gaycondo

…but he does have a sense of humor. I think.

(sorry for the poor quality of the clickable thumbnails. I don’t have a scanner which means they are photographs I took of I book I own.)

Photographer Michael Ensminger began his series, “What’s Your Sign?”, in 2000. The  collection is made up of 90 images of Ensminger posing as a homeless man. In each photograph, Ensminger holds a cardboard sign displaying contextually humorous quotes that challenge consumer based trends in a culture in which poverty thrives.

The strength of these images arises almost entirely from the cronological response of the viewer. Upon first seeing these pieces, the initial response is humor. In fact, it is quite easy to simply write these images off as mere satire. However, upon further digestion it is obvious that the artist’s true intent is to create an internal discussion about one’s own materialistic urges. The artist intentionally trivializes the consumption based culture we are all so invested in by pointing out how ludicrous it is to place such weight on these materialistic desires.

It is pretty funny though…..