Synkroniciti is pleased to welcome back photographer Jason Baldinger from Pennsylvania. Fredonia, NY is in ekphrastic pairing with Robert L. Dean, Jr’s poem “Full Immersion” and Roadside NY with Dean’s “Breath of the Lord.” These two photos present rural decay in New York State with a religious bent. The first is a fire and brimstone Redemption Center, paint flaking from its facade, and the second is a derelict structure that could have been a family home, emblazoned with a heart and the words “SAVE ME.” This might refer to the condition of the building, but, in rural America, it’s hard to escape the overtones of salvation and community religion, with its capacity for both inclusion and exclusion. Religion is a primary vehicle for belonging (or not belonging) in human society. Owensboro, KY 13 is a stand-alone photograph of a trio of mannequins, comprising a small family, which appear to be wistfully looking out the window of a shop as the shadow of trees dapples them and swallows parts of them through the window glass. How often do we feel alien in our daily life, longing to belong, to feel at home? What parts of us are invisible to the outside observer? Perhaps we don’t perceive our “otherness,” or perhaps it haunts us every minute. Jason has an eye for these commonplace scenes laced with surrealism and give us permission to think about them.
View Jason’s fascinating images in Synkroniciti’s “Belonging” issue, available for pre-order here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Jason Baldinger is a poet and photographer from Pittsburgh, PA. He is the co-editor of Trailer Park Quarterly and co-runs The Odd-Month Reading Series. He’s penned fifteen books of poetry the newest of which include A History of Backroads Misplaced: Selected Poems 2010-2020 (Kung Fu Treachery), and American Aorta (OAC Books). His first book of photography, Lazarus (OAC Books), was released recently. He has two ekphrastic collaborations (with poets Rebecca Schumejda and Robert Dean) forthcoming as well as his fourth collaboration with Kansas City Poet James Benger. His work has appeared across a wide variety of online sites and print journals. You can hear him read from various books on Bandcamp and on lps by The Gotobeds and Theremonster.