Being that I am stuck in suburbia for awhile I decided
as a mental exercise to look at my surroundings as if
they were an alien planet.
What would be my impression? Could this be seen as foreign terrain?
The units in the center of the photograph are three
stories. We can just see the top floor peeking over the road.
The dwellings look like they were plopped into the landscape.
Each dwelling is perfectly alike.
No favoritism here.
A utilitarian common space where refuse is deposited
and some kind of sorting takes place.
All surfaces are painted grey-green.
These instruments either bring something into or
take something out of each unit. Each has a
measuring device on its face.
There weren't any people out and I found it easy to look at
the complex as if it were alien. The architecture
appeared very utilitarian and the units were identical
to the point that all surfaces were painted the same color.
Maybe the culture is concerned with uniformity and efficiency?
While the architecture was bland and gave little
information about the people, the liter seemed to stand out
against this background. An empty potato chip bag under a bush,
a toddler's sock by the side of the road, animal droppings scattered
about in the lawn and on the edges of the road, a piece of holiday
paper that is labeled 'To Eric from John and Ian", and a small melted
piece of plastic, perhaps from an electronic device, on the road.
So yeah, I could see it as an alien planet,
but it doesn't make it any more compelling
to live in.
