Ryan Arruda
Title Design
Title Design
It's
very strange to be so in love with Rocky Point
Park, especially having no memory of ever being
there in its halcyon days of amusement park glory.
While my parents assure me that I did, as a small
child, indeed visit the park, I have no
recollection of personally whirling about on
mechanical rides or of enjoying a meal in the Shore
Dinner Hall. Despite this, and quite paradoxically,
I feel like I've been to Rocky Point on innumerable
occasions. What has enamored me about the park in
my adult years is the significant place it occupies
within the collective Rhode Island cultural memory;
we all remember the park, seasoned attendee or not,
and feel pain in seeing it's closure and subsequent
decay. While no longer in operation, Rocky Point is
very much a historical document; as a visual
aesthetic, it operates as both as a haunting relic
to the ever-forward lurch of time, but also as a
tribute to a profound and illimitable facets of the
human spirit-youth, family, fun, and endless summer
days.
Ryan Arruda, a life long Rhode Islander, is a
visual artist who enjoys kite-flying, BLT's, and
small bears.
