• About
  • Collage
  • Fauna
  • Flora
  • Landscapes
  • Looks
  • Radio
  • sketchy stuff

M.T. Karthik

~ midcareer archive, 1977 – 2017 plus 2022

M.T. Karthik

Category Archives: North Oakland

Oakland Bay Bridge

27 Sunday Aug 2017

Posted by mtk in landscape, North Oakland, Oakland, travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bay, bridge, california, Francisco, Karthik, m.t., mtk, oakland, San, sfbay

Cosco JinHe Enters Port of Oakland

29 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by mtk in Coastal Cali, music video, North Oakland, Oakland, S.F., SF Bay, vehicles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bay, container, Cosco, JinHe, Karthik, m.t., mtk, oakland, port, sf, ship

EuroNav T1 Supertanker Passes Beneath Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

08 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by mtk in Coastal Cali, North Oakland, Oakland, SF Bay, vehicles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bridge, EuroNav, Karthik, m.t., mtk, Rafael, Richmond, San, ship, supertanker, T1

Cosco Long Beach Monrovia Enters Port of Oakland

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by mtk in Coastal Cali, fishing, North Oakland, Oakland, SF Bay, vehicles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

beach, california, container, Cosco, Karthik, long, m.t., Monrovia, mtk, oakland, ship.Port

Beliefs: the anthropocene

25 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by mtk in journal entries, North Oakland

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

anthropocene, belief, god, isolation, Karthik, liberal, m.t., mtk, neo, oakland, post

I believe I’m a species of animal born to my parents forty-five years ago in what we call Tamil Nadu. I believe our species, which we categorize homo sapiens sapiens, is very much like other animal species that share this organism, our planet – particularly those in our family, mammalia.

However, I also believe we’ve grown in a unique manner from all living things and we have been inventive.

We invented God.

We empowered ourselves above all living things with this great rationalization, and we alone became intelligent beyond our design.

We then spent the last hundred years dismantling our invention. Humankind is responsible for itself.

We began devoting our time to other inventions: sciences, maths, money, power and all manner of feats of engineering. We’ve launched satellites and a space station that gives us a permanent presence in space. We’ve explored the moon and sent robots to Venus and Mars. We have sent deep space probes so far away they are about to leave the heliosphere.

We’ve explored and mapped our planet in great detail. We have conquered many diseases that used to kill us and have now grown to a population of at least seven billion individual human beings. We understand statistics and our species enough to know we will make it to ten billion, unless we experience a cataclysmic event.

We are the only living thing capable of creating such an event.

I believe the era must be called the anthropocene. The Age of the Human.

It is important to do so because it implies a willingness to take responsibility. It makes our legacy as a species even more important because we are now the stewards of this world.

We connect by use of these machines instantaneously all over the world and can exchange ideas and thoughts with unprecedented speed, which implies the ability to make massive, global change in thinking toward similar goals possible. Corporate culture has dominated such mass media.

The Digital Generation is significantly different from human beings who came before them. I’ve written we ought to consider categorizing the digital generation as a new species of human being: homo sapiens digitalis

I am a father and a son and of a transitionary generation between sapiens and digitalis. Having unmade God and seeing how much of an effect we are having on our world, I feel disconnected from society.

I see this age as the anthropocene and long to take greater responsibility for my fellows, but instead, I grow isolated and separate from most because of my beliefs.

Post-Neo-Liberal Isolation is not an illness. It is a state of awareness. From within it, I compose my expressions in an attempt to work through it, not to escape it. It cannot be escaped. Beyond it lies the future of humanity and indeed, of this world.

That is my belief.

Well, at least, that’s my belief today.

Image

Tejashri 39th Birthday Card

22 Saturday Dec 2012

Tags

39, birthday, card, Karthik, m.t., mtk, Tejashri

Tejashri39

Posted by mtk | Filed under collage, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Image

winter passion flower

18 Tuesday Dec 2012

Tags

2012, desmond, flower, Karthik, m.t., mtk, oakland, passion, street, winter

winterpassionflower2012

Posted by mtk | Filed under flora, North Oakland, photography

≈ Leave a comment

personal bests, bowling

01 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by mtk in North Oakland, our son, performance

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

best, bowling, Karthik, milan, mtk, ocean, omm, personal, scores

MTKpersonalbest

 

OMM personalbest

Traditional Thankstaking 2012

23 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by mtk in collage, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

genocide, Karthik, m.t., mtk, pilgrims, rob, robbong, stolen, taking, Thanksgiving, Thankstaking, took, United States, us, usa

Image

self portrait in studio

19 Monday Nov 2012

Tags

2012, Karthik, m.t., mtk, portrait, self

Posted by mtk | Filed under North Oakland, self portrait

≈ Leave a comment

Moving Forward, a zine

18 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by mtk in artists books, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

BART, brutality, cop, Forward, Grant, guilty, gun, human, Johannes, Karthik, m.t., manslaughter, Mehserle, Moving, mtk, Oscar, police, rights, shooting, Taser, verdict, violation, zine

Image

new avatar photo

13 Tuesday Nov 2012

Tags

2012, autumn, avatar, contemporary, Karthik, late november, m.t., m.t. karthik, mtk, now

Posted by mtk | Filed under North Oakland, self portrait

≈ Leave a comment

Ladybug Beetle, Oakland

08 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by mtk in fauna, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

19, 19-spots, 2012, beetle, black, ladybug, oakland, orange, spot

Pretty sure this is the 19-spot, Harmonia axyridris of the Family Coccinellidae – known as the Asian Ladybug.

Looks like it got smeared with dust or flew through light spider webbing. Maybe it just escaped a spider. I let it back out into the garden.

Image

Wood Tavern, Oakland

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

Tags

arrangement, Avenue, College, flower, oakland, rockridge, Tavern, Wood

Posted by mtk | Filed under North Oakland, photography

≈ Leave a comment

Oakland Airport BART Station (under construction)

18 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by mtk in North Oakland, vehicles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

airport, BART, connector, construction, Karthik, m.t., mtk, new, oakland, Station, under

House with Face Graffiti,Oakland near CCA

17 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by mtk in mural, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

california, cca, face, graffiti, house, Karthik, m.r.e., m.t., mtk, north, oakland, student

Dimensions are approximately 10 x 15 feet

Machado Doubles, Scores vs. A's 1080HD

16 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by mtk in baseball, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

09/16, 2012, 3B, A's, Athletics, Baltimore, baseman, Karthik, m.t., Machado, Manny, mtk, O.com, oakland, Orioles, third, vs.

Machado Doubles, Scores vs. A’s 1080HD

16 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by mtk in baseball, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

09/16, 2012, 3B, A's, Athletics, Baltimore, baseman, Karthik, m.t., Machado, Manny, mtk, O.com, oakland, Orioles, third, vs.

Indian Summer flora

15 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by mtk in flora, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

indian, Karthik, m.t., mtk, snap, summer

 

 

This is just a snap I took during what they call “Indian Summer” in Northern California – for real Indian flora click the flora tab, above.

rad vehicle

06 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by mtk in North Oakland, photography, vehicles

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Karthik, m.t., mtk, old, radical, vehicle, volkswagon, yellow

What is this? It looks like a 1952 VW Split Window Beetle from the back, but the front has a straight hood with a different grill and ornament – rad!

rad yellow vehicle
rad vehicle rear view
vwsplitwindowfront
vwsplitwindowback

Some Strikes and Spares

03 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by mtk in games, North Oakland

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Albany, Bowl, bowling, Karthik, m.t., mtk, spares, strikes

bowling with our son has been fun

trip to SF via Bay Bridge 1080HD

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in North Oakland, S.F., travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

1080, 80, Bay, bridge, driving, Francisco, freeway, hd, island, oakland, s-curve, San, treasure

New Bay Bridge Toll Booth Operations Center

30 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in North Oakland, photography, S.F.

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2012, Bay, booth, bridge, center, Karthik, m.t., mtk, oakland, Operations, sf, toll

Underwater Yahtzee

19 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in games, North Oakland, our son, underwater

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

california, j.treehorn, Karthik, m.t., milan, mtk, north, o.m., oakland, pool, temescal, yahtzee

yet another passion flower

19 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in flora, North Oakland, photography

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

another, flower, Karthik, m.t., mtk, north, oakland, passion, yet

More Summer Flora

18 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in flora, North Oakland, photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

carnation, Karthik, mtk, north, oakland, purple, summer

Summer flora

12 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in flora, North Oakland, photography

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Karthik, mtk, oakland, summer

Sub Marine Video Program 1

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in North Oakland, our son, performance

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

marine, milan, north, oakland, ocean, omm, pool, sub, temescal, video

Shuff at the Fish #1

07 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in games, North Oakland, short film

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Karthik, Kingfish, mtk, north, oakland, pub, shuffleboard

M.T. Karthik, 2012

03 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in conceptual art, journal entries, North Oakland, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2012, Karthik, m.t. karthik, mtk

Over the past 200 days, I’ve populated this blog with 200 posts.

Many are backdated – material collected over the past thirty years – but I’ve also posted three to five times a week in 2012, with mostly photographs of baseball games, flora, fauna and landscapes.

There’s a distinct and deliberate difference in the work of these last five years from the work before. In my 40’s, my work is decidedly less political, more image-oriented and produced with and for the plastic, digital fluidity of the inter-webbed world. This is by design.

I do not wish to be known as a political artist.

I promised myself decades ago I would work socially on political matters until I turned 40, when I hoped to turn the mantle of activism over to a younger generation. I have helped this happen and documented its occurrence.

When I was 15 I wrote that I’d make these changes to process when I turned 40, including the addition of filmmaking – which I waited decades to take seriously.

At 15, watching the first of the Macintosh computers come out, I also knew that new media would arise over the years. My generation was the very first to own a personal computer or send an e-mail.

I have tried to be judicious about studying and using tech. I do not play games.

Of new media, Youtube has been the most interesting to me. I started my first Youtube account at 40 and have several now which I use to embed videos to this site.

Continuing my methods over the past year, at 45, I joined Facebook and Twitter during seminal years for both companies. I observed closely as Twitter was given tax-breaks to move to San Francisco and FB created its massive IPO.

I’ve deactivated my account on FB and will not post there again.

I will continue to use Twitter in concert with this blog. I’ve come around on Twitter. I still decry the tax break created and approved by Ed Lee, David Chiu and the SF Board of Supervisors, but I am a Twitterer and will remain so.

The work until I turned 40 is represented here by posts of work I produced between 1981 and 2007. It’s detailed and requires time to sift through. I’ll continue over the years to add work from the past and to edit the contemporaneously written material describing work from my 20’s and 30’s.

I hope to leave behind a sound record of what I consider my work via this blog.

I dream of a reader willing to consider the continuity of thought here as a kind of single expression of a humanistic free radical living in the latter half of the 20th century and the dawn of the 21st. I am lonesome because of my work.

I like blogging and after some years of experimentation, I believe in WordPress as the best free way to do it.

Thanks to any visitors in advance; I love comments, likes and interactions. I am blessed that my site gets visits from many many different countries around the world. You are welcome here.

I remain, M.T. Karthik, author, artist, producer and director in pursuit of art, culture and change.

← Older posts

M.T. Karthik

This blog archives early work of M.T. Karthik, who took every photograph and shot all the video here unless otherwise credited.

Performances and installations are posted by date of execution.

Writing appears in whatever form it was originally or, as in the case of poems or journal entries, retyped faithfully from print.

all of it is © M.T. Karthik

a minute of rain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYLHNRS8ik4

Top Categories

2022 Asia baseball birds Coastal Cali collage elections essay fauna flora GBC Readers India installations journalism landscape Los Angeles music video North Oakland NYC performance photography poetry politics protest reviews S.F. short film social media thoughts travel

MTK on Twitter

My Tweets

other mtk projects

  • an SF Giants Fan
  • current Youtube
  • first Youtube site 2007
  • MTK on Vimeo
  • Rocky Pt Recharge Zone
  • SF Mayoral Campaign 2011
  • Yesterday's Hoops 2010

Archives

  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • October 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • November 2013
  • September 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • April 2010
  • October 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • April 2008
  • January 2008
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • July 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • September 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • April 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • August 2004
  • June 2004
  • April 2004
  • December 2003
  • October 2003
  • September 2003
  • March 2003
  • February 2003
  • December 2002
  • November 2002
  • October 2002
  • September 2002
  • May 2002
  • April 2002
  • September 2001
  • July 2001
  • June 2001
  • February 2001
  • November 2000
  • August 2000
  • June 2000
  • March 2000
  • December 1999
  • October 1999
  • July 1999
  • June 1999
  • April 1999
  • March 1999
  • October 1998
  • July 1998
  • June 1998
  • May 1998
  • April 1998
  • February 1998
  • January 1998
  • December 1997
  • November 1997
  • October 1997
  • September 1997
  • August 1997
  • June 1997
  • March 1997
  • January 1997
  • December 1996
  • November 1996
  • October 1996
  • September 1996
  • August 1996
  • July 1996
  • May 1996
  • April 1996
  • March 1996
  • February 1996
  • December 1995
  • November 1995
  • October 1995
  • September 1995
  • August 1995
  • June 1995
  • May 1995
  • February 1995
  • January 1995
  • October 1994
  • September 1994
  • August 1994
  • May 1994
  • August 1993
  • August 1992
  • April 1992
  • November 1991
  • February 1991
  • December 1988
  • October 1984
  • May 1982
  • July 1981
  • April 1977

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • M.T. Karthik
    • Join 52 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • M.T. Karthik
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
    To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy