Clean Up Holyoke: Photos that say enough.

When I leave my studio these are some of the images I see.

I have not placed, arranged, moved, or physically touched any of the elements that exist in these photographs. I have composed what I see as it sits there.

Why is this alley way so cluttered with debris, couches, chairs, trash, filth? I have no valid answer except that people use the ally as a waste haven to dump their trash. Let me out line the issue a little further.

1. The allies have trash that should not be there. Couches, chairs, doors, bags of clothing and other pieces of trash do not belong in the ally.

2. It would require very little effort to clean up these allies. In fact here are a few ideas that would allow for the alley ways to be cleaned.

• Community service programs that utilize the convicted criminals. Let them get their hours by enforcing the cleaning of the allies. Does it matter if there is a few pieces of trash on the high way when the allies are more cluttered? NO.
• High school community service programs. Let the high school students get credit for community service by giving them a program and the resources needed to make Holyoke shine.
• Incentives: Clean the allies up so that they can be utilized. The alley behind our space would be great for a “Back Ally Blowout” Let the city have a return to community block parties in the form of Alley Parties. Clean it up and allow this to happen.
• Business incentives: Give a tax break for allowing the business to participate in helping to glorify the city in which they do business.

The ally ways are real estate going to waste by being filled with trash. By monitoring and enforcing littering laws, dumping laws and fines, a little bit more control could be placed on this issue. Sure these photographs look like a piece of art. In fact they are. Each image is a photograph that documents the current state the city is in, done so in a more creative manner. Why? Because a striking image is much more likely to command your attention than a snap shot would be…

Here is an example of a very clean bathroom. Inside my studio.

It is not every day you see bathrooms that are dated like this one. That is 1 reason why I photographed it. The 2nd is because I was in a discussion last week about photographs of and or in a bathroom. And this is just my take on the argument.