The Beautiful and Tragic Story of Zoe Strauss' "Mattress Flip"

[annie]

Photographer Zoe Strauss Took This Photo 10 Years Ago. Here Is the Story of "Mattress Flip"

“Mattress Flip” is a bestseller. At Under I-95, every print was sold for $5 each, while larger copies produced with fancier inks and papers have been sold through the Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York City for up to $3,000. A giant vinyl version of the photograph hangs inside Lincoln Financial Field.
....
This week, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will drape a 70-foot-wide version of “Mattress Flip” across the pillars atop its famous steps. The image of the boys playing will announce the opening of Zoe Strauss: Ten Years.
It will also serve as a memorial.
The name of the boy in Strauss’ photo, the one watching the action, is Lawrence Edward Rose Jr., but everyone called him Boo. On June 17, 2007, six years after Strauss transformed his smiling face into a work of art, Boo was shot on Seventh and Mifflin streets, three blocks away from where he and his cousin, Botty (pronounced “Boo-dee”), flipped on mattresses that summer afternoon. The first bullet entered Boo’s stomach; the second, his knee. Boo died on July 12, the 214th homicide out of that year’s 392. He was 19 years old.

Heartbreaking. This being PS and all, I know there may soon be posts dissecting the story and going on and on how this young man and his family could have avoided his fate or somehow are deserving of it but before all that I just want to say we are very fortunate to have Tara Murtha covering our city, finding stories like this and making them known.

[dogoagogo]

Bump. The article is very well done and I'm not sure if I'm more affected by the story itself or my reaction to it as "just another typical Philadelphia story"

[mixiboi]

Yeah, even if some people think its over hyped:

[mikkifinn]

It was moving and all-too familiar. Especially the whole 5th/7th Street feud. However, the person who shot Boo did not entirely "beat the charge"; he was convicted by a jury of the gun charge, and given the maximum state sentence. The jury was hung on the murder charge b/c, among other things, Boo & the friend he was with both had guns on them & were also shooting. Boo's friend was shot and nearly killed. He ultimately survived but refused to testify truthfully against the defendant b/c he did not want to "snitch." This friend had shot someone in the defendant's neighborhood previously that week and this was retaliatory. So it is a little more complicated than going to the wrong store. The defendant's case is now re-listed for next month, and he is represented by the same defense atty who represented Beanie Sigel.

[Malloy]

Where is the beautiful part of this story?

[Ho Chi Minh]

The jury was hung on the murder charge b/c, among other things, Boo & the friend he was with both had guns on them & were also shooting. Boo's friend was shot and nearly killed. He ultimately survived but refused to testify truthfully against the defendant b/c he did not want to "snitch."

Wow. If that is true, then I'd have to say the whole article is a load of crap. To totally ignore the facts just to create a tear jerker story, it's like Jerry Springer in print.

Certainly nothing beatiful or tragic about that story.

[annie]

Did you read the article? I was struck by the beauty of the picture itself, the chance encounter that caused it to be taken, the chance nature of family even finding out about the photo after it was already exhibited around the world and the way the family and the photographer seem to have really connected. It threads together some of the best and worst aspects of the city in the most heartbreaking way.

[mikkifinn]

Absolutely true, HCM. Feel free to PM me if you want more detail. I agree with Annie in that it is beautiful from an artistic perspective and also from the standpoint that the photographer & the family connected. They are people whose paths would otherwise never crossed. I think that the article left out those other facts b/c either the writer did not delve that deeply into that aspect of the story, and did not know, or just b/c to have included them would have made Boo a much less sympathetic subject.

[NE19149]

Where is the beautiful part of this story?

Indeed!

[annie]

Absolutely true, HCM. Feel free to PM me if you want more detail. I agree with Annie in that it is beautiful from an artistic perspective and also from the standpoint that the photographer & the family connected. They are people whose paths would otherwise never crossed. I think that the article left out those other facts b/c either the writer did not delve that deeply into that aspect of the story, and did not know, or just b/c to have included them would have made Boo a much less sympathetic subject.

The author did mention Boo's previous arrests and the rest that mikkifinn reported I pretty much guessed.

[loveisnoise]

Yet another overhyped artist using a darkened tale for more self-promotion. Whooptidoo. Wait until they read my memoirs!

[Burholme06]

People really need to stop romanticizing the ghetto. Some criminal engaged in a gun fight on the street isn't some tragic hero as far as I'm concerned.

[Ho Chi Minh]

Absolutely true, HCM. Feel free to PM me if you want more detail. I agree with Annie in that it is beautiful from an artistic perspective and also from the standpoint that the photographer & the family connected. They are people whose paths would otherwise never crossed. I think that the article left out those other facts b/c either the writer did not delve that deeply into that aspect of the story, and did not know, or just b/c to have included them would have made Boo a much less sympathetic subject.

No need for details. That was more than enough info. There is nothing tragic about a gun toting teenage thug getting shot by the same. It is a nice story that his family now how a picture of him (pre-thug) and that it is in a book. I guess I am just sick of all the attention given to worthless thugs who get killed, whether they're 75 or 14. Almost makes a matyr out them.

[loveisnoise]

People really need to stop romanticizing the ghetto. Some criminal engaged in a gun fight on the street isn't some tragic hero as far as I'm concerned.

This is additionally tragic because the boy in the picture is wearing a number 88 jersey. This is obviously an artistic reference to famed Colt's wide receiver, John Mackey, who is now suffering from dementia and related ailments. The once spry innocence now lost from physical abuse on the field-that is obviously what this picture is symbolizing.

I just farted and sniffed it-that's how artistically smug I am.

[raider.adam]

This is additionally tragic because the boy in the picture is wearing a number 88 jersey. This is obviously an artistic reference to famed Colt's wide receiver, John Mackey, who is now suffering from dementia and related ailments. The once spry innocence now lost from physical abuse on the field-that is obviously what this picture is symbolizing.

I just farted and sniffed it-that's how artistically smug I am.

Colts don't wear yellow.

[loveisnoise]

Colts don't wear yellow.

You just don't get art, man. Yellow is obviously playing the duality that exists in life. On the youthful positive, it represents warmth and happiness-while also being a bright beacon of warning for what is to come.

[raider.adam]

You just don't get art, man. Yellow is obviously playing the duality that exists in life. On the youthful positive, it represents warmth and happiness-while also being a bright beacon of warning for what is to come.

I just got gotten.

[loveisnoise]

I just got gotten.

Don't worry-if you ever become mayor I will be your art advisor to sort this mumbo jumbo out. I will work for free, as long as I get my pick of one Picasso or Van Gogh from the art museum. Kthnx!

[Malloy]

'hood photography has obviously become popular (and I enjoy the architecture part)...but it takes some balls to capture up close and personal photos of random people in the 'hood. Esp ones that look like crack heads, hardened criminals, thugs, pimps, drug dealers or simply poor folks. Zoe had the balls to do this, and it resulted in some popular pics. Black, white, urban, rural she covered it. She calls it "“an epic narrative about the beauty and struggle of everyday life"

[Jayfar]

And she gets Philly great press. This review lines up nicely with the campaign for Philadelphia as an arts destination.

‘Zoe Strauss - Ten Years’ at Philadelphia Museum of Art - Review - NYTimes.com