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Gregory Fitzsimmons (Hobo 23)
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Swan My Mother Said :: Hobo 23

Speculative Ontology

Written by hobo23@gmail.comNovember 3, 2012April 1, 2018

An algae I had not noticed before is growing in the swimming pond on an unusually warm day.

Posted in Plants, Polaroids, Research, Uncanny Objects.

Swan My Mother Said

"'Swan,' my mother said, sensing my excitement. It pattered the bright water, flapping its great wings, and lifted into the sky." Patti Smith

Armed with eccentric cameras and recording equipment, and intrigued by the opening passage of Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids, I've explored Humboldt Park almost everyday for over five years in search of a giant majestic white swan she describes having seen while walking with her mother when she was a child in Chicago. Early during my hunt, I realized that I was seeking something that is no longer in the park, which has changed dramatically from what it was in the 1950s. But I have continued to look, photograph, and record the absence of the swan, as if it is still there, just waiting to be seen. During my hunts, I’ve discovered places and moments within the park and nearby on the surrounding streets where the swan’s presence-as-absence as been almost palpable for me.

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Previous Post Today, as an act of sympathetic magic, I used a cassette-tape of Patti Smith’s debut album Horses to record myself walking all the way around the lagoon. I was attempting to conjure the swan by recording over music associated with the bird while I was completely encircling the largest body of water in Humboldt Park. I am listening back to the tape to detect the swan.

Next Post A goose but no swan.

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