Corinne Rose runs the Talkin' Back program at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. She was kind enough to send me words and pictures from their recent 1000 Words/1000 Pictures project. This is really amazing.
Talkin’ Back: Chicago Youth Respond showcases the work of Chicago youth who respond to major issues and ideas impacting their lives and communities through photographic images and creative written expression.
Among the projects on display is a collaborative installation, 1000 Words/1000 Pictures, that creates a collective voice of words and images gathered from the two hundred students from schools throughout Chicago. Students took 1000 snapshots interpreting the theme of Human/Nature. Participating students have also generated 1000 descriptive words in response to the photograph, In Between (2006) by Amy Stein, from the MoCP’s permanent collection.
In Between © Amy Stein
Here are the students' 1000 words inspired by my photo:long road hiding passing by sadness looking back middle of nowhere highway hidden baby lost pink-eared hungry looking little running will not grow up fur no way out no one knows no where to go protected for now gray alone sad emotional fearless paradise fall artificial nature luminescent strip mall twilight lifeless humanity abandoned community failed suffering confused global social justice oppressed savages yuppies hipsters rising phoenix La Frontera ambition thrive unstoppable si se puede Obama caged in nature gentle lamb road kill born to be run over the road to road kill Bambi nature’s road ahead escape green wonder dew mystical weird life cut off gateway world barrier wisdom wonderful sad night afraid eerie paradise confused death one more casualty worried lonely wildness murals reflection brainwash solitary stuck photographer will you save me looking spotted fawn rusty metal cold misty highway weeds distant glow relationship to nature motherless isolated trucking past lanes prairie island hairy fluffy green hills happy scared dangerous scene headlights hazard fear timid family farm Disney’s road to fantasy Highway 38 risky flowers ghost cars soon it will be dark or is it morning drivers shoppers unaware desolate road cars fence trapped deserted road to nowhere fast spirit natural remote cut off tropical in the weeds how did I get here? where is he going? wild horns wondering wrong turn I’m lost where are my friends? no one to save me will not see sunrise Incarcerated by machines, nature hides and seeks for salvation. the wind causes nature's pleas' for help but it's lost in the noise of pollution. hidden life among the metal is the pleasure our eyes unconsciously desire. It's a feeling that only loneliness can understand. the seeking of a life and the world neglecting. you are so close to my heart. the rushing surrounding around me and the silence that awakens. Keep me close to your heart. let that single spot of sunlight touch you...and brush your head. the worst kind of union. the whisper of the leaves, that are overpowered...the truck horn blasts, scaring the sweet chirping of the birds away...hypocrisy. the animal looks lost. almost like if it doesn't belong where it is. so close to the human world. people in cars are passing by while there in the middle of the unknown. it is afraid of moving forward but afraid to stay behind. I see an animal looking straight ahead He is white and looks scary escaped from where it belongs headed towards the road little lonely in trouble the owners are looking for him boring looking at me he intimidates big ears stand out he might jump out of the picture he had paint on his face there are so many trees the sky is so blue his skin is so white albino deer with a black stripe running through his head rural area houses European style farm someone is washing dishes someone is making a picture a baby is crying someone is in the hospital someone falls to the ground someone crashes someone looks at the sky no one knows the fate of the deer the deer is looking at me there is a farmer picking vegetables it is spring a little kid plays outside a baby is being born someone is dying someone is afraid he is taking out the trash someone is working kids are in school someone is drinking someone is on a computer the weather is nice people are hunting someone is taking pictures someone is on the beach I was in school my mom was at lunch my grandma was burning lipstick my brother was sleeping my sister was in my room my grandpa was at the store; Human Nature: walk/trees are in the photo with Mr. McDonald; work/jobs are wide and scary; talk/worms are busy bees; breathe/rocks help the air stay calm; eat/roots are a good nutritious breakfast; blink/soil gets into peoples eyes; fight/dirt is hard to wash out of school uniforms; move/grass can be slippery; blink/animals move faster than the eye can see; sniff/rocks open 24/7; drink/worms get fat off milk and honey; sleep/grass is very comfortable; snow/love is best in the Summer; sidewalk/runs three times a day to burn off calories caused by the sun; write/sky is a poem. Natural/Human grass/cries when it rain hit it dirt/kisses whenever a tire drives through a rain puddle soil/thinks what to do and how to do it and how to get water so rich to help the plants grow so that they can live more and more rain/listen to everything; leaf/moves are very slow; wind/blows are strong and beautiful; rock/builds become skyscrapers with vines; grass/writes whenever someone walks across it and leaves a footprint; flowers/sing because sound lets you know when something can move; stone/shakes at the touch of someone cute sky/jumps to be taller than mountains; sun/smiles when you wake up in the morning to a sun so bright, it makes your eyes squint which makes it hard to write Mr. Young’s poem
