Le jardin d'iktômi: Invisible Logos

Bienvenue à mon jardin non secret!

I look around me and I realise there is always something else to see.

Same streets, same buildings, often same people, yet I see different things, feel different emotions. That's what makes every day a special moment in life and fills every morning with new hopes! Things are what you see in them!

I share here with you what I choose to see, and what I wish to make visible.

There are days when each person I meet, especially the people I have to mix with on a daily basis, take on the significance of symbols, either isolated or connected, which come together to form occult or prophetic writings, shadowy descriptions of my life. The office becomes the page on which the people are the words; the street is a book; words exchanged with acquaintances, encounters with strangers are sayings that appear in no dictionary but which my understanding can almost decipher. F. Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

Saturday 3 July 2010

Invisible Logos

These pictures are part of a big selection of shots taken in Birmingham -UK. When I walk in the city centre I am always intrigued by some people's invisibility.

These people I photographed while walking around the city centre wear special jackets, with special logos written on them to justify their presence in the streets for ends other than strolling, shopping or partying. The logos they wear make them legally accepted to share a common space with the other passers-by. Despite the numerous advantages the jackets+logos give them (c.f what is explained above of legitimacy, the right to be in the street, the right to talk to other people), these same logos make them invisible. So unlike the so many logos that capture attention in many contexts and settings, be it streets or elsewhere (in movies and TV series, c.f. Sex and the City), some logos act like insect repellants used to protect oneself from undesirable creatures and intruders. Among the invisible logos, I spotted The Big Issue in the UK, L'Itinérant in France and many others.