Nelson Lowhim's Blog, page 93

When One Picture isn't enough.

Killing that Paralyzed Cyclops that is the camera. Well trying to at least. Here is it, just published. 

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Zebra Crossings, a History

 My post above on that infamous site and time-suck called Reddit. It was posted as snark for someone had asked about the difference in calling a crosswalk (in the states) versus zebra crossing (British and former British places). True story. In fact, it was only ever a form of control. It kept the local population under wraps in the colonies and kept them unable to move about freely. 
And of course, as we all know, when those in charge of Empire decide that something worked elsewhere, they'll try to bring that form of control back home. And that, my friends is how Zebra crossings came to be.
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Links to Stories and a Kind of travel essay.

Once upon a time. I'm sure you've been missing my stories on this blog. Sorry about that. Needs must and all. I've been placing them more over at Medium, where there is another group of readers (maybe some of ya'll). So here is the last story I wrote. Hope it's fitting for you. Again, I'm trying to maximize my ability to reach readers, and stay afloat... but given that there's  a paywall, I'm glad to be able to tear down a few walls. So here's one. 
 

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Reading Writing

Uh boy, so my photo short story book is coming along. I'm trying to read a bunch of other things to help me along. So I tried this book, Solitary Twin , which just didn't cut it for me. It's solid, mind you, but I wanted something more Borges like. Hoping to create something worthy of you, dear reader. In other news it's hot here in Seattle. This city is simply not made to handle even remotely hot days. So 85 and dry is a rough day. It bakes the city and the apartments since few have AC and even fewer have proper ventilation.
The weather will only get warmer.
And yet people still are building apartments with those windows that  barely open. 
Great. 
Anyhows...
What are you reading that's decent?
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The Vision and the Text

Also labeled: please name me your best graphic novels (or most eclectic). 
If you've been following me, you'll know that I've regressed from novels to shorts and essays and, gasp, been working more and more with the visual. Some of it is documenting what has really happened (or this),  trying to move away from the paralyzed cyclops that is photography and its forced perspective, to say nothing of its thin slice of time and also to try and map one's experience, which could very well tie into fiction (and knowing me, I will and am currently working on this). 
Nevertheless, there's a problem I'm working on: taking a story and making it physical. This could be with photos, or with something else. I do want to hear from people who have experienced the story IRL form.  

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Insta Classic!

Just finished the brutal, incisive Human Acts , by  Han Kang. Not sure what I thought when I started. I don't think I had great expectations, though I did assume it would be good. In fact, I thought it would be about a massacre and expected it to be brutal. But oh my. As a writer, I can respect how she moved away from the injustice of a singular act and showed how it tore into the entire social fabric. Brilliant, I'm telling you, just brilliant!Now I have just finished a book (and will be re reading it soon) that is easily in the best of the 21st century list and might be in the best of all time list. Don't miss it, seriously.
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Some Collages Were Just Published

Hey, so I've been working hard on my photographs as a way to tell more than a single frame story. We'll see where it leads, but here it is.  Hopefully you like it, and if you have any ideas whatsoever, go ahead and share them!


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Flash Fiction

Once upon a time there was a fool.  He lived happily ever after.



Naw, it's in jest, but that's a short of mine that I'll share in my new series of micro fictions. There will be a handful of them, but I'll share more once the short stories with Red Rock Review come out.

best,



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War

Well the Greek Chorus is at it again, and again we're getting nowhere close to the truth because people are too loud about helping one status quo or another. As it was so shall it be. Israel and Syria (&Iranian) are now at it again. I am pretty sure the escalation is part of the plan to push back at Iran. This is a US-Saudi-Israel want and given the recent move by Trump, they're hoping they can get away with it (or just want a bigger war, which will be dumber than even I think). Here's to hoping that it doesn't grow bigger, but still call your Senator and rep because every call counts. (yeah, I know executive power and all that, but something should be registered against it). 
On that note it reminds me of this story where things abroad come home sooner or later. It's not a law, but that we're creating even more trouble than before is something we should be wary of. As you can tell, I think the coverage of the Syrian war has been hard to follow and it was been another dismal performance by our media. More to come.


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On F for Fake

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Things have been quite busy here, and I've been writing away as usual. I have a couple shorts coming out with Red Rock Review, and there will also be some collages coming out with flyway magazine. The Collages have been fun to work on and I think have been another way for me to better encapsulate an experience. We'll see if I'll ever get to that point.

Funny thing I saw in the news today: that a French Museum found out that many of the paintings in its gallery are fakes. Yup. Apparently more than 20% of all paintings in all museums are forgeries. Yes, people, the world is full of shadows and lies. This one doesn't surprise me and I wonder how much we should care.
After all, the aesthetics of the painting should more or less be the same (down to the facture). So have we really lost out in seeing such a forgery? Furthermore, given how inflated the art market is, it would appear that this is yet another example of the rich figuring out a myriad of ways to skimp on their taxes (they can donate or lend paintings etc). 
That being said, this is also a statement about what art is. I watched F for Fake by Orson Welles (a brilliant movie which you should watch right away) and loved everything about it. In it he talks about the forger who has many of his paintings on many walls in museums around the world. It would appear that this was more than just boastful.
But there was something else. The artist claimed he was better than the original artists and (it seemed to me) that it was only a matter of luck that his own paintings never "made it". So he gained something by creating forgeries and also by knowing his strokes were better than the original artist's. He also gained something from pretending that the artists themselves could not tell his work from their own. 
Which brings me to the idea of art and the individual's role in that creation of art. It's not a formula but the artist doesn't paint in a vacuum. They take in from their environment, experience, and they create. I wouldn't go so far as to call the work of art by an artist a communal creation, but it's not entirely individual either. 
So if that's the case, where in all this does the forger (especially the forger whose original work is considered unpopular) fit in? Where does their creation fit in? What if it is a new creation in the exact same vein as the original artist's? I don't think we should consider that a complete loss to view. Of course what it does do is force us to look at the prices (us as in us peasants who wouldn't participate in such auctions anyways) and why we value art in certain ways. 
Interesting stuff, if you ask me. You?



On that note, check out 1000001 American Nights while you still can. The color paperback is the best way to do this.
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