Big Banal Lake
By Kevin Carrel Footer The enormous lake, all 616 square kilometres of it, was, I declared, banal. How, I was asked, could a lake be “banal”? Wasn’t I mistaken, wouldn’t another word be better? But I stuck by my description because,...
The Finding Place
Painting by Estela Currao - www.estelacurrao.net I write to you now in the guise of the wanderer, having been so many places. In 1986, I took refuge in the monastery at the top of the mountain where the monks wore golden robes and goats...
Hiding and Seeking
By Kevin Carrel Footer His first night there, he slept on a cot as they all did. They camped in the unfurnished rooms like soldiers on campaign – or vagabonds seeking refuge from the elements. That first night the furniture had not yet arrived but an aunt took them to...
Manifesto in Progress
I choose the path of the artist. I choose the path that wends its way through doubt and disorientation, endlessly searching. The path is the destination. Art is my spiritual practice. When you see me creating, I am praying. And when I pray, I am celebrating creation....
Different Devils
Over a beer, a friend said to me, “I like it that we have different devils.” It started me thinking about my devils. My friend seems to think that not only do I have different devils but that I have more of them. He said it gently, politely, careful not to hurt, but...
Tus Labios
It comforts me in this tempestuous world that the altar we erected to your lips that crazed night on the wall in San Telmo has earned respect from the toughest crowd: sloganists and graffiti artists and paid political posterers have carefully skirted your lips, awed...
Be That Person
by Kevin Carrel Footer On the subway the other day, there was a guy who was the first to applaud the musicians when their songs finished, who dug into his bag to give change to every artist who came down the aisle, who smiled inexplicably at the world around him. Amid...
Big Guy with Earring: Brian Dessin Day
A Small Celebration of a Big Guy by Kevin Carrel Footer The stories came one after the other. In each he was accompanied by a different exquisite girlfriend: Prague, the 210 motorcycles he had owned, the lecherous rock ‘n' roll photographer, the train trip across a...
My Cafes in Buenos Aires
by Kevin Carrel Footer I am sitting in the Puerto Rico Cafe on Calle Alsina. The blades of a ceiling fan are spinning above my head and the street door is open in the vain hope that either the hot air will be tricked out into the street or that passers-by will be...
Looking for that Good Place
by Kevin Carrel Footer Many of us are looking for that good place, that place where we can rest without stagnating, reside without collapsing, stay put without betraying ourselves. Many of us, true to our nomadic origins, have wandered since birth, whether...