it.
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The first shot is a low angle image of the top of the Divine Lorraine Hotel. Two more photos: one can see construction framework placed at the ground floor. There is a cement block wall. The sign says “Work in Progress.�
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A street art installation on metal wire fencing. Someone has put bunches of blue and orange yarn in a rectangular checkered pattern. Behind the yarn art is the Divine Lorraine Hotel.
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A thick chain and a big lock on an old torn wooden wall. The door looks like it has been unlocked but the front door is closed.
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Six apartment buildings in different colors next to each other on Broad Street. Some of them seem renovated and recently painted. Some have shops on the ground floor while the one on the right hand side is wider than the others and seems to have no shop on the ground floor. Cars either pulled over on the side or passing by. One person walks with a reflective jacket on the other side of the street.
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The Eastcoast gas station and car wash. The gas station has a red roof on its awning with blue poles. Red, blue, white and yellow make up the scene. The car wash is dirty with trash on the ground and graffiti on the wall. A bill changer that has seen better days is visible on the outside of the station.
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A tan brick wall with an old metal front door and metal stairs. What looks like a window has been covered with beige horizontal stripes. It gives the impression of horizontal plastic curtains for homes yet it is vinyl siding. There are three surveillance cameras. The second image shows a detail where the vinyl siding is melted and deformed. Behind the peeling vinyl is deep red.
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The first image is of an old building: brick walls, brick flue, spot light at the top, a surveillance camera. The words “king” and “no pa” remain but have been painted over with tan. On the right, two photos: two white front doors with same design. One of them has a dark red pull-down shutter covering it. These images are in an alley that is in disrepair.
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A view from the same alley. On the left, a toilet is placed in front of an apartment building next to the front door. On the door there is an image of a coffee cup posted. The upper side of the wall has a no loitering sign. Two close-up shots show the toilet bowl and tank filled with soil. The bowl has cigarette butts in it. The tank has a dead plant in it.
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The corner of a busy street. Cars passing by, pedestrians walking and waiting for the trolley and bus on Girard Avenue. A mural on the facade of a building is shadowed by the sign of a Checkers restaurant and streetlight.
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Photograph of a parking area with mural at the back. It is taken from a distance behind tree branches. Another shot taken from a distance showing a McDonald’s restaurant. Then on the right a wide angle image of the restaurant next to a gas station. People are walking around.
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A store window with the writing “Air Brush Designs.� On the glass there is a female hand that is well-manicured. Another hand holding airbrush kit toward the pretty hand is on the right. The decal looks like it has been there since the 1980s.
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A low-angle shot of a very wide and tall apartment building with thin columns and big windows on the left. All of the windows look the same. Rectangles with no personality. The next image is of a metal storm grate above the subway on the sidewalk. The final image shows a window that has multiple cracks. In the window’s reflection the apartment building is visible.
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A bicycle, a tree without leaf, and a traffic light are all in front of the Interstate Blood Bank. A man is standing in front of the bank smoking. He has a grey hoodie on, skinny jeans and a foe-hawk.
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The first image is of rusty corrugated metal. The image shows the space between two apartment buildings. A surveillance camera is on the right top of the frame. The next image is of the three front doors of the building: one white front door located at the bottom with stairs while the other door front doors are located higher than the white door a bit behind. They are the same and located symmetrical in reference to the white door.
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The front of the Freedom Theatre. The words are written on a red background in white color. The entrance and the main body of the building is white and grey. Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, depicted in a mural, fight in the background. History behind the Freedom Theatre. The next image is of the torn sign that reads “Freedom Theater Parking Only� located behind a chain link fence.
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Chain link fences with barbed wire on top of them open to a parking/storage area between two old buildings. It belongs to a real estate company. The sign of the company is on the fence. In the background stands a new building with grey, white, and green paint and tall glass windows.
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A play poster hung between two windows of a building with the title “Freedom Justice Laughter.” At the front of the building there is a black (probably wooden) barrier on which yellow spray paint reads “Please Do Not Enter Danger.” In the next image a surveillance camera is in the frame located close to the window. In that image you can see the Freedom Theatre sign above the door. It is a brownstone building. Finally a close up image of the surveillance camera.
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The triangular shaped building of Mount Olive Holy Temple. On the left a tall rusty cross and street lamp. The photo is taken from the sidewalk. You see many street lamps in the shape of a ‘T’ mimicking the shape of the cross and the Temple University building in the background with the Temple ‘T’ close to the rooftop.
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On the left there is a very close shot to a yellow signboard (hung on top of another signboard) on a street lamp or traffic light pole. The sign says “I buy houses, fair cash offer, any condition� with a phone number. In the next image the camera slightly turns to the left from the sign where a car is turning to the right and old buildings dot the background.
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An intersection with old and new buildings. A Rite Aid Pharmacy sits low. An old white building with red lettering. Cars are parked out front. Behind is a gloomy grey apartment building. It is new. Modern design. A movie theatre, also of modern design is next to the pharmacy. Three images are on the page. The last image shows a man crossing the street and a woman leaning on a street lamp.
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A man and a woman are walking on the opposite direction on the sidewalk. The man is walking toward the camera on the very left of the frame while the camera is located very close to the window of a building and captures the reflection of the man on the right side of the frame. The next photograph only captures the reflection of the man looking at his phone.
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