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Hugs & Kisses
7 July 2022
The neighborhood has been hit by graffiti lately. This part of the city is usually pretty much ignored, not being particularly visible. But some more prominent spots have been getting tagged now.
Hugs & Kisses. Captured with an iPhone 6 Plus at f2.2, 1/507 second and ISO 32. Processed in Adobe Camera Raw.
One Sunday morning around 10 a.m. we saw a woman painting out graffiti on the overpass that we featured in Blending In. That was a neighborhood project to beautify a rather bleak concrete overpass.
And the benches along Portola have just gotten tagged too, as you can see in this photo.
We've always imagined tagging as the protest of a generation neglected by our materialist world. They tag the property so much more valued than their own existence as a sort of revenge.
It's ugly but it proves they're here. And unloved.
Or so we tell ourselves, casting a sociological explanation over the crime. Who knows?
But graffiti isn't the subject of the images accompanying this piece.
Instead, it's a big, cuddly bear. The opposite of neglect, it promises hugs and kisses on the heart it wears on its arm (lacking a sleeve). And in case anyone is left wondering, a big sign saying "Free" is pinned to that heart.
Free hugs and kisses. Take them home with the bear.
This isn't the first time this bench has hosted someone's childhood discards. In Dolls on Portola we showed a collection from March.
We hope it isn't the last.
If that big bear had been there when the kid with the spray can came by would he have left the bench alone? Would he have taken the bear? Or left it for someone who needed hugs and kisses more than him?
And while we're wondering, we can't help but wonder if that bear is still there. We doubt it.
There just aren't enough hugs and kisses in this world not to grab a few free ones when you can.