Their aspirations bring them floating to me in slow-motion, defenseless metals as they are to my massive magnet. And every year it is the same. Alas, this is my second function, my unintended purpose; to be a canvas, to be laid out and sacrificed to their ambitiousness, their furious need to be counted deep from inside the aluminum. Blood drains down my walls in every color. Declarations they spew on me of what they are and could possibly be. Proclamations they paint on me in this perilous outside studio, where blinking lights could bring an even quicker end to our quick nighttime association; our brief exchange. We build some sort of hope together and I complete our contract with my wide, wide morning display. The rising beams will finally reach me and their names will shine with a magnificence that cannot be matched.

Photography by Ian N'Kosi Joseph. Words by Kwesi Ako Dash. © 2009