Observing from the back alley reveals candid views of the neighborhood. Found there are hidden scenes which are sometimes pristine and sometimes chaotic.The garages and sheds serve as business storage for the general contractor, plumber, and electrician. Hobbies are carried out here too, the woodworker, mechanic, boater, hunter and gardener store their gear. Stacks of boards, block, and bricks lay dormant. Potential projects not yet realized. Recent retirees string trim every weed from every fissure in the asphalt while the elderly and families with young children often neglect the lesser visible spaces of their domain. Weeds grow as large as bushes.

As we increasingly choreograph our identities via social media, slavishly attending to every detail of how we may be perceived, it's refreshing to see a dimension of our public facing selves that is not as self-conscious, as premeditated. All of us participate in this public space, by presence or absence.

Each alley painting is a type of portrait and, as such, communicates both specific and general truths about our communities and ourselves.

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