The paper boxes are a barren media desert. The lone payphone lingers as if to say it's final goodbye to an era passed. As we move into a digital age, do we feel more connected?
I can use an app on my phone to find the nearest pizza place. I could read a kiosk, or ask a friendly stranger. What makes us the most connected, and what does it mean to be connected digitally or face to face?
In high school I always looked forward to graphic arts class and spent many hours printing posters, patches, and zines to connect people with ideas. In that same class I also learned digital layout, and I am grateful to have learned both, on the cusp of transitioning from one format to the other.
On the surface, I feel nostalgic for print media, and deeper I know it is something that will always exist in some capacity. As long as humans wear clothing with images or hand each other their dreams and ideas scrawled on tangible notes.
The hay day of posters and public art is disappearing in the mass outlawing of posting public bills, while dedicating any available space to corporate desperados and privatized media ventures. Our media nowadays is generally consumed in our own hands, on our 'private' devices. And just as it has been, advertising is rampant while creativity and community is pushed into the margins.
Even though we are in the midst of the digital age, let's not forget to stay creative, hand out and post our ideas, thoughts, and creativity, and hang out together.
Written in the government plaza while waiting to contest a ticket.
