Making Waves
by Anna Shapiro
“…we have to multiply poetic subjects and
objects-which are now unfortunately so rare that the slightest ones take on
an exaggerated emotional importance-and we have to organize games of these
poetic objects among these poetic subjects.”
-Guy Debord, Toward a Situationist Iternational, June 1957
You are being presented with a personal wave—or, rather, a newsprint of a scan of a folded photocopy of a video image of a wave that I found at Orient Point in Revere by Logan Airport on the Boston Harbor in the early summer of 1999. You may cut it out and keep it. You may want to color it (mine is a rich cyan blue.) You may want to carry it in your pocket and take it out to show your friends. You may want to stop a stranger in the street and show it to him or her or them. You may want to photograph him or her or them with it. You may want to copy or scan the photograph you take and send it to me in a letter or in an e-mail— I may want to know all the places this modest little wave has been.
I began this process of making waves and sharing waves a few years ago. It is an enjoyable experience and makes most people smile. I glued the image of my found wave onto a piece of canvas to keep it together so that it would not fall apart as I folded it up and carried it with me everywhere, and I have traveled around the country with this wave in my pocket. Frequently, I would slip my hand inside my pocket to feel the small package that only I knew was there, and that only I knew was a wave. I stopped people on the street to ask them if they would like to participate. If they did, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small folded object; if not, I politely walked away. The participatory individual would unfold the intimate little canvas- backed object, and I was able to enjoy seeing the wonder, bewilderment and recognition, the emotion spread across their face. It was a shared moment—me and a stranger on the street, holding a displaced captured wave in our hands, examining it carefully, preciously, sometimes upside-down. It was a bit of color and fun in the urban, hard, concrete landscape.
I would capture images of strangers holding the little unfolded wave, if they let me. I accumulated these images of people holding the displaced, well cared for wave from the Boston Harbor. I began to create photomontages and presented them for public view, and I came to be known as the wavelady.
The adventures of this wave continue in many ways and I hope that you will participate by cutting it out and keeping it; coloring it; carrying it in your pocket or purse, and taking it out to show your friends as well as strangers. I hope that you take photographs with this little wave from Revere in many places around the world, and I hope that you will send an copy of these photographs to me at wavelady@earthlink.net, or to wavelady, p.o.box 400786, Cambridge MA, 02140.
Anna Shapiro has a studio in Somerville MA, works as an artist in residence at the Steel Yard in Providence, RI, and is the director of Boston Sculptors Gallery. You can see more examples of Anna’s work at wavelady.com.
