A set of "Yankee" postcards

It was uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti who said that_ "Cities are meant to be read with the feet". I totally agree with that statement.

As a way of souvenir, usually I take the picture of my/our feet on the covers that bare the name of cities that I/we visit in order of making my blink of the eye to "Mario". Sadly this time, because of the Hurricane Sandy that hit the East Coast on last Sunday/Monday nights, Dawn and I were not able to do much on the state of Connecticut as I have planned during our visit to that state, reason why I did not take the "symbolic picture", hoping to return some day to do it better.

Still on Tuesday I managed to drive down to Downtown Hartford ( Connecticut's capital) to visit the home of the great adventurer, writer and also a great supporter of civil rights_ Samuel Langhorne Clemens (better known as Mark Twain). Sadly (that's my luck), because of the weather on the previous days, the museum that operates there was closed, but I still managed to photograph the outside of the house, which is beautiful as it was the life of the man that once lived there. Those photos, which I decided to turn into the compositions seen below, I would like to share here today. The inside...? well I guess will be the excuse for a come back someday.

Cheers.

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"Untitled" ("The Yankee House")

Diptych composed of detail and general overview of Mark Twain's Home (the one between 1874 -1891)

Hartford, Connecticut

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

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"Untitled" ("The Yankee House")

Diptych composed of detail and general overview of Mark Twain's Home ( the one between 1874 -1891)

Hartford, Connecticut

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Untitled" ("The Yankee House")

Diptych composed of detail and general overview of Mark Twain's Home (the one between 1874 - 1891)

Hartford, Connecticut

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

The Wrong Place or The Wrong Time?

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To the question "What are we doing here? comes the answer: this was planned way before the forecast changed radically and "Sandy" decided to come this way. So no, we are not "Storm Chasers" as the shuttle driver asked us at the airport.

At this point it does not look good so all my plans of driving today (Monday) to the coast were cancelled completely and even as I left early morning today at 8AM towards north, I turned back since the winds and rain started to make the whole thing unsafe. 

For now, nothing to worry in our case except to be able to leave the airport on Tuesday, since the airport will be closing in few hours which is going to delayed some flight times, something that really feels and sounds very selfish when is a fact that sadly some people will be losing their home or even their lives if it goes the way is being predicted.

Let´s hope everything goes well and the storm will lower its intensity.

Revolution Rock!

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Dawn and I will be leaving for Connecticut tomorrow and will be back on Tuesday.

Really excited about it, since it is the first time since I am here that I am heading east to the New England region. It will be a short but hopefully learning visit to the third smallest state of the US, but one with a lot of history.

I guess we'll try to find out if it is as its tourism website states: "Connecticut_ Still Revolutionary"

Will report upon return.

Best.

P.S._ Let's hope "Sandy" behaves better than what the weatherman is expecting to.

Those Raw Reminders

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"Untitled" (Endgame)

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

Taken at one of home's window. Sad imprint for lack of a better word.

Where the wind will take me?

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Where do we go now?_ Door County, Wisconsin.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012_

I just started to read the book "Where the wind will take me" by Eduardo Redjuch that one of my best friends (Daniel) has recently sent me, which is an accounting of a man desire to not leave a single corner of this world without passing in front of his eyes. At the same time I do that, I have found at home a disc with a set of scanned negatives (the one below included) from some years ago which has brought a smile of good memories to me.

I always heard the story told by my parents about the first time they took me to the beach. I was around a year old (I think) and according to my parents, I was like a Costa Rican turtle speeding up in four legs towards the water at the first chance I had to get away, just for them to pick me up and bring me "back to camp". Its a funny story (specially if you hear it from my Mom's mouth and arms movement) but also I always think of it as a prophetic one, one that will translate later into the way I see or want to see the world. 

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Backpacking in Uruguay 

(in route to the Crows Lagoon in Minas), some 13-14 years ago.

© Flavio Martín Morante_1998-99_ Taken by one of my best friends, Gabriel.

Luckily, I have gone to many different places, from the Carlos Gardel house in Tacuarembó, Uruguay to the Beaches of Normandy in France, and despite of have had find the ways for it, nothing would it have been done if the desire was not there (this to say that I have met people with way more resources than I do which prefer to do their annual trip just to the city mall). And desire is something I never lacked. Because of that, the need to see what was "around the corner" has been always present as a way of thinking and living. I can say I made sure I went my way around to most of Uruguay (or the Uruguay that interest me) before I left the country and the memories are there like tattoos on my skin, from the beauty of swimming on the Río Negro at midnight, to flying over Colonia on an airplane that felt it was going to fall apart at any second, the good memories of Carnaval in the uruguayan-brazilian border town of Bella Unión to the great feeling felt when I set foot on the Isla de Flores, etc, etc.

Then, after moving to this side of the Equator, it was seven years ago on top of the Haleakala Volcano (see photo below) that I reaffirmed a commitment long ago made. It was around 5 in the morning, when at 10.000 feet high as the first sun rays started to light up the morning in a warm flame, the feeling of been so diminutive as I contemplated the "whole world" beneath me underlined the fact that there is a lot to see.

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Top of Haleakala Volcano (10.000 feet high), Maui, Hawaii _ 2005.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2005_

Today, as Dawn and I keep looking to what´s next?, reading the book mentioned at the beginning of this post I only can think on the saying "the world is a big handkerchief" and with its small or big foldings, I would like to visit every corner of it.

PD_ Thanks to my friend Daniel for such a great book.

Back on the "Chair"

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Untitled ( at the studio)_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

As fall takes over and the cold weather slowly starts to show its numbers on the thermometer, I start what I consider one of the most productive times when it comes to artwork making. Hard for me to get out on winter, usually is during this time that I make the most. This time not only I am planning in doing a lot of darkroom time to see what was really "harvested" during the spring-summer, but also, I finally sat down to paint a big piece, something I have not done in almost 2 years. Really excited about it. Will see how it goes. On the meanwhile, enjoy the spring and summer for those at the other side of the Equator.

Better by Three

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My Sisters (Caro & Dani) and Me, Wisconsin_2012

© Flavio Martín Morante_2012

It was one of the biggest joys of this year to have had my sisters visiting me.

It was long awaited and it went incredibly fast, as usually good times go.