The Bad Neighborhood

As I was contemplating these ‘dark creatures’ with imagery of the Babadook crouching in the shadows, something happened that acted as a huge turning point. My roommate got followed one day by a strange man in the neighborhood (who got real close, hit her on the head and took her hat). It might sound ridiculous at first but in the dark narrow path, the path leading to our oh-so-welcoming house, it was certainly traumatic. She ran for her life to the nearest fuel station. Luckily, there was a kind Uber driver who gave the frightened one a free lift home.

This was the Sign that we needed to move out. The Neighborhood we moved into as a three has been giving us weird vibes, although we couldn’t exactly put a finger on it. It all looks normal and peaceful on the outside, but in reality we don’t feel safe walking around, even in the daylight. No one is ever walking around the streets, no children playing, the police searching around with their striking flashlights in the dark many a times, receiving a handwritten from the ‘neighborhood watch group’ telling us we would get reported to the council/police if we don’t stop our misbehavior and to mow our lawn (never seen any faces), the strange man downstairs yelling up at us everyday(who peeks at us through the blinds), the list goes on…. the only person I’ve seen straight on is a tall man with a menacing-looking dog. It was Not one of those dogs you bend down to pet. It was one of those dogs that will smell your blood from miles away and run, run with its disturbingly long legs to hunt you down. (reminded me of Charles Avery’s sculptures)

After that night I walk around and Feel - really Feel - the eerie atmosphere that the Neighborhood is drenched in, it feels like I’m always being watched, it feels like they want us to move away, like we don’t belong here. The same atmosphere in the film Get Out. All Eyes On Us. I walked through the usual path out to the main road, past the same trees that cast those god awful shadows during Nighttime, and it felt like the furthest I’ve been from Home. I took each step, paranoid, to the bus stop to uni.

On the same day at uni I went into the wood workshop and found curious-looking scrap pieces of wood. There was one in particular that had a vague rectangular shape cut out of its long plank of a body. It was beautiful. I immediately thought of it as a Window - ideas like surveillance and the Feeling of Being Watched flooded my mind. Then I thought, what if I add glass into that hollow shape? what if I do an ink wash on the wood and pour resin over it? (This was my favorite method of working currently)

I proceeded to size/prime it with clear gesso, sand it down, then paint it with ink and gouache without a plan. I did look at our neighborhood on Google Maps for some imagery, as if I don’t live there everyday. Then a sudden thought hit me. Wouldn’t it be interesting to have a 3D house made of theses similar pieces of wood, with odd sized windows, to convey that Feeling clearer? perhaps I can even depict us as roommates as frightened animals (three little pigs / red riding hood / vs. wolf) ? I’m not particularly skilled at building anything at all so this idea sounded like a challenge, I might talk to a wood technician about this idea… Also, color is something I always struggle with. Should I use very dark colors to express the mysterious, eerie atmosphere or bright and vibrant colors to show the ironic reality? or Both?

some sketches from the sketchbook: