camera, sand and calligraphy

South African calligrapher, Andrew van der Merwe carves letters in the sand. He then uses digital photography to enhance his designs that are inspired by African writing systems. His art not only introduces a new canvas but showcases a double art; calligraphy plus photograhy using a Nikon D700 with a 14-24mm G lens to take in both the beach and the sky.

janjaweed

Bashir's presence at our promulgation yesterday prompted me to make a reminder of the war crimes he committed in Darfur. The Guardian published a photo gallery of Sudan in March 2009 which included the following image.

I was then reminded that I had actually seen this representation in the drawings by children refugees, posted on Human Rights Watch. The likeness is chilling.


Caption reads: drawing by Ala, Age 13
Like many other children, Ala witnessed conflict between rebel groups and the Janjaweed. This drawing depicts a rebel soldier first shot in the arm, then executed by gunshots to the groin. Ali, a teacher in a refugee camp, said the rebels are killed this way to emasculate them. "They [the Janjaweed] know what they are doing," he said. "They are doing it with purpose."

Little Knowledge is Dangerous

Little Knowledge (2008), by Adede Hawi, Samora Michelle, Karama Ogova is an ironic take of (little) knowledge effecting itself as ignorance. Produced by ComMattersKenya at the 2nd Lola Kenya Screen production workshop, it epitomises the potential costs of ignorance. It is not enough to know a little, it moralises. That little may just jeopardise instead of help you, as Jenga, Juha and Mweho find out to their peril.

Genre: Children's Film/ short

S and M

I dreamt there was a club of members who were paid to do s and m and they were complaining about how little they were being paid. And when I awoke I remembered a documentary I watched entitled, Pleasure for Sale (2008), about prostitutes in a legal brothel, nicknamed the Chicken Ranch in Nevada.

The approach is sympathetic, intimate and revealing, telling the stories of new and veteran, broken or comfortable working women in the ranch.

Chyna's inner conflict strikes me in particular as she tries to reconcile her dignity and autonomy with the extremes of her trade. It explores perhaps the oldest of conflicts; whether in destroying ourselves, we are at our most free. Chyna allows herself to be spanked so hard she can't sit, she hangs herself by the skin of her back to a hook and justifies the experience with reclaiming herself. Retaliating from having been gang raped does she reclaim herself by going the furthest she can in self-punishment/experiment? Or is it all a loss if the most part of it is attributable to the rape at all?

Angelina Jolie in an interview on the Actor's Studio said this about self-destruction. That never again would she think of it after having seen so much of the suffering in the world. "I thought I knew pain."

I think this is always the simplest of remedies when faced with the option of self-destruction; to see a life more wrecked, a life more bleak.

Genre: documentary
Directors: Harry and Joe Gantz

[For a film treatise of sado-masochism, watch Ma Mere (2004)]

omo faces

Art can live and die on the stage. Art can live and die with the paint on our skins instead of canvasses. Witness the living art of the Omo people in Hans Silvester's book; Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa (2009) available on Amazon.com.

heroines

there continues to appear this sassy girl, especially in asian (bollywood and korean) movies. and so we begin to wonder if she is indeed the ideal girl. for doesn't art reflect life? or at least heroins reflect our aspirations in life.

she is often pitted against the conservative girl and the hero usually struggles with choosing whomever is the better option.

who is the better option? amber from 'house' says she had to choose between love and respect. is this 'love' that we seek something at the cost of our better well-being? is it so rare for the two to co-exist?

i think on this because it is again a narrow description of women. we are either 'sassy' or 'conservative'. even cartoonists have a smaller remit of female characters and the obvious ones are the femme fatale, old lady and girl.

so if we were to be drawn differently, how would we draw ourselves? and what would that cost us?

To Betray

be·tray

tr.v. be·trayed, be·tray·ing, be·trays

1.

a. To give aid or information to an enemy of; commit treason against: betray one's country.

b. To deliver into the hands of an enemy in violation of a trust or allegiance: betrayed Christ to the Romans.

2. To be false or disloyal to: betrayed their cause; betray one's better nature.

3. To divulge in a breach of confidence: betray a secret.

4. To make known unintentionally: Her hollow laugh betrayed her contempt for the idea.

5. To reveal against one's desire or will.

6. To lead astray; deceive. See Synonyms at deceive.

---

[Middle English bitrayen : bi-, be- + trayen, to betray (from Old French trair, from Latin tradere, to hand over; see tradition).]

[The American Heritage Dictionary 2009]

I thought that if I posted several definitions of 'to betray', I would be satisfied by their descriptions. I would feel like someone had adequately addressed my suffering. But perhaps the act is so far past me that the sting of a memory is no sting at all and therefore cannot be matched by any dictionary's definition.

What would be my own definition? Simply; To deceive, under the guise of love.

Because deception can come in so many ways and is inherently against one's will or knowledge.Why do we betray? Because we don't love enough?

The Tango Lesson

Sadly, I missed the screening of The Tango Lesson (1997) at the Italian Cultural Centre last night but reviews suggest that it's one movie not to be missed!

"Most dances are for people who are falling in love. The tango is a dance for those who have survived it, and are still a little angry about having their hearts so mishandled. The Tango Lesson is a movie for people who understand that difference." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, Dec 19, 1997.

Genre: drama, dance
Director: Sally Potter
Starring: Sally Potter, Pablo Veron

Somi

Somi performs at Kifaru, Kanjata road off James Gichuru, Lavington at 21:00 tonight. New African jazz and soul!!

ink me

I like ink. I even like scarring. I consider them art. But preferably more than just art; identity, (heritage and culture) too.

It's funny to think of how they progressed from something more true to something more commercial, mass market and cheap.

I don't have a tattoo myself but if I did, everything about it, would say; me.

The Other Wes Moore

So do you think that we are products of our environment?
Actually I think we are products of our expectations.

Haunted by their sharing a name and similar if not the same beginnings, Wes Moore, the author, youth advocate and decorated war veteran, meets Wes Moore, the convicted felon serving life in prison.

Both were of the same age, both grew up in the same part of town, both were raised by single mums and both struggled with rebellion.

Only, one found his purpose in military school and the other ended up being convicted of murder in a botched robbery attempt.

The book is marketed as One Name, Two Fates. Wes, the author says that the chilling truth is that his life could've been mine. And the tragedy is my life could have been his.

What is the one thing that made the difference? asks a BBC correspondent in an interview.

There was no one thing, he replies, there was a collection of things;
1. I understood the importance of education, family, role models and mentors, people who stepped up in my life,
2. Some small decisions, some small interventions. There really is little that separates us from another life altogether

If people's expectations of you are so low as to what you're going to accomplish. You're not going to accomplish much. Also there's a difference with the way you deal with not having a father. Mine lived in the same block and didn't want to know me.

Whereas Wes Moore, the author's father died when Wes was only three of a rare disease.

The book allows us to ask ourselves an important question; What decisions and interventions separate us from another life? How are the decisions we make right now shaping the life we live? Stop and witness with this book how two lives could have diverged so far.

I wrote the book to understand our destinies and to explore larger more urgent questions about opportunity and fate, individual choice and priorities as a society.

Visit Wes Moore's site to find out about how we can mentor young men to make the right decisions. And then act on it closer to home, with the brothers, cousins, sisters and friends we have.