Sun Sightings

Whenever I drive by St. Xavier on 8th Avenue this motif catches my eye. It has a strong feeling of the medicine wheel and the basic geometry of a cross. The diagonal diamond rays are exciting, I want to drag my finger along those ridges, they are like a cheekbones. The recessed point in the center of the circle is a little threatening, weapon like.

The motif appears to relate to artwork by tribes of the South West. I always feel like I've seen it before, maybe on jewelry, I don't know, I've seen it somewhere.

Strange to find one answer to the mystery at the visitor's center in Fort Greene Park, where the walls are lined with miniature versions of state flags. The flag of New Mexico has the same bones. From a tribe called the Zia, the design has 1 sun, 4 rays for each of the 4 directions. Each group of rays symbolize gifts given by - who else? the giver of all good gifts. "Bound by a circle of life and love, without beginning or end."

It was sad to read about the shootings in Brooklyn last night, 2 dead, 7 injured. Weird, I was lost on Fulton Street yesterday, near where a 33-year old man was killed at about 2:00 in the morning. I got lucky and found my way home.

Here is something interseting about shooting these kinds of images: the surprise of finding that the cross hairs in the viewfinder line up with the direction lines of the subject.