Tagree

Tagree

Online magazine for Photography and Art – A window on the world of visual arts, where artworks from selected artists around the globe are shown and shared as well as News and Infos from the world of Photography and Art.

Black & WhiteDocumentaryEditorialPhotographySocial

The existing written Remains of Hobos by Adam Void

7 min read
Ol Buck by Adam Void
Lady Bug by Adam Void
God Rides With The Hobos So Let Them Ride by Adam Void
Shoestring by Adam Void
Old Crow by Adam Void
Empress Vagabond Bo Lump by Adam Void
Captain Dingy The Airborne Hobo by Adam Void

Adam Void documented all existing written remains of hobos from the site of the National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa, USA. The convention is a world unto itself, with kings, queens, freaks, and misfits all connected to the American tradition of riding trains without permission. Unique road names are acquired along with miles and experience. Those names are transferred over onto objects to say that the owners exist and will remain after their bodies travel on. The convention has been held in the same beautiful quaint town of Britt, Iowa for more than 120 years and holds the deep tradition of the greatest hobo union, Tourists Union 63.

Lady Bug by Adam Void

Lady Bug by Adam Void

These photos honor the hobo's wishes to be hidden, unseen, and un-bothered. Instead, Adam's lens focused on their handiwork. Their names are written as advertisements on the outside of a mid-century steel boxcar from the Milwaukee Road. They are written on the inside of this boxcar, where they sleep during the convention, and inside the wooden shelter where they congregate and serve their meals. What these spaces look like is of no specific interest. You can make up a decent facsimile in your mind. What really matters is their names and dates. When they arrived and when they left. Who was king and who was queen.

Ol Buck by Adam Void

Ol Buck by Adam Void

Long live Deuce Seven, Slack Action Steve, Ol Buck, and Missouri Matt. Remember the Indiana Hobo, Hobo S.L.C., and Slim Tim. We were here, and then we left.

Birdman by Adam Void

Birdman by Adam Void

Photos from the book, Monikers, Prints, and Sign-Ins from the National Hobo Convention @ Britt (IA) - Published 2022 by Cut In The Fence, USA

Click on an image for full-size 

Adam Void Portrait

Adam Void

 is a flawed practitioner of the outsider arts, DIY ethos, and the hobo lifestyle. He is an artist, worker, teacher, student, father, and a child. He is both legendary and widely unknown. Adam's foundations are based in the punk houses of the American South, where something was made from nothing, where you could get anywhere by hopping on a stopped train, and where you could be famous by just getting out there and writing your name on other people's stuff. He has been involved with independent publishing since the late 90's, as a maker and distributor of zines on the international Do-It-Yourself underground. Adam was a prolific tagger in the Brooklyn area during the hype of the late '00s, only to retreat to the tracksides of Baltimore, Maryland a few years later. There he further refined the genre of roller graffiti while getting his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). In 2015, he and his wife, Chelsea Ragan, founded an experimental school on the original grounds of the Black Mountain College. That school, now called the School of the Alternative, still challenges the constructs of art education while focusing on the concept of experimental community. In 2018, Adam and Chelsea founded the publishing house and distro, Cut In The Fence, where they continue to promote and distribute limited edition artist books and zines from the international graffiti underground.

Adam Void has ridden freight trains since the early 00's. He has traveled across the USA and back, from Mexico to Canada on the West Coast, and from Florida to NYC on the East Coast. He has rode the small mountain routes, the accidental service routes that dead-end at a factory in the middle of nowhere, and the cool countryside of New England. Adam has traveled to 21 countries across four continents, all while sleeping in parks, getting lost, and eating fruit & cheese.

Journalism and running an online magazine costs money. Our online magazine is free of advertisements. We do everything out of love and dedication. We are not profit oriented. Support Tagree that the magazine remains ad-free and the monthly costs can be paid. TAGREE, I love your cultural work, I donate to show you my appreciation, voluntary, one-time or regular monthly or per quarter:

Donate

You may also like

Haven by Sara Harley

Sara Harley has been described as a Photographic Expressionist. Her work bridges the worlds of photography and painting and creates composited images that are poetic in nature. Haven is a series of composited digital images using

Life in Far East by Dino Morri

Dino Morri sheds some light on the human conditions of the people even though just on the streets. In this series, Dino Morri, an Italian photographer, takes us to Far East. To the countries of

Arthur Elgort at CAMERA WORK Gallery

CAMERA WORK Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition »Arthur Elgort« starting on December 11, 2021. The exhibition features more than 40 photographic works — among them large-sized portraits. They give an insight into the creative work

Lamuella Animal Sanctuary by Alexandra Buxbaum

Lamuella Animal Sanctuary by Alexandra Buxbaum

This is one part of a long-term project focusing on animal sanctuaries and their positive contributions to animal, environmental and community welfare. This photo project is as much about the animals who have wound up

Malicious Mud by Rezki Sterneanto

Rezki Sterneanto is an Indonesian photographer living in West Karawang (Java). He captures shapes of art, inspired by the stories of people’s life. He creates mostly conceptual and surrealism images. But some others are streetshoots, urban photography and also

Facades Potpourri by Michael Nguyen

“With my architectural photography, I am on the search for the aesthetic qualities of buildings in their urban spatial effect. Above all, I am interested in the visual richness of detail in its compositional diversity

Don`t copy text!