In a world full of noise, there can be a sense of sanctuary in silence. Noise isn’t always what we hear, visual ‘noise’ can be just as cacophonous. It seems that everyone is prepared to fight for our attention. Visually and sonically, our cities are rife with this kind of, dare I say it……..Pollution.
Perhaps it’s this line of thinking that’s got me intrigued with blank or empty signs. There just there with nothing to say or shove in our faces. Just silent and blank and yeah, beautiful. I just like them for being quiet.
Credit: Yasumi Location: somehere in London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Bow, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Hackney, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Bow, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Fish Island, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Dalston, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: White City, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Fish Island, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Bow, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Fish Island, London
Credit: Yasumi Location: Daita, Tokyo
“The most astonishing thing about these erosions of visual space is that nobody notices”
George Nelson
Quiet rebellion
Our cities are brimming with such an extreme abundance of billboards and other signage that they begin to cancel each other out.
On some level, the blank/empty signs are rebelling against the noisy machine of consumerism.
These silent sign and billboards give switch-up my perceptions and allow me to see silence rather simply accepting silence as purely being the absence of noise. Sounds weird? Perhaps! Our visual world is so noisy these days. Too noisy. To much information that we don’t even need to know. Silence is evermore precious than ever.
Submissions from our friends...
We are so happy to have made connections with generous people who submit their photos to us for use on our blog. Here are some great observations from Minimalism Tokyo, Backlit Sky and the splendid Jack Spicer Adams:
Credit: @jackspiceradams Location: Birmingham
Credit: @blacklisky Location: New York
Credit: @minimalismtokyo Location: Tokyo
If you fancy sharing your observations with us, there are a few ways that you can get involved in Super Ordinary Life’s journey:
#super_ordinarylife on Instagram. We’d love it if you shared your captures there. We will always credit and link back to you when we use your pics both here or on Instagram.
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