inner_states-interview_04

“I was born in Kelly Island, close to Canada. I used to work as an aluminium plater. One day I decided I was going to make customised vanity plates for cars. I built the van and hit the road for five years. Everybody thought I was crazy and my idea wouldn’t work, but now I got a business, a house and a boat in Florida. I been the selling plates for twenty-five years – ten years on the road at different festivals and fifteen years here in Florida.”“I was given one year and a half to live by the doctors three years ago. I got ‘em by over a year! I don’t feel good, but I live my life good. I got seven children and a thirty seven year old girlfriend looks just like that model on the calendar above my desk.”
“After 9-11, I put this little flag on my hat as a mark of respect. Everybody was stopping and buying “God Bless America” plates – couldn’t get enough of ‘em.”

• “The flag represents freedom, but we’re not free. We ain’t free over here. You can’t do a fucking thing over here without paying. You can’t sell tomatoes beside the street. You can’t even have a stand - drive by the Keys, you won’t see one vendor. They put up signs, and the first word is “No”. “No fishing”, “No Swimming.” See that water over there, the ocean? Its all “No”.”