Britta Wheeler
Ethnography and Art:
Walking Down the Street
Living in Manhattan
Walking Everywhere
To the train
To the pool
To shopping
Out at night (sometimes take a cab)
To friends in midtown.
From the train.
Looking at people
Looking at things
Noticing this city, this society.
What do people do
What do they leave behind
As evidence for what they do?
These things, I observe.
These things I observe have feeling associated with them
These things I observe have beauty, are beautiful
Have pain, are painful—
I see these things.
I think they mean something.
What do they mean?
residue
waste
decay
despair
tip of the iceberg
hope
love
My sight and observation.
Walking through the streets.
Research and interpretation.
Fact and Fiction.
Art is a place to start
and a place to end?
Being drawn to something because of an aesthetic quality,
And also because of a question.
Social Inquiry, ethnography,
Explains the meaning
Takes the inquiry further.
Puts the object into a context.
Sees it through a frame.
Tests its own truth.
Explains its truth.
The truth of art
The truth of observation
Is self-evident?
