Saturday, December 6, 2008

puff-puff-blow


priscilla 1969 by joseph szabo

candy cigarette, 1989 by sally mann

mary ellen mark 

i used to 'smoke' candy cigarettes when i was a kid. and yes i will admit i thought i was cool for doing it. i liked the puff-puff-blow action. i liked the way the thing looked in between my little fingers. i did it privately. away from the other kids and definitely away from my older brother. i knew they weren't real. i knew they were made from sugar. but i liked keeping to myself when i did my 'smoking'. i never did turn into a real smoker. i like these photos simply as images. i am not looking at them through a moral lens. everyone knows smoking is bad for you. especially for growing, developing kids. i just find photos of very young girls smoking real or unreal cigarettes visually captivating, particularly these ones. i like the grotesqueness and the absurdity. i like the mix of innocence and defiance. i like damaged pretty things. i like thinking that there might be a tiny 'fuck you' in the puff-puff-blowing breath of each girl. 

3 comments:

Anna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anna said...

mary ellen mark

You rule femme. Youre putting stuff out there.

Jesse said...

The images also made me reminisce my past as a teen smoker. It was a very cool experience for me at first, but when the coughs, losing my sense of taste, and the like, my willpower made me quit this altogether. A week after my full-on quitting, I went to the dentist in Myrtle Beach to check if the damage to my teeth can still be reversed. Luckily, it is still possible, with the help of the teeth whitening treatment by the dentist in Myrtle Beach, SC and my change in diet, I can change my life for the better.