welcome to a work in progress: gentrificatIAM?-- a rumination and reckoning with notions of gentrification, race, class, gender, sexuality, and intentionality.
(these are the raw photos, no touch ups or photoshop fun. just wanted to share them while they were still fresh. the words below are also pretty rash and uncarefully worded, just the beginning of what might make up an written essay to accompany the photo essay)the story: on sunday, october 18th, i got david dewitt (the gloriously talented) to go on a walk through my neighborhood with me (cincinnati's over-the-rhine). normal sunday afternoon activity right? not quite, the catch was that i would be in pseudo-drag and that he had to take some pictures. :)
the idea for this photo essay/walk came out of a conversation around gentrification. one of the key beginning processes in gentrification as it plays out in many american cities is that predominantly white and often times queer artists (or "artistic-types") move into spaces that are historically devalued by mainstream or hegemonic local culture in terms of race or class. these artists, through the creation of "consumable culture", begin to bring value onto the space (even though they may be queer) in a way in which the mainstream or hegemonic culture privilege.
over-the-rhine is historically and sistemically de-valued by "mainstream" cincinnati. like many neighborhoods like it in the u.s., it is widely "understood" to be deep in a process of gentrification. when i tell people who would be identified as part of mainstream or hegemonic cincinnati culture that i live in over-the-rhine, they usually respond with something like, "Oh, isn't it great that people like you are moving down there again? there's so much cool artsy stuff happening there now! i should really try to make it down for a final friday some time..." there is no recognition of the value and worth of the tightly knit, predominantly black and middle to lower socio-economic class neighborhood that already exists in this collection of streets.
this photo essay comes in direct and indirect conversation with the process of gentrification. in it, i want to complicate the conversation around if queer (or queer friendly) white artists, such as myself, moving into predominantly black and lower-class neighborhoods is good or bad, inevitable or should be stopped. i want to pose the question-- what possibilities are opened up when the artists/residents do so in a self-referentially critical and communicative manner?
<3
ethan
ps. sorry for the obfuscatory writing. (how's that for a word! i just learned it. look it up if you don't know it, it's a fun one...) i'm just starting grad school and i'm trying on a more acedmic-writing-style hat. let me know if you want me to explain any of my thoughts more clearly or go deeper with anything.
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