UGArdener's photostream  

Apologies to my longstanding contacts who've seen this one already, but I have not been taking many new pictures lately, so I thought today would be a good day to re-post a slightly revised version of this shot from Super Tuesday four years ago. If you have time to look at the comments to the originally posted image in the first comment below, you'll see lots of thought provoking reactions from around the world.

Here is one of the first comments, from a contact in California (I think it's worth repeating):

“This is an intriguing image that I think is open to a number of interpretations. I am assuming that the little seated dolls/statues are part of an art installation, and this mom and kids are visiting....

I'm trying to avoid the cynical and pretty obvious, and unfortunately real-life, interpretation of the many babies of color are at the bottom of the stair, and the Caucasian babies are in smaller numbers at the "top of the heap"....

Instead, given that this is super Tuesday, I'll try to read into this my hope that we can all join together "in the family of man" to bring this country together and move into the future with more unity (while retaining the diversity that makes us strong) and more strength of purpose to improve the world....”

Earlier today the winners were announced in the International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition:

www.igpoty.com/competition05/winners.asp?parent=winners

If you have the time, you owe it to yourself to take the time to look at the winning images, many of which are simply stunning.

The shot above (definitely NOT one of the winners) is one I took last May when the winners for Year Four were displayed outdoors at Kew.

This year, the winning images will be on display inside the Nash Conservatory at Kew beginning Saturday.

You can also order the book:

www.igpoty.com/shopitem.asp?parent=shop&iid=42

Congratulations to one of my long-standing contacts, Nigel Burkitt, whose panoramic shot of the walled kitchen garden at Claydon won "Highly Commended" honors in the "Bountiful Earth" category:

www.igpoty.com/competition05/winners_bountifulearth_hc5.a...

If you've never entered, I highly recommend doing so. The competition for Year Six kicks off today and closes November 30.

Another shot from last summer's trip to Chicago. This was in an area of construction where we parked for lunch. The signature of the artist reads: M. Glascott - 2011.

www.linkedin.com/in/mglascott

I haven't taken any pictures in at least a month - ran across this from our trip to Chicago last summer. At least it's attention getting.....

The morning after we arrived, last July, this sculpture was unveiled at Frontier Plaza on Michigan Avenue outside the Chicago Tribune Building at the southern end of the "Magnificent Mile" of skyscrapers and luxury hotels and shopping.

Here are some excerpts from one article:

"Citizens of Chicago have been variously panicked, enraged and excited by the appearance of a 26ft-statue of Hollywood actor Marilyn Monroe. Unveiled earlier in July, the statue pays homage to Monroe's notorious leg-flashing scene from The Seven Year Itch. Critics have lined up to label it "sexist" and "creepy". Tourists, meanwhile, have lined up to take pictures.

Designed by artist Seward Johnson, Forever Marilyn stands accused of pandering to the worst instincts of passers-by. "Even worse than the statue itself is the photo-op behaviour it inspires," claimed Richard Roeper, a columnist on the Chicago Sun-Times. "Men (and women) licking Marilyn's leg, gawking up her skirt, pointing at her giant panties as they leer and laugh," Roeper added, for good measure, that the statue was "hideous".

Elsewhere, Abraham Ritchie of the Chicago Arts Blog dismissed it as "creepy schlock from a fifth-rate sculptor". The statue, he said, "caters to cheap titillation that is in itself pathetic".

The Seven Year Itch was directed by Billy Wilder and based on the 1952 play by George Axelrod. It cast Monroe in the role of "the Girl", who spends the summer in a sweltering city apartment and cools herself by standing in the draft from a subway grate.

The arrival of the Monroe statue has led some critics to wonder how it came to be erected in Chicago when The Seven Year Itch was set in New York. They can take comfort from the fact that, despite its name, Forever Marilyn is merely visiting. The statue is due to be removed next year."

www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jul/20/marilyn-monroe-sculpture

What do you think?