Hi everyone! As the new month rolls around, it’s time for yet another installment of our monthly themed call for entry, What We’ve Found. In Arcade Fire’s “Month of May,” frontman Win Butler bemoans the nihilism and indecisiveness of suburban teenagers. He sings of them standing with “arms folded tight,” resistant of the changes brought on by summer and the, uh, “violent winds” of Montreal. Having lived in the American South most of my life, I’ll have to take Butler’s word on it.
Despite Arcade Fire’s lofty critiques of adolescence aimlessness, the sentiment of being a teenager less than optimistic about a summer in the ‘burbs is easy to relate to for some. Friends are off vacationing somewhere and it’s lonely, or maybe you’re bussing tables and it’s boring. Or maybe it’s a totally sick summer! Suburbia as concept seems omnipresent in the current cultural consciousness, and can be used as backdrop equally well as the entire subject of a given project. It’s important to note that with such a multi-faceted topic, it can mean many different things to different people – it can be a place of privilege or entrapment depending on the who and where.
In this month of May, Aint-Bad wants your images of the suburbs and what you’ve found within. Do the ‘burbs inspire idyllic comfort and promise, or are they a radioactive byproduct of a perverse American dream? Or do they, perhaps, just kind of exist, straddling the median between two extremes? Is Funeral a better album than The Suburbs?
Let us know what y’all think! Dig through your archives and show us your best of the best that fits within the given theme. That said, don’t be afraid to think outside the box, take risks, and respond to the prompt non-literally. No artist statements necessary – we’re really just looking for two to three or even just one strong image! Plus your name and website, of course.
Please follow the submission guidelines CLOSELY. If you fail to send the correct formatting/ information, your work will not be considered.
In about one month, the submissions will be curated into a post with a statement and exploration of the work through the themes. It’s like a little online gallery (without the Hors d’oeuvres).
Submit Today!We’ll let you know if you’ve made it into What We’ve Found by May 31st!