If Joel-Peter Witkin Was a Nursery Rhyme

History of the White World: Arabia

Joel-Peter Witkin
Was standing on a curb
A girlie's head bounced up to him
Her fault he is a perv

Joel-Peter Witkin
Likes to stage tableaux
Scratchy prints of body parts
Dwarves and scenes by Giotto

Joel-Peter Witkin
Went peeping down a lane
And bought a horse to crucify
Convinced he is humane

Joel-Peter Witkin
Has a lot to say
Hermaphrodites and Jesus
The studio of Courbet

Joel-Peter Witkin
Is he just a naughty boy
Who likes a dirty picture
And has a camera for a toy?

More about Joel-Peter Witkin:
On ArtNet
Wikipedia Entry
Edelman Gallery

Disappearing Polaroids

The polaroid is disappearing from our lives, fading away like itself in reverse. Another lost medium, becoming a ghost. A tiny blurb in the Times business section back in February, a lot of angst from the artists and devotees, an article here and there, a radio piece. To no avail...

POLAROID QUITS INSTANT FILM The Polaroid Corporation, the company that pioneered instant photography, is exiting the film business and closing plants in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands as it focuses on digital photography and flat-panel televisions. Polaroid will cut 150 jobs in Massachusetts by the end of the quarter, the chief operating officer, Thomas L. Beaudoin, said. Polaroid will make enough instant film to last into 2009, and plans to license its technology to third-party companies for diehard customers. (BLOOMBERG NEWS)
New York Times February 9, 2008

Last Stock Online, June 2008

Pre-digital instant pictures used by artists, anthropologists, teenagers, coroners, architects, designers, police, dermatologists, moms, dads, kids, living room pornographers, photo booths...

Collection of Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

Robert Mapplethorpe’s “Untitled (Patti Smith),” a 1973 Polaroid

Beautiful Polaroid Slide Show On Flickr
Beautiful Polaroid Archive at polonoid.net
Mapplethorpe’s Polaroids at the Whitney
Coroners, Police, and Artists Hurt: Boston Globe, February 27, 2008
Top Photographers, John Waters Upset: New York Magazine, May 4, 2008
Farewell, My Lovely Polaroid: New York Observer, May 13, 2008
Artists Lament Polaroid's Latest Development: NPR, February 29, 2008
Artist Stefanie Schneider And The End Of Polaroid Film: Huffington Post, March 1, 2008
Sign the Save the Polaroid Petition
Planned Disappearance Dates on polaroid.com
Save Polaroid: collective action