This image juxtaposes a scultpure meant to inspire feelings of confidence in the future, greatness, and progress with census data speaking of a racially divided city. It raises the question of who is includes in this narrative of progress, and at whose expense it may be achieved.
I would suggest that the caption could be extended to maybe include some of the census data in terms of the total population and also different population groups, and perhaps more ethnographic details such as experiences of residents in different parts of the town, or different ways in which people express their views related to the sculpture. How was it received and how is it viewed now by residents of different parts of the city?
The image is a little opaque in my view, so the sculpture is hard to make out as well as the map. To extend the ethnographic import of the image, maybe the two sources could be combined in a different way, not only in an overlap? Or maybe there is a way to make both easier to make see.
The visualisation and the caption do not explicitly address toxics, but there is an implicit message of toxic urban development that excludes and differentiates on a racial basis.
Two registers of toxicity emerge from this visualization--one, the idea of "pure Muskegon" which is tied to a comeback and revival of the area, which seems to be a form of toxicity by itself in that it enacts a particular visualization about pureness and futurity. The image itself wasn't clear but it seems to be an image of the unity symbol "under construction", which highlights how futurity and pureness is also under construction. the second, is about historical racial divide which is a sort of toxicity that is visible through the map.
I liked the argument that the visualization is trying to make. The visualization could be clearer to highlight the spatial distribution of where exactly the new symbol being built will be placed and how it is located with respect to the census distribution along racial lines. For example could you make the map into an actual boundary map and show with contrasting colors the census distribution, and then insert the image in the middle? And what do you mean when you ask for who is this a comeback--is this something you can show visually as well?
This visualization argues that the unity sculpture and the comeback of Muskegon's downtown brackets out the racial segregation in this region.
The image is created by the ethnographer through juxtaposing two different images. The striking aspect of this visualization is that the unity sculpture seems like it is under construction, which lends itself to the argument that the unity itself is a construction.
