THE ETERNAL RETURN
death and rebirth

Eternal return (or eternal recurrence) is a philosophical concept which states that time repeats itself in an infinite loop, and that exactly the same events will continue to occur in exactly the same way, over and over again, for eternity.

Hey, friend. I am back. I took a long hiatus from the download to deal with life. After my pilgrimage to the town that is fulla bologna, I dealt with a divorce and all the loss, redefinition of self, and ultimately “rebirth” that an experience of that nature entails.

This event precipitated a move from Ann Arbor to Detroit, a chance to work two full time jobs at once, and, most importantly the establishment of a really beautiful cadre of companions.

I feel now, I have landed. I decided to quit one of the jobs, which consisted of creating social media posts for a luxury coffee table brand, in order to invest more in myself and give storytelling and my art practice the time it deserves.

Less money, more time, more thoughts.

More time for activities with friends…

I thought the best way to get back at it would be to simply share the work that has been created in this interstitial period… So here is what I have been up to.

Stare into the void, the void stares into you.
Corrupt the Youth, the Youth corrupts you.

In August, I met an interesting group of 17-18 year olds who would congregate at the rope swing and smoke cannabis. Ann Arbor kids have always fascinated me, they have always seemed to me to be a different breed than most Michigan youths. They are often way more stylish, self aware, and very experienced drug users. This has been a trend I have observed for the last decade, across several generations. I attribute it to A2 being wealthy, highly educated, open to the exploration of consciousness through the use of psychedelic substances, and its beautiful natural landscape with plentiful places to hangout. It is one of the best places in Michigan to be a kid.

Maybe I idealize it. Downriver, where I grew up, certainly had the drugs, but growing up, most youths were homogenized into your general red-blooded, football-loving, hardworking Americans. Intellectual and artistic expression were unfortunately not at the forefront of people's day-to-day lives.

I ended up creating a bunch of portraits of my new friends Nadia and Molly, and they bought me a slice of pizza and let me hit all five of their vaporizers. They are going to flourish into pretty badass adults…

PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE

In early September I published a photo essay with Playground Detroit on Bass Day, the largest gathering of bass players (probably) in the world, which takes place at the Motown Museum in Detroit. The writing lays out the event which saw a legion of bass players play "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" and then went into a tangent about my own father, his pants, and my interactions with the public.

Read it here.

SORRY WE ARE DEAD

In mid September, I attended Hearse Fest, the largest gathering of Hearse aficionados in the world, which takes place in Fowlerville, Michigan. This became an essay which ran in October, in Runner magazine.

Read it here.

BITCH BANG

In late September, I published another essay with Playground Detroit on a Boiler Room set at Tangent Gallery. I have been doing a lot of dancing in general. The piece is basically a testament to a great party, with some Detroit techno history thrown in.

Read it here.

HAIL ZOMBO

In late October I published another essay with Playground Detroit on Theatre Bizarre. The piece illustrates the event, an extravagant and lusciously art-directed Halloween party in Detroit's Masonic Temple, and my thoughts on confronting the Shadow Self.

Read it here.

This was particularly fun because I got to connect and work alongside my good friends Emily Elconin and Rob Luzynski who created a piece for NPR’s Picture Show.

GOOD OL’ FASHION COLLEGE RAGER

I bore witness to a good ol' fashioned Halloween time barn buster at the University of Michigan and reflected on how one's early twenties are vastly inferior to one's late twenties. Which gives me hope as I approach my early thirties. The mid twenties are probably the most harrowing, for the record.

PSYCHEDELIC NEIGHBORHOOD

October also saw the release of a collection of drawings that I had been creating between 2018-2021, called the Psychedelic Neighborhood. The drawings depict an alternate reality of my hometown, Allen Park. Within this reality the townsfolk engage in psychedelic rituals, drape their bodies in athleisure wear, worship brands, and pose in tableaux that blur the line between compassion and violence.

It is 44 pages, 7x9 pages, laser printed, with a hand drawn butcher paper cover and includes an essay by my good friend Joseph Keckler. I have a very limited supply left, they are $22 if you wish to own one, email me here.

TUNE

In November I documented a dance choreographed by Nicole Mannarino. It brought one of my favorite people, Nola Sporn Smith, to town, and I got to witness her and her colleagues creating a portal out of their movements for transformation in the hallowed halls of Detroit's Jam Handy.

Later that month I realized I had to move out of Ann Arbor. I ate a bunch of mushrooms and began the process of packing up my Ann Arbor apartment and purging the materials that had accumulated during domestic partnership. I learned a valuable lesson on intentions that evening. 

My parents helped me carry a bunch of stuff. I promised them this would be the last time I would involve them in a move; they are very strong.

BOND AND GRACE

A major part of the last 6 months had been working for Bond & Grace, a publisher and art house that creates an “Art Novel”, composed of classic literature, scholarly annotations, and commissioned artwork by emerging artists. I was creating a lot of social media content and commercial photography for them, but ultimately felt I needed to drop it to pursue my own art practice wholeheartedly. I think it is a pretty cool company and will grow into something very original. I hope to work with them on commercial product photography in the future.

DETROIT DERBY

This winter I have been photographing the Detroit Roller Derby League which operates out of the Masonic Temple in Detroit. These ladies are fucking powerful. Watching them skate at high speeds and perform all sorts of maneuvers to score points has been exhilarating. Witnessing the bonds they share, the camaraderie within the sport, and the surreal beauty of a feminine space imbued with violence has been a true honor. I will continue this project over the next season.

Images from this project were included on Michigan Radio's Stateside, with an audio piece produced by Ellie Katz.

DOWNRIVER

Since January I have become interested in photographing Downriver, which consists of the towns along the Detroit River south of Detroit and North of Lake Erie Metropark. I expect this to carry me through much of the next year. I am following the work organically, but my initial idea is to make images in bars, VFWs, pool halls, racetracks, and everywhere in between, focusing on working class leisure.

TEMPORARY SCULPTURES

I am also working on creating a series of images that are documents of temporary sculptures made out of other people's possessions. It is too early in this work to know what it is about. I simply wanted a very intuitive way of combining materials and symbols to unlock the subconscious. It is fun to set things up and race to photograph them before they topple over.

After putting all this together, I realize I have been pretty busy. It has been exactly what I needed. Freed up now, with only one day job, I am excited to dive even deeper into creation. I see the thrust of my work around things like Elvis Fest and Hearse Fest as a documentation of communities that engage with art completely outside of the "art world.” There is something to be said here about class as it relates to creativity, and what sort of artistic endeavors are thought of as "serious.”

My work in Detroit has been engaged with documenting and collaborating with musicians. Expect some new Decliner vids soon! Work like this is fun because I get to dance, photograph, and get high all at the same time.

The work to be made will witness and explore the culture I grew up in with fresh eyes and hopefully tie my findings in with national trends and socio-economic issues.

See you next week, with reportage from the Michigan GOP Convention…

-Niki

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