The Conversation, Campo Santo Stefano

I've posted this image before, but I'm still trying to get its colors right (11 April 2018)

The Impostor (21 April 2015)

It's been ten years since I took this picture outside Santa Maria della Salute and at least 5 years since its subject was repeatedly exposed in Venetian papers as a spry able-bodied fellow who, when not working, showed not the least hint of any physical infirmity or impediment. 

 

My wife and I had seen him in Venice ever since arriving in 2010 and were uneasy when one of the first Venetian friends we made used to say she'd like to give him a good swift kick in the butt, as he was a complete fraud. Because this new friend liked to make bold statements that sometimes lacked foundation, we didn't really believe her. But in this case, at least, she was right.

 

The somewhat surprising thing was that even after numerous articles--complete with photos of him when he was not at work--had been published in the local paper, he continued to ply his trade in Venice (to which he commuted to work from someplace I've now forgotten). I suppose that, like Venetian restaurants whose food is notoriously bad, his income depended upon an unending stream of fresh tourists without the slightest clue about what was common local knowledge.

 

Yet I never felt the urge to give him a good swift kick for pretending to be something he wasn't, nor did I think he was "getting away" with not doing real work. His intentionally splayed feet, his contorted posture, his quivering arms--all of it, we were told, was fraudulent. But it never looked like easy work to me, and certainly no way I'd like to spend my days. He was earning whatever money he made, in his own way--and I wouldn't be surprised if he's still at it in Venice.

Calcio, Campo Santa Margherita: 8 April 2012

These kids are now adults--I wonder how many of them still live in Venice. And I wonder if kids today can still play like this in the campo, as a few years ago non-resident/Mr-conflict-of-interest Mayor Brugnaro began to crack down on play in the public spaces, since so much of the space had been given over to restaurants for seating. In other words, in order to allow tourists the "authentic experience" of dining in a Venetian campo, what little remained of spontaneous, authentic Venetian life had to be eradicated. This is the perverse and destructive logic of mass tourism. 

 

 

 

 

Riding Low at the Start of a Work Day, Grand Canal

10 April 2017

What News on the Rialto?: Ruga dei Oresi (Color)

I posted a not-very-good b/w version of this 7 years ago and wanted to see if I could do better with color now (taken 4 March 2018)

Entrance Stairs, Ca' Fornoni

31 March 2018

Late Afternoon, Early Spring (Campo Santa Margherita)

22 March 2015