In 1991, I became friends with some
people who worked in a junk yard. It was run by the Futures
Foundation in San Jose. All the people of Futures were people
in recovery from alcohol and drug abuse, and from being
victims of abuse. They did not depend on government money.
Instead they did it for themselves by running their own
business in demolition and recycling. They created an entire
world and way of life out of things that they collected
and put to re-use. The two friends I made in particular
were a man named Pablo and a woman named Patricia. Pablo
ran the mechanics shop and Patricia dispatched the trucks
that were sent out on jobs.
I discovered the junk yard while
I was driving around. I love junk yards and this was about
the most spectacular one I had ever seen. I was welcome
to visit and began to talk to the leaders about the possibility
of starting an art program. I hoped to build a trusting
relationship and to help with getting broader support for
Future’s efforts. Futures had it predators; folks in power
who did not like the idea of"undesirables" empowering themselves
on their own terms. Futures lost the junkyard to developers.
And the leaders eventually asked me to stop visiting until
further notice; until they solved some of their legal battles
and were ready to address the idea of an art program. I
respected their wishes and left the ball in their court.
I attempted to make contact a few more times but never heard
from them again. But..I cherish my memories of my visits
to that junk yard, which I considered to be a sacred place,
and my conversations and heartfelt connections with the
folks who were there, namely Pablo and Patricia.. I ended
up doing several pieces, including a small book about what
I learned from Futures.
I joked to Patricia that I felt
so kindred because we're both bottom feeders. Bottom feeders
are a special breed. Bottom feeders should know one another
and stick up for one another...compare notes... Patricia
laughed. She said, "that's beautiful". Patricia says, "that's
beautiful", alot.
Bottom feeding is related to scavenging
and to making the very best out of what you have. Bottom
feeders are a special breed because they are resourceful.
They have the imagination to see the value in something
that is disgarded, the intellegence to figure out how to
turn something that is unwanted into something of beauty
and purpose, and the stamina to work hard and make it happen.
To turn alittle into alot is a form of alchemy. It is magic.
Pablo and I bonded because we liked the same kind of stuff.
He was a mechanic. He didn’t always have the exact part
he needed so he had to make it out of what he could find.
Thus he understood things like shape and weight, and what
kind of metal something was, because he needed to recognize
these things in order to adapt them to his needs. I did
the same thing, but I did it as a sculptor. Though Pablo
and I did different kinds of work, we shared the same process.
We were both bottom feeders. We joked that we both spent
alot of time scanning the ground for good stuff to put in
our pockets. Bottom feeding is a way of life and seeing
the world that is very different than consumerism. Value
is not a question of money or quantity but recognizing the
possibilities in what already exists. Bottom feeding solves
problems through redemption rather than using up resources
without putting anything back. It’s like a form of house
keeping, in which things are continually being picked, re-arranged,
resorted, and redistributed. Nature recycles itself in
this way. Everything has meaning and a purpose, and things
are constantly changing. If something dies, it decomposes,
breaks down, and becomes the nutrients for what is to come.
Bottom feeding is a humble process because you have to pay
attention to what is going on around you and how you feel
about it. It’s like being a good listener. You have to be
quiet to look at things more closely and think about them
more deeply. Often things that are invisible or unnoticable
appear because you are sensitive enough to percieve them,
like the way Pablo is able to find the perfect thing that
he needs hiding in the weeds. Nature is very subtle and
quiet in this way. All the beautiful things that it gives
us, like sunsets and plants that grow are because of invisible
forces that we cannot see. The more intune we become to
these invisible forces, the more the world opens up for
us. Bottom feeding is a way of reaching into this unseen
world of what is possible. It is about potential, hope and
magic. It is also about love because you are able to see
value in things that are unseen or disgarded and redeem
them into a state of beauty and purpose, like a work of
art, a car that runs, or a better life.
I also say that
bottom feeding is humble and different from the vanity of
consumerism because it is a much more difficult thing to
do. It takes alot of hard work to look and think about things
more deeply, and to figure how to adapt what you discover
to what you are trying to accomplish. You have to give more
of yourself and ask for help, so that you can learn how
to do it. You can’t just go out and buy it. I think that
the whole process of bottom feeding is essentially a state
of grace. It is a way of being fully present.
To be fully
present relates to the idea of embodiement. To embody is
to give physical form to what is felt and expressed. You
are what you say. Recycling is a form of embodiement because
it reuses what already exists. It is returns what the body
uses. It is like the cycle of breathing.
I told Patricia
why I wanted to be there. It was because of the poetry...the
way their words and their flesh are filled with one another.
They recycle. But it's not just their method of livelihood,
they are also reclaiming themselves at the same time.
©Sono Osato 1999
