Sky Pilot

Posted by Twelvebit (Victoria, United States) on 28 September 2007 in Cityscape & Urban.

I snapped this while stuck in traffic on Lamar Street in Austin, around lunch hour. What I like about the image painted on this railroad crossing bridge support is that it speaks for itself. The interpretation is left to the viewer. The image stands alone, without captions, words, or slogans to tell you what the message is supposed to be. My own interpretation, based at least partly on context, is that the image is intended to be ironic. However, I don't believe this is a necessary interpretation or that the image cannot be taken literally, even as a tribute. I don't believe this to be the case, but I love the ambiguity.

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Comments (5)

kairospix from Singapore, Singapore

nice capture

28 Sep 2007 4:07pm

@kairospix: Thank you.

Amir from ?, United States

Is this Dubbya with gas mask? Some one was sure mad at the mad; I guess for the right reasons. Very nicely captured considering the limited light under the bridge.

28 Sep 2007 4:09pm

@Amir: Ok, I'll give you my interpretation. The first clue is context. This photo was taken in Austin, the most liberal of all cities in Texas, so the graffiti here doesn't tend to be right-wing, though really, how much of it is, anywhere? This style of image, sprayed through a mask or template, is used for other non-political graffiti as well. To me, the image is ironic because it is a matter-of-fact presentation of something that isn't matter-of-fact. In other words, this is Dubya playing dress up. He's wearing a flight helmet but has on a suit and tie, which highlights the fact that the flight helmet is a prop, part of a costume, and not a real accoutrement. The image is about playing dress-up, or "pretend," and literally everything about Dubya is pretend. For instance, he pretends to be from Texas when he is really a Connecticut blue-blood, but specifically in this image, he pretends to be a warrior when he is really nothing but a well-connected draft-dodger, a pampered child of privilege who is the titular leader of both an ideological movement and an administration composed almost entirely of other privileged draft-dodgers, and their media sycophants.