Triggered by recent explorations of Walker Evans’ Polaroids, and especially his many shots of street markings and directional arrows, my thoughts return to a  group of phone shots done in early Spring of 2017, tucked away in some digital files since then. These recumbent forms were etched by frigid Vermont winter temperatures and snows into the thick paint of crosswalk zebras on downtown Montpelier streets. I caught them just before they were repainted.

This exploration of winter pavement drawings continued into the long Covid winter of 2020-21, when a daily circling of neighborhood streets, phone camera in hand, yielded a heightened visual awareness and some degree of calm during a challenging time. Below the “Prone Vestigial Form” series are a few of these more recent “Hoarfrost Scrawls”.

 

“Prone Vestigial Form” series

 

“Hoarfrost Scrawls”