Don Quixote

I made this mask for a small drama group I participated in early 2006. I was thinking about a story or “character” at the time and Don Quixote came up for me and just wouldn’t go away. I was making the connection between the guy who battles windmills and the guy who walks Turcot Yards because it seemed like there had to be a link if only that they were both going against the grain in some way.

In my narrative Don Quixote is an old man who takes visitors on a tour of his house where various items relate to the great adventures in his “biography”. He is quite sane, regrets nothing, and is constantly trying to steer the conversation towards other things he has done, without much success, of course.

In the beginning this project seemed a bit like fighting windmills. A blog starts off with one reader who hopes that someone else will take a look although the more obscure the “niche” the more difficult it may be to attract attention. Elevated freeways and abandoned rail yards (especially empty ones) are never likely to become cool subjects and I have been ok with that since Day 1. The real purpose here has been personal growth through art and activism and if the issues presented have found an audience then that is awesome. It’s been a good run and there is still more to come.