Visual StudiesCatherine Lim
THE LOT ON LETTERLY ST.
WORK A LITTLE FASTER
Work a Little Faster and The Lot on Letterly St. are inspired by the same post-industrial Philadelphia landscape. The project has evolved from critical thinking about urban spatial theory and urban issues that are local to Philadelphia. Visual culture implies spectatorship, and, as Irit Rogoff puts it, the spectator is, like the spectator in film, situated in a position "mediated by fantasy, by denial, and by desire." The project aims to explore these ideas and the representations of particular places in the city of Philadelphia. Work a Little Faster features the voice of a long term resident of Philadelphia who describes the neighborhood at a time when the factories were alive and running. His story is illustrated trhough the use of type faces that originate from local foundreis during the industrial era; the dematerialization of type parallels the dissipation of industry from Philadelphia. The Lot on Letterly St. is an ethnographic approach to documentary about a lot, the place where a multitude of subjectivities intersect. The lot experiences cycles of construction, destruction, and renewal, and yet life continues. The documentary will be screened on the lot to be viewed by the neighborhood.