Bakoven, 28 April 2014.
miraculously whole
Category Archives: photography
electric jive huntley archive goes live!
Psych “Big T” Ntsele on the cover of “Keeping Time”, the recently published book of Ian Bruce Huntley’s photographs that this archive of recordings accompanies.
SO VERY EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO SHARE THIS AT LAST! I’ve had the privilege of being involved in putting this amazing archive online over the past few months.
Find out more HERE, and then visit the archive for free downloads of more than 56 hours of jazz played in Cape Town between 1964 to 1972 by South African musicians — some famous, others who have had little exposure. Download a PDF of the book, browse the pictures, engage, enjoy!
The devil’s in the detail
I’ve always found the hairs on insects and spiders interesting .. even tiny little ants got them ..
well, that escalated quickly.
This is what Facebook is really for. Here is a funny conversation that evolved into a collaborative portrait in layers on my wall over a few hours today, a particularly suffocating Monday. I’m keeping this as a snapshot of what creative people used to do when bored silly with social media in 2014.
Photo by Julia Mary Grey, Kalk Bay harbour, Saturday 8 March, 2014
By Gareth Jones, in response to comments under the original image
By Jean-Pierre de la Porte
Meanwhile, on another thread…
By Gareth Jones, third iteration, after further comments under his first drawing
stepan razin’s dream (Казачья Притча)
“Oy, to ne vecher” (Ой, то не вечер) is the incipit of a Russian folk song, also known as “The Cossack’s Parable” (Казачья Притча) or as “Stepan Razin’s Dream” (Сон Степана Разина). It was first published by composer Alexandra Zheleznova-Armfelt (1870–1933) in her collection Songs of the Ural Cossacks after her fieldwork in the Ural District during 1896–1897.
The original lyrics were in seven verses, with verse six making explicit that the dreamer is 17th century cossack rebel Stepan Razin. Razin has a dream, and his captain (esaul) interprets it as an omen of their defeat.
The song has been performed in several variants, sometimes expanded to up to eleven verses, but in the most common variant as sung by modern interpreters, it is reduced to four verses, removing the mention of Razin, and reducing the three omens in the dream to a single one.These lyrics may be translated thus:
Ah, it is not yet evening but I have taken a little nap, and a dream came to me. In the dream that came to me, it was as if my raven-black horse was playing about, dancing about, frisky beneath me. Ah, and evil winds came flying out of the east, and they ripped the black cap from that wild head of mine.
And the esaul* was a clever one, he was able to interpret my dream: “Ah, it will surely come off”, he said, “that wild head of yours”.
Source of information: Wikipedia.
*Esaul: a post and rank in prerevolutionary Russia in the cossack hosts after 1576.
Photo: Chris Marker, “Staring Back”
in recovery – #AgainstStigma the face of addiction/”mental illness”*: one month in
One month into my #AgainstStigma project and I have had 10 participants, with three more in the wings – more than I could have dreamt of! To my participants: I am beyond grateful for your incredible courage to stand up and be the face of addiction and/or mental illness, especially in the face of the very real stigma. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are the modern day heroes. You guys are the ones fighting the battle, day by day, and living to tell the tale.
And please, if anyone has any queries, reservations or debates to offer up about this project, please contact me. This is a project under constant revision and re-creation. Let’s discuss and create what we live with together, instead of having the medical and psychiatric industry define it for us.*/**
And let’s keep speaking out against stigma, for the sake of those still struggling with addiction, mental illness and the stigma that prevents them from realising they’re not alone and from getting the support they so desperately need. Please share. Please participate.
Click for: The participants thus far.
* A note on what I mean by mental illness. The word ‘illness’ is something I use for the sake of clarity, to make sure that everyone knows what I am speaking about. So I use the psychiatric term. So whatever your definition and whether you see it as a burden or a gift, what I mean here by ‘mental illness’ is the same thing you mean. I have huge issues with the psychiatric institution and see it as very fraught, and I am not a big fan of the DSM whatever version we’re on now. I don’t believe in ‘diagnosis’ and hate how it labels and limits one. I see my ‘mental illness’ as part of my personality, not a pathology, something that makes me more sensitive and creative than most, which is both beautiful and difficult. Whether you align yourself to addiction as an illness or something that is not pathological, this project is for you, because I would like to put a face on those living outside the boundaries of what most people consider ‘normal’, and making a success of the daily struggles.
** recovery / active recovery / clean time / active recovery from mental illness / clean time from mental illness: ‘Recovery’ is not easily definable. I use the terms ‘recovery’ and ‘mental illness’ in the way that they are defined by the very, very fraught psychiatric institution. What I mean by ‘in recovery’ as opposed to ‘active addiction’ is that the former has taken the steps needed to live with their mental illness/addiction. They are aware that it is a day-to-day struggle and not something that is ever cured. An active addict or someone who is a victim to their mental illness is someone who is waiting to be saved; someone who does not take responsibility for what they are dealing with. And certainly, reaching out for help is taking responsibility. It’s the difference between between active, an agent in one’s own recovery, and being passive and waiting for a pill/professional/sobriety to save one. What it means for me is the last time my life was completely unmanageable, when I was not functioning, when the depression controlled me instead of the other way around; when I was a victim to it instead of a survivor living with and dealing with it daily. But having said that, it is not all smooth sailing. And not just because I’m an addict and living with mental illness, but because I’m alive 
There are ups and downs and I have bad days and even relapse in some of my addictions. Or if I don’t relapse in my addictions, then I relapse in my addictive thinking and do impulsive, self-destructive and general ‘addict’ things. This clarification is under constant revision and has not been expressed very well here. Comments, queries and suggestions are very, very welcome. Let’s keep redefining what we live with, by ourselves, for ourselves, instead of having a psychiatric institution tell us what we live with.
the cliffs of shroomesia
Fun with new Samsung S4 camera ..
call to participate: #AgainstStigma the face of addiction/’mental illness’*
Please join me in providing a face to the anonymous diseases, in standing against stigma. (For more information about this project, the ideas behind it, and the inspiration for it, please visit my WordPress site: http://germainedelarch.wordpress.com/)
We all have addictions, and a lot of us live with mental illness. If you’re in active recovery, whether it be from mental illness* or from the addictions of smoking, sugar, over-working or heroin, etc., please take part and please share. So this is a call to take the anonymous out of addiction and mental illness. I’d like to begin a movement, centring around a photographic project, where we ‘come out’ as addicts and those living with mental illness. Because those in active addiction and active mental illness need to have a blueprint of what it looks like to be ‘allowed’ back into society, of what it looks like to live day by day with these diseases. Because being in recovery is one of the bravest things anyone can ever do, and this needs to be celebrated rather than stigmatised. And perhaps this will prevent the completely unnecessary deaths of those whom we know and love who feel that they are alone in their addiction and depression.
What are the requirements?
– That you’re a recovering addict** and/or living with mental illness, and not in active addiction** or in any way a victim** of your mental illness*. This project is for people who have overcome or are in the process of overcoming the dysfunction and are stronger for it, who have learned or are learning not only to live with their addictive personalities and mental illness, but who are stronger and more whole than when they first used or became mentally ill.
– The willingness to have your photograph, your full name and your information about your addiction and/or mental illness published on the internet in various social media forms, to be tagged on Facebook, as well as to have your image and details publicised in the form of a physical exhibition.
– That you use your full name.
Submission details:
– Photo: This project is about the message, not the photograph, so it will only work if all the portraits are in the same format. Sorry to limit your creativity, but if you could keep the photograph setup as close to the ones already online that would be great. I’ll edit if needed. Thanks!
– Text: Please fill your details into this format –
My name is ____________. I am a recovering addict (_________ [__ months/years], etc.). I live with mental illness (_________ [_____ months/years*]).
[…] indicates clean time.
* A note on what I mean by mental illness. The word ‘illness’ is something I use for the sake of clarity, to make sure that everyone knows what I am speaking about. So I use the psychiatric term. So whatever your definition and whether you see it as a burden or a gift, what I mean here by ‘mental illness’ is the same thing you mean. I have huge issues with the psychiatric institution and see it as very fraught, and I am not a big fan of the DSM whatever version we’re on now. I don’t believe in ‘diagnosis’ and hate how it labels and limits one. I see my ‘mental illness’ as part of my personality, not a pathology, something that makes me more sensitive and creative than most, which is both beautiful and difficult. Whether you align yourself to addiction as an illness or something that is not pathological, this project is for you, because I would like to put a face on those living outside the boundaries of what most people consider ‘normal’, and making a success of the daily struggles.
** recovery / active recovery / clean time / active recovery from mental illness / clean time from mental illness: ‘Recovery’ is not easily definable. I use the terms ‘recovery’ and ‘mental illness’ in the way that they are defined by the very, very fraught psychiatric institution. What I mean by ‘in recovery’ as opposed to ‘active addiction’ is that the former has taken the steps needed to live with their mental illness/addiction. They are aware that it is a day-to-day struggle and not something that is ever cured. An active addict or someone who is a victim to their mental illness is someone who is waiting to be saved; someone who does not take responsibility for what they are dealing with. And certainly, reaching out for help is taking responsibility. It’s the difference between between active, an agent in one’s own recovery, and being passive and waiting for a pill/professional/sobriety to save one. What it means for me is the last time my life was completely unmanageable, when I was not functioning, when the depression controlled me instead of the other way around; when I was a victim to it instead of a survivor living with and dealing with it daily. But having said that, it is not all smooth sailing. And not just because I’m an addict and living with mental illness, but because I’m alive ;) There are ups and downs and I have bad days and even relapse in some of my addictions. Or if I don’t relapse in my addictions, then I relapse in my addictive thinking and do impulsive, self-destructive and general ‘addict’ things. This clarification is under constant revision and has not been expressed very well here. Comments, queries and suggestions are very, very welcome. Let’s keep redefining what we live with, by ourselves, for ourselves, instead of having a psychiatric institution tell us what we live with.
Stigma Too Much for #AgainstStigma? Please Participate Anonymously in Writing.
Now a month into the project, I must say that I had absolutely no idea how great the stigma is re addiction and mental illness until I started my In Recovery: The Face of Addiction/Mental Illness. #AgainstStigma project. I’m getting quite a bit of feedback that people would love to participate, but that they too did not realise how insidious the stigma was. I’d like to ask that those of you who feel that they cannot participate in this project due to the stigma please inbox or email me (germainedelarch@gmail.com). I’d like to include your anonymous comments in this project in a piece I’ll be writing along with it.
And remember: this stigma says more about society than it does about you and your ability to participate.
For any queries, debates, additions to my definitions or submissions, please email germainedelarch@gmail.com
#AgainstStigma the face of addiction/’mental illness’* 1.
My name is Germaine de Larch. I am a recovering addict (self-mutilation [7 years], bulimia [13 years], overeating [3 years], co-dependent relationships [3 years], cigarettes [2 months, 10 days]). I live with mental illness (chronic depression, social phobia, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder [3 years]). […] indicates clean time.
Photo: Self-portrait by Germaine
Johannesburg, South Africa
#AgainstStigma the face of addiction/’mental illness’* 2.
My name is Marelise van der Merwe. I am a recovering addict: bulimia [3 years], cigarettes [9 years], compulsive overeating [6 months]. I live with mental illness: Complex PTSD [ongoing] and a number of anxiety disorders [3 years].
[…] indicates clean time.
Photo: Self-portrait by Marelise
Western Cape, South Africa
#AgainstStigma the face of addiction/’mental illness’* 3.
My name is Paul Strappini. I am a recovering addict: alcohol [11 years], methamphetamine [3 years]. I live with mental illness: Generalised Anxiety Disorder [15 years].
[…] indicates clean time.
Photo: Self-portrait by Paul
Johannesburg, South Africa
#AgainstStigma the face of addiction/’mental illness’* 4.
My name is Zunia Boucher-Myers. I am a recovering addict (cigarettes) [13 years], (compulsive overeating) [3 years]. I live with mental illness* (depression) [2 years].
[…] indicates clean time**.
Self-portrait by Zunia.
Western Cape, South Africa.
#AgainstStigma the face of addiction/’mental illness’* 5.
My name is Airen McClure. I live with mental illness* (chronic depression, anxiety [9 months] and gender dysphoria [one day at a time]).
[…] indicates clean time**.
Self-portrait by Airen.
Pennsylvania, USA
Anonymous #1. #AgainstStigma
Anonymous #2. #AgainstStigma
For more information about this project, the ideas behind it, and the inspiration for it, please visit my WordPress site: http://germainedelarch.wordpress.com/
the known universe
MINDBLOWING.
The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The film, created by the Museum, was part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.
Data: Digital Universe, American Museum of Natural History
Visualization Software: Uniview by SCISS
Director: Carter Emmart
Curator: Ben R. Oppenheimer
Producer: Michael Hoffman
Executive Producer: Ro Kinzler
Co-Executive Producer: Martin Brauen
Manager, Digital Universe Atlas: Brian Abbott
Music: Suke Cerulo
bull
rachel baran – self portrait
Check out more of this young photographer’s work HERE.
antonio mora – dream portraits
Spanish artist Antonio Mora is a creative photographer who transforms simple portraits into dreamscapes filled with intriguing emotion. In the series entitled Dream Portraits, the artist blends two elements together to form an elegantly abstract fusion where distinct lines and shapes are no longer evident. The images feature hauntingly beautiful faces that emerge from misty black and white forms like tree branches, rivers, bridges and cloudy skies.
treeporn
trash corner
uitgepas!
This photo was taken by Susanna Smith .. there has been no photoshopping ..I held the solar light above the pup, in front of the fire ..
suzanne heintz – life once removed
“A personal photography experience for public consumption.”
Suzanne Heintz calls herself “the modern day patron saint of single women”. She has the following to say about her ongoing photography project, the wondrously uncanny “Life Once Removed”:
What would drive you to pack a family of mannequins into your station wagon, and take them on a road trip? Enough pressure to conform will send anyone packing. That’s how I came to this personal project about what is essentially…Spinsterhood, and the American Way.
Well-meaning strangers, along with friends and family, would raise an eyebrow when the topic of my unmarried and childless status arose. Indicating with a small facial twitch, not only my audacious freakishness, but that I was a little old for such foolish thinking. I mean, come on, eggs don’t last forever!
But really, what was I supposed to do? You can’t just go out and buy a family. Or can you? I did. They are mannequins. The candy coated shell with nothing inside. We do all those family things, all the while capturing those Kodak Moments. Because it’s not really about the journey, or a genuine human connection, when your kids are screaming, “are we there yet?”, is it? It’s about the picture in front of the sign. “Get back in the car, we got the picture. Now, let’s go eat.”
We love and obey the formatted image of a well-lived life. So deeply ingrained is that strange auto-grin we put on when a camera is present. Do we live our lives with a keen awareness of how it feels, or just how it looks?
If I pass through life without checking off the boxes for a wedding ring and a baby carriage, I will be missing the photo album, but not not the point. When I take my photos, others stop and stare, then they ask, “why are you doing this?” They, at that moment, are starting to get the point too.
Check out more of Suzanne’s fantastical images HERE.
mona lisa smile
cat’s paw
purple haze
why i don’t live in suburbia
dildos, devotion and discipline
Rather like Dante’s Inferno, a humble building in Melville offers a sex shop at street level, an Evangelist centre above, and topping that, a karate centre. Lust, worship and a healthy dose of sweat and discipline… all just metres apart. What karma does this building generate, one wonders? Wikipedia fills in the gaps as to what these institutions have to offer:
Top floor: (Heaven) Seido Karate
Seido Karate was founded by Japanese master Tadashi Nakamura, who trained in various martial arts including Goju-Ryu, Kendo and Kyokusin, and studied under Mas Oyama, founder of Kyokushin. His beating of a Muay Thai champ in 1962 made him a national hero. After attaining 7th Dan Oyama told him to spread karate in the west, and, aged just 24, he began teaching Kyokushin in New York, where he taught several celebs before starting his own style, Seido Juku.
Seido means ‘Sincere Way’ and aims to develop students not just physically but also mentally, helping create ‘complete’ and ‘balanced’ individuals committed to improving themselves and the communities they live in. Seido karate’s three main principles are respect, love and obedience (not subservience). Very Japanese stuff: love for one’s family and friends, respect for your fellow karate-ka, your seniors, your parents and their knowledge and experience, and obedience to the laws and moral rules of life. Fuck yeah!
Sandwiched in the middle: The Potter’s House
The Potter’s House is a mega-church established in the mid-90s in Dallas, Texas. To handle expansion, the church built a 17,700 m2 sanctuary at a cost of $45 million, and paid off the debt in just four years. By 2000 founder TD Jakes was holding three services every Sunday, with attendance of over 23,000 in the sanctuary and the overflow room.
The church runs a program for ex-offenders trying to find their feet after being released from jail, helping them to find jobs and housing and to deal with substance abuse problems. It also has programs for teenage mothers, abused women and the homeless, runs a literacy program and has an Aids ministry. The Potter’s House has provided aid and sent missionaries to places such as Belize, Mexico, Guyana and Kenya. But for all their friendly aid, gays are not allowed and Christian marriage is encouraged.
The name comes from Jeremiah 18:2, “Go down to the potter’s house and there I will cause you to hear my words…” The churches are strongly evangelistic, and there are 67 in South Africa alone. The Melville site reads: “I have seen drug addicts set free of their addictions, sick people healed and ordinary people find extraordinary hope and joy. This has been the result of people coming to know Jesus Christ and grow in their relationship with Him. He truly is the answer to all our problems.” If it were only that simple!
And on the bottom floor (hell)
Adult World – South Africa’s Adult Sex Toys and Sexy Lingerie Store
Adult World is “proud to be South Africa’s leading adult retailer” and offers the “finest, most stunning lingerie in South Africa”.
There are “babydolls” in the underwear collection, whatever those are …so feel free to browse around, says their site. Be sure to try the “classy” and “stylish” sex gadgets and goodies. And, just in case you missed them, don’t forget to take a tour around the adult DVD collection, for a “delightful selection of adult movies you’ll surely enjoy”.
If you are too chicken to try the real store, just shop online: “We assure you that you will definitely enjoy a safe online adult shopping experience with us”. No trolls or viruses here, mate ..
girls upside down
Marketa Luskačová – “Girls upside down”.
Blenheim Crescent, London, 1984, from the series ‘Children in Britain’.
sleep soundly; dream loudly
I was just reminded of this photo I took a while back.
“danielle”
This is so trippy.
©2013 Anthony Cerniello
“I attempted to create a person in order to emulate the aging process. The idea was that something is happening but you can’t see it but you can feel it, like aging itself.”
Still Photographer: Keith Sirchio
Animator: Nathan Meier
Animator: Edmund Earle
Nuke Artist: George Cuddy
Music: Mark Reveley
Find out more about the creative process HERE.
self-portrait, kloof, 18 september 2013
shine on, harvest moon
The Harvest Moon for 2013 falls on 19 September. Each full moon of the twelve months has a folkloric name of its own and that for the month of September is called the “Harvest Moon”. According to NASA, the Harvest Moon gets its name from farmers who relied on the moon and its celestial schedule to harvest their crops. Since most crops ripen in late summer and early autumn, farmers would have to harvest during this time of the year (in the northern hemisphere, this is September, but not in the southern hemisphere).
“In the days before electric lights, farmers depended on bright moonlight to extend the workday beyond sunset,” writes NASA’s Dr. Tony Phillips. “It was the only way they could gather their ripening crops in time for market. The full moon closest to the autumnal equinox became the Harvest Moon, and it was always a welcome sight.”
Info from NASA.
cake hotel!
Cake Hotel – by Tate & Lyle
The world’s first “hotel” made entirely from cake is to welcome guests for one night only with room service in the form of vanilla sponge cushions and a hand-stitched meringue rug. The hotel within a hotel in Soho, central London, is the creation of more than 14 artists who spent 2,000 hours baking and 900 hours decorating with more than 600 kilos of sugar.
Guests will be encouraged to eat their way through windows and walls clad with 2,000 macaroons, a rug made from 1,081 meringues hand-stitched together, 20 kilos of marshmallow garlands, windowsills built entirely from fudge and a bath filled with caramel-coated popcorn.
The bedside table even features edible books.
Read more HERE!
snapshot
Yesterday morning 7.50am. Getting ready for school: mascara sisters
#beyondbinaries: queer and the reconstruction of identity – a photographic exhibition by germaine de larch
“There are more things […] in heaven and earth, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – Shakespeare, Hamlet
These images are an artistic exploration and performance of being and experience beyond binaries. My vision for this project stems from the need to document the queer, carnivalesque space I have excavated for myself that exists beyond the constructs of reality, identity and gender as binaries, dualities and stereotypes. ‘#beyondbinaries: queer and the reconstruction of identity’ is an exploration, through self-portraits and portraits, of the contradictions, multiplicities and fluidity inherent in queer lived experience.
My work is, first and foremost, a vehicle through which I perform the continuing creative reconstruction of my self. It is a way for me to document who I am, who I am becoming, and provides me with a stage upon which to explore my self and my performance of continuously and unendingly recreating and reconstructing my fluid identity and gender identity. It is a stage from which I can share that de- and reconstruction with my audience.
My portraits tell the stories of those who use a similar stage to renegotiate and reconstruct their own identity. My images are a conscious choice to tell my own story and collaboratively tell the stories of my community, my city. My work is thus a collaboration with people and places on a journey of who they are, who are interested in playing with their identities, who want to explore the creative possibilities outside of the binaries, dualities and stereotypes constructed for us.
going to the dogs
Spot the driver, in Observatory, Cape Town – 23 August 2013. Photo: Rosemary Lombard
fleurmach 