Friday, June 1, 2012

A Blind Beggar of Saigon, 1974.



My photo-junkiness on display.  Even as a wirephoto- not a silver gelatin print, I couldn't resist this image off Ebay.  (9.99, free shipping, modern life.)  What a perfect metaphor for any artist: blind, beggared and groping your way through your life, dependent on the help of others.  Hoping for daily bread and enlightenment.

  I would have a 10-image-a-day addiction right out of the old newspaper archives on Ebay if I indulged myself.  I love art, ESPECIALLY inspired photographic art.  I'm not posting the other 17 I bought.  At least not at present.

  Back to our beggar:  Tragedy like this was common in Saigon in 1974- right before we left and the bottom fell out.  Caption notes that the streets were full of South Vietnamese Army veterans crippled in various ways.  Here he is kneeling on a pad at a traffic sign, cup wired to cane, bag by side.  Lifting his face and hands.  What would he make of a comfortable American with internet, credit cards, Toyota, spoiled dog, et paying homage to him nearly 40 years after this photo was made, (probably without his consent or knowledge.)   He's long gone by now, only scattered memories and this image.  Or maybe he lives hale and revered in the bosum of his family.  Humans are surprisingly tough, resourceful and work well together very often.  Either way, God bless him and his and God bless the photographer who noticed, focused and plucked this moment out of the flow of time.

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