In ever-changing New York City, the old often falls to make way for the new. One instance of this is the slow but accelerating disappearance of the fading “ghost” advertisements, those signs painted on walls, often high above the city’s sidewalks, offering curious glimpses to the observant into a culture of the past.
Frank Jump has been passionately documenting these ads for 20 years, since his discovery of the Omega Oil ads in Harlem. For Jump, the ads have become “a metaphor for survival… as many of these ads have long outlived their expected life span.”
Although this project isn’t directly about HIV/AIDS, Jump likens his fading ad photo campaign to his more than 25-year survival with HIV. On his website he writes, “It is no accident I’ve chosen to document such a transitory and evanescent subject.”
Frank Jump (left) and husband Aiosa at at the National Equality March for LGBT Rights in Washington on Oct. 11, 2009. taken by B. Snow
A New York native, Jump has lived with his husband, Vincenzo Aiosa, in Brooklyn since 1989. Jump continues to document these “ghost ads” today, and regularly updates his blog on the same topic [www.fadingad.com]. – CLICK HERE TO READ MORE!
