Something happened a while ago that I really wasn’t sure if I would actually write about or speak on in any kind of public way. As an artist, I use art after recovering to process and move through things that happen in my life but sometimes I do it the other way and make the work before I’m recovered at all. I don’t regret that, it has led to some really important and vulnerable works for me. But also when external expression is prioritized over internal processing, sometimes that recovery is forgotten.
So, I wasn’t going to write about this but then I received a strange email.
It was regarding a new public art measure on SEPTA. Since the onset of the pandemic, ridership has been historically low. The work is designed to make people feel more confident and comfortable on public transit. They were inviting me to write about it.
It does insense me in CAPS LOCK style rage that they have funded this project to make people feel better about the transit system rather than actually making it safer or better. Art is great, and public art can be good, but I do not think it is good in and of itself. Here in Philadelphia, we have a great many examples of iconic, memorable pop art that is emblazoned on millions of tee shirts and mugs across the world. Philadelphia is also known for its many murals. On a personal aesthetic note, I don’t like all of these things. The Mural Arts Program originated in the 90s as an Anti-Grafitti measure. (Here is an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer talking more about that, it is behind a paywall but if you go to the link in private mode it should take you there.) I would also argue that it contributes to the art-washing of the city’s neighborhoods in the process of and in danger of being overtaken by gentrifying developments. A mural in Chinatown for example, I recently noticed was all but a 2-foot strip, now covered up by new condos. I can’t help but think of the “landlord paint job” when outlets, windows, hinges, molding, light switches, and air vents are painted over quickly and carelessly.
So all that being said, this augmented reality SEPTA project may be amazing. I haven’t seen it and I’m not insulting the artist when I say that; I don’t know, I don’t really care, and I don’t particularly appreciate being invited to do free labor about it. Especially as a trans and queer person who has been regularly assaulted and harassed on public transit.
Below I get into the broader details of being assaulted on the Broad St Line.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to body joke to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.