Art | VFTU

Poem by "The Green Thumb", in the year of the Other-Earth in late 2021, or possibly 2022.

This poem was found abandoned amongst other such expressions at roughly 40°50'55"N 96°39'29"W, in what remained of the Other-Earth city of Lincoln, NE. The symbolism of The Green Thumb's artistic expression being accepted, almost embraced, by plants cannot be overstated. It is unclear at this moment whether the Voices have the power to plant such symbols, or if they merely direct the eyes of out Research and Archival teams to the places they will find the most meaning. The paper appears to be charred around the edges, and it is currently unknown whether this was a stylistic choice, or merely another way things degrade over time.

Poem Text:

I condemn myself to pain

by giving control of my heart

to something I know

to be mortal.

Happiness

when coaxed from without

is always an addiction

and Detox will break you.

Love is incredibly adept

at making the chilly night

full of bracing wonder

but it's cold.

Poetry

which is a deep desire to

explain my inside to your inside

means less/more when you're gone.

And Yet

Despite it All

Still Happening

Assorted artwork recovered from the site of the Green Thumb disaster. Late 2021 to early 2022.

Our top piece seems to concern someone speaking from an overpass to a crowd below, drawn by an unknown artist. It's highly likely that this depicts one of the Green Thumb's speeches, although we can never be entirely sure that many people didn't attempt to persuade others of what to do and think in this very dramatic sense. Of interest also is the fact that the artist has set themselves apart from the crowd, drawing from behind. The question becomes, did he separate himself simply to draw the picture, or did he set himself apart based on the views being expressed and decide to document this moment for a particular reason?

Bottom left we find a curious picture, a person seemingly dressed as an adult but clinging to what appears to be a toy, or doll. There is a distinct lack of positivity in this picture, and we must remember that as humans, even as very small and very new humans, we use art as a way to explain and examine our abstract and complex internal world. In this piece we see anger from authority, we see a desire to cling to objects of comfort, and we see the need to explain how it feels when everything is just wrong.

Our bottom right picture is the most simple, and probably the most tragic. Instead of offering an explanation, we have chosen to simply print the text of the letter that accompanied this piece. We would've liked to show you the letter itself, but unfortunately the damage to it was great enough that the archival process rendered it little more than an abstract relic. We have left the syntax as we received it, only fixing spelling errors.

Santa

my name is joselyn and I am 6 years old and 8 months

daddy says I have not been good this year but i'm writing anyways

I know that you are magic

so please use magic to my mom

so that she does not have to be burn up

and she can come back

thank youI will be good I promise

joselyn

Photographs recovered from the site of the Green Thumb disaster. Late 2021 to early 2022.

These photographs were recovered from a charred and melted disposable camera. It's assumed that they were a novelty of sorts - possibly an item either brought to Lincoln by the group of refugees that joined the Green Thumb and The Doctor or found within Lincoln by somebody scavenging for supplies.

We have to assume that they knew the photos would never be developed which begs the question - why take them in the first place? Opinions within the Think Tank are split. Some believe it could be as simple as a photographer keeping their skills alive despite their circumstances, and the composition of the photos supports this to an extent - they were obviously not taken by a complete amateur. Still others feel that they were left as a sort of visual diary, something for somebody to stumble across in the future that would give insight into what exactly happened in this place at this time. If so, it appears they got their wish.

These eight photos were the only ones to survive on that roll of film. The rest were not recoverable.

Unfortunately the technology used to recover them has also leeched a certain amount of vibrancy and color saturation from the images. We can hope that their day to day life wasn't quite so muted and dreary.