Media Studies and My Ontology

I just finished spending over two hours reviewing Shannon Mattern's lecture about the origins of Media Studies. I could relate to her description of Media Studies in the Social Sciences in terms of the "effects studies "of mass communication. My undergrad work was primarily from this school of thought and I still have quite a bit of interests in the ongoing research into the effects of media consumption on executive function within children.

But when she got to the division between Social Science and Humanities and proceeded to cross over and describe the New School's emphasis on the Humanities, I felt a beam of light so to speak open up in my mind. I've spent the past two weeks upon entrance into classes becoming a little frazzled and confused about where I fit in. I new I was interested in Media Studies through my broad interests and personal background with photography, video, and film. But when asked to express myself as to where I'm going to contribute in this vast field of intellectual and artistic talent, the interior began to fill with doubts. Until tonight.

From my earliest interests in photography I have always been subconsciously in pursuit of an understanding of the human condition. I've often thought of making a business card that I could hand out to everyone that stops me when I'm walking through a neighborhood with my camera that reads, Ira Gardner - "Photographing the human condition with empathy and respect".

This image I made of a run down hotel (with an art deco past) in downtown Spokane Washington reminded me of a conversation I had with a book club where one of the members noted a recent fire that destroyed a similar motel. She said, "Good, it was probably filled with drug dealers and prostitutes anyway!" I was bothered by this immensely. I didn't say anything in response, but I was thinking to myself, "Drug dealers are people who need shelter, prostitutes too." My own wayward brother probably crashed into flop houses like this every few weeks somewhere in California when he was younger during the 20 years we lost track of one another. Today these hotels are being closed up and gentrified. What's happening in the Bowery District in New York is happening in Spokane Washington. Real people with basic human needs are being displaced.

I see the world through Maslow's hierarchy of human need and try to find the ways in which we meet those needs, even the ones borne purely out of desire for social status.

The woman's comments about the burned out hotel eventually prompted me to photograph several remaining hotels and motels on the west end of downtown Spokane with ironic names like "The Shangri-La". I don't think paradise was ever envisioned this way.

Walker Evans was probably the first photographer that captivated me with his ability to capture the narrative of a place without the people present.

This is another image of another hotel next door. The Coach Light room used to be filled with "colorful" characters. I used to wander in and buy a cup of coffee and a plate of french fries on a Friday or Saturday night when I was 16 and just watch and listen to the crowd. I learned to get along with anyone and was happy to listen to a good story, whether it was true or not didn't matter, there was an exchange of something real and valuable at that moment.

It can be dangerous to walk the streets with a camera. A film entitled "Stranger with a Camera" by Elizabeth Barrett tells the story of a documentary filmmaker from Canada who was murdered while documenting coal miner families in Kentucky. It's a powerful film that asks the question "Who has the right to tell the story" and "when is representation exploitation instead of advocation?". I think the film comes to the conclusion that the only stories we ought to be making are our own, the intimate stories we know, and the best way to go about advocating for a community is by empowering people to tell their own stories. In a way I have done this through my teaching. Each year my students develop a short personal narrative and build a multimedia piece. Last year I had a Spokane Tribal member do a short documentary about the Midnight Uranium Mine that has poisoned the tribal reservation along with our water drainage. I think it might be the first documentary on the subject that actually has the people affected producing and telling their own story. Another elderly gentleman put together a piece about a Christmas dinner his church and community put together. Real people telling real stories.

I love New York, but I don't think it needs me to tell its story. I have always been fascinated with New York's story and I think New York might need a story about a dusty town East of Seattle with 70 trains a day passing through it with grain, timber, and Boeing plane parts and a history of strategic civil defense during the cold war. I think Sherman Alexie is doing a good job of telling Spokane's story from the contemporary native perspective and that I might add to the patchwork quilt of perspectives. Building identity through multiple impressions. I think the best representations are a collage of stories, not just the single masterpiece.

Regardless of the structures and ideologies at work within any narrative, ultimately it comes down to the human experience and critical thinking that gives us the free will to determine what, how, and why we act in the manner we do, and in this case what we allow media to do for us instead of to us. I think I'm starting to find a path, the one right under my feet...