Sending out an SOS

Walked out this morning. Don't believe what I saw.

Cayman Brac, 2017.

Resort world

First impressions.

Really, this could be anywhere. We live in a resort. They call them condos. It's called Crescent Point and it could be Crescent Point Apartments, Coolloongatta or Crescent Point Apartments, Trinity Beach. It's seaside holiday sterile.

Concrete stairs. Lifts. White tiles. Bright green lawns and trimmed hedges. Raked sand.

Yesterday, after the high winds, they had workers and trucks on the beach bagging the seaweed, loading it up and then raking.  Everything picture perfect for the visitors.

The postcard format (generic image with localised greeting) is perfect for this. It's just like taking a photo of a beach sunset and using it for any location on the coast.

Alter egos

Kewpie as alter ego is not a lasting fit. She fits a part of the experience of the Caymans. She's foreign, white and looking very out-of-place but that's only part of the story. The initial experience.

I'm playing with a return to the floating 'figure in a black coat' but this time in a white dress. More Sue-like, private, anonymous, ambiguous. Less cheerful, superficial cherub.

Postcards from the edge

I am creating a series of postcards - Greetings from George Town - I will publish on FaceBook each day. Initially, because I'm living here in George Town, Cayman Islands. That's where the adventure begins. But eventually, perhaps wherever the George goes.

I'm using them to document my days. My year. My first impressions and reflections on life in the Caymans.

Somewhat rudely, i'm starting with images from Cayman Brac, taken this weekend where the shore was awash with plastic. The flotsam and jetsam of our times.

I'm trying to capture something from the past. Those glossy postcards I bought and loved and posted as a child on holidays in the 1970s with generic images stamped to feel local and unique.  

Something like:

I'll experiment with different fonts and formats, until I capture the feel.

Aliens

A series of Kewpie photos capturing the feeling ... out of space/out of place.

Migration

It's topical and likely to stay topical as rising sea levels change geographies.

I'm mapping my own experience of the move from Brisbane to (aptly) George Town.

At the moment it feels as foreign as a new planet.