-badtowtruck- Tomi Taylor -check Up - 02.07.15- ✦

Tomi Taylor, at the time a 24-year-old multimedia artist living in a rust-belt city, owned a failing 1992 Volvo 240. On the night of February 7, the car broke down on an unlit highway off-ramp. Taylor called for a tow. The dispatched truck arrived, but instead of taking the Volvo to Taylor’s usual mechanic, the driver demanded cash upfront and began driving in the opposite direction—toward a scrap yard. After a tense 20-minute negotiation in the freezing rain, Taylor was let off at a 24-hour gas station. The car was never seen again.

As of 2025, no new public activity. The domain TomiTaylor.art leads to a blank page with a looping GIF of a tow truck driving in reverse. Right-clicking the page reveals the metadata keywords: "BadTowTruck, Check Up, 02.07.15, still waiting." "-BadTowTruck- Tomi Taylor -Check Up - 02.07.15-" is more than a failed Google search or a forgotten file. It is a minimalist monument to a moment of crisis—mechanical, psychological, and societal. It reminds us that the most powerful stories are often the ones that don’t explain themselves, that remain hidden in timestamped fragments, waiting for someone to ask, “What happened here?” -BadTowTruck- Tomi Taylor -Check Up - 02.07.15-

In the mid-2010s, the gig economy was exploding. Tow trucks, like Uber and TaskRabbit, were becoming unregulated lifelines. A "bad tow truck" was a metaphor for predatory capitalism—helpers who charge more for making things worse. Tomi Taylor’s "Check Up" extended that metaphor to self-care: What happens when the person you call to fix your life is also broken? Tomi Taylor, at the time a 24-year-old multimedia

If you ever find yourself broken down on an off-ramp in winter, calling for a tow that feels wrong, you’ll understand. And you’ll remember Tomi Taylor—standing under that flickering light, asking for a check-up that nobody could perform. The dispatched truck arrived, but instead of taking