September 8th, 2006

Yusef Hears the Silence of the Lawn Signs

by Philip Baruth

Some people will tell you that lawn signs are overrated, or outmoded as political tools. VDB couldn’t disagree more.

The lawn sign wars provide deep, narrative clues to the state of play, in real-time. Rich Tarrant, for instance, has made much of the way that his barn signs have been vandalized.

Tarrant/Tyrant Sign

Or perhaps re-purposed, to put it more accurately.

Bernie’s camp — while sharply denying involvement — has pointed out that Vermonters seem genuinely to dislike the signs, and Tarrant’s scorched-earth ad campaigns in general.

location, location, location

Enterprising VDB photo-journalist Yusef also believes that lawn signs are trying desperately to tell us their stories. If we would only fall silent, and listen.

the visual haikuAnd so he went out into the city of Burlington, listening for their tiny voices.

Or rather what one might call the silence of the lawn signs.

And he would have sent in more than these three images, but when he came finally upon the toilet shot — a spare visual haiku, the ultimate bit of found photographic art — he felt himself to be unworthy, and knocked off for lunch.

2 Responses to ' Yusef Hears the Silence of the Lawn Signs '

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  1. on September 27th, 2006 at 7:15 pm

    […] Yusef’s award-winning photojournalism has inspired a whole new generation of photographers to listen to the silence of the lawn signs. […]


  2. on May 29th, 2007 at 9:00 pm

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