Monday, April 28, 2008
Night Diving with Manta Rays
The sunset that night does not spread itself out like a stain across the sky; it does not explode into great symphonies of crimson and mango but remains strangely minimalist, like a Japanese flag, a simple red disk descending beyond the Pacific. Our boat captain signals its primal retreat with the call of a conch shell and on its note we prepare our own descent into the waters below.
On our journey out to this spot, earlier that afternoon, just off the black lava cliffs that edge the Kona airport, a troop of dolphins had raced our hull, breaking away to leap and spin in the air like exclamation points to the anticipation that we all shared staring out over the bow. For we were going out to night dive with manta rays, a major notch on any diver's bedpost; an experience that defied comparison I had been told, that was "of an other world."
From wikipedia:
"Mantas are most commonly black dorsally and white ventrally, but some are blue on their backs. A manta's eyes are located at the base of the cephalic lobes on each side of the head, and unlike other rays the mouth is found at the anterior edge of its head. To respire, like other rays, the manta has five pairs of gills on the underside...Distinctive "horns" (from which the common name Devil ray stems) are on either side of its broad head. These unique structures are actually derived from the pectoral fins. During embryonic development, part of the pectoral fin breaks away and moves forward, surrounding the mouth. This gives the manta ray the distinction of being the only jawed vertebrate to have novel limbs ... These flexible horns are used to direct plankton, small fish and water into the manta's very broad and wide mouth. The manta can curl them to reduce drag while swimming."
We have placed lanterns on the ocean floor within a tight square of rocks. Like a campfire around which 20 of us will swim down to and sit, each with our own torch shining up towards the surface; meanwhile, a handful of snorkelers circle above us, they too baring torches that they shine down, all of this creating a concentrated single column of light amidst the fathoms of black. Into this column swarms plankton, the moths of the deep, tricked into the worship of a false god, they in turn become the evening's sacrifice as we summon our own winged spirits.
And they come, appearing like phantoms from above, like the bat signal over Gotham, soaring in and out of the light and then, suddenly, they are directly in our circle, two rays spanning 8 and 10 feet across swoop down, at times mere inches away, their wide gaping mouths all but swallowing us up along with their microscopic prey. So eerie in the glow of the torches, our campfire ghost stories come alive. And yet they are gentle, nonthreatening, even delicate in the way their hulking bodies navigate the space. At one point the larger of the two begins swimming in grand backward vertical loops, to such an extent that one could almost begin to believe that it was for our benefit.
Our two species make strange bedfellows, and yet there is an amiable exchange between us: an easier night's meal traded up for a glimpse into a different realm; Never has the world seemed more alien to me and yet at the same time never have I felt more aware of its wider plan. To be a stranger in this world and realize that it is not ours. To be the humbled guest in another creature's sphere. And so, with our tanks at half, we bid farewell and kick back out into the jet black depths.
Photos (hopefully) to follow. In the meantime, makai.makai's collection of videos on Flickr does a damn good job of capturing the surreality of the evening. For more info, rates etc. check out Jack's Diving Locker
The sunset that night does not spread itself out like a stain across the sky; it does not explode into great symphonies of crimson and mango but remains strangely minimalist, like a Japanese flag, a simple red disk descending beyond the Pacific. Our boat captain signals its primal retreat with the call of a conch shell and on its note we prepare our own descent into the waters below.
On our journey out to this spot, earlier that afternoon, just off the black lava cliffs that edge the Kona airport, a troop of dolphins had raced our hull, breaking away to leap and spin in the air like exclamation points to the anticipation that we all shared staring out over the bow. For we were going out to night dive with manta rays, a major notch on any diver's bedpost; an experience that defied comparison I had been told, that was "of an other world."
From wikipedia:
"Mantas are most commonly black dorsally and white ventrally, but some are blue on their backs. A manta's eyes are located at the base of the cephalic lobes on each side of the head, and unlike other rays the mouth is found at the anterior edge of its head. To respire, like other rays, the manta has five pairs of gills on the underside...Distinctive "horns" (from which the common name Devil ray stems) are on either side of its broad head. These unique structures are actually derived from the pectoral fins. During embryonic development, part of the pectoral fin breaks away and moves forward, surrounding the mouth. This gives the manta ray the distinction of being the only jawed vertebrate to have novel limbs ... These flexible horns are used to direct plankton, small fish and water into the manta's very broad and wide mouth. The manta can curl them to reduce drag while swimming."
We have placed lanterns on the ocean floor within a tight square of rocks. Like a campfire around which 20 of us will swim down to and sit, each with our own torch shining up towards the surface; meanwhile, a handful of snorkelers circle above us, they too baring torches that they shine down, all of this creating a concentrated single column of light amidst the fathoms of black. Into this column swarms plankton, the moths of the deep, tricked into the worship of a false god, they in turn become the evening's sacrifice as we summon our own winged spirits.
And they come, appearing like phantoms from above, like the bat signal over Gotham, soaring in and out of the light and then, suddenly, they are directly in our circle, two rays spanning 8 and 10 feet across swoop down, at times mere inches away, their wide gaping mouths all but swallowing us up along with their microscopic prey. So eerie in the glow of the torches, our campfire ghost stories come alive. And yet they are gentle, nonthreatening, even delicate in the way their hulking bodies navigate the space. At one point the larger of the two begins swimming in grand backward vertical loops, to such an extent that one could almost begin to believe that it was for our benefit.
Our two species make strange bedfellows, and yet there is an amiable exchange between us: an easier night's meal traded up for a glimpse into a different realm; Never has the world seemed more alien to me and yet at the same time never have I felt more aware of its wider plan. To be a stranger in this world and realize that it is not ours. To be the humbled guest in another creature's sphere. And so, with our tanks at half, we bid farewell and kick back out into the jet black depths.
Photos (hopefully) to follow. In the meantime, makai.makai's collection of videos on Flickr does a damn good job of capturing the surreality of the evening. For more info, rates etc. check out Jack's Diving Locker
Labels: Diving, Travel, World at Large
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
As It Happened..
From the Digital Collection Project at Interactive Publishing:
"This collection of screen shots from over 250 news sites around the world was taken on Sep 11 and 12, 2001. We hope the archive will serve the education of the online news industry and further its quality. Our logs tell us that it also has helped historians, researchers, students, teachers, journalists and many others."
From the Digital Collection Project at Interactive Publishing:
"This collection of screen shots from over 250 news sites around the world was taken on Sep 11 and 12, 2001. We hope the archive will serve the education of the online news industry and further its quality. Our logs tell us that it also has helped historians, researchers, students, teachers, journalists and many others."
Labels: World at Large
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Hyena Men
I stumbled upon the above image while researching a project that I am currently working on for a youth organization based out of Rwanda (Note: the above image is not in the least related to or suggestive of the direction that I am going on that project. Think complete 180°). I guess Boing Boing threw this photo into the blog feedpen a couple of years back causing a bit of a frenzy and inciting a number of very wrongly assumed explanations for why this man is standing in the middle of the street with a chained up hyena for a pet (a particular favourite caption was that he is a debt collector; another alluded to undisputed "badassitude").
The photograph is one in a series by Pieter Hugo called The Hyena Men of Nigeria. Turns out that the subject is a member of a group of entertainers from Nigeria, who travel across the country with three hyenas, two pythons and four monkeys. As innocent as that sounds (well, more innocent than the debt collector scenario at any rate) I can't get over the apocalyptic vision that is composed in these shots. Totally surreal.
Other work by Hugo can be found here.
I stumbled upon the above image while researching a project that I am currently working on for a youth organization based out of Rwanda (Note: the above image is not in the least related to or suggestive of the direction that I am going on that project. Think complete 180°). I guess Boing Boing threw this photo into the blog feedpen a couple of years back causing a bit of a frenzy and inciting a number of very wrongly assumed explanations for why this man is standing in the middle of the street with a chained up hyena for a pet (a particular favourite caption was that he is a debt collector; another alluded to undisputed "badassitude").
The photograph is one in a series by Pieter Hugo called The Hyena Men of Nigeria. Turns out that the subject is a member of a group of entertainers from Nigeria, who travel across the country with three hyenas, two pythons and four monkeys. As innocent as that sounds (well, more innocent than the debt collector scenario at any rate) I can't get over the apocalyptic vision that is composed in these shots. Totally surreal.
Other work by Hugo can be found here.
Labels: Photography, World at Large
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
A Field Guide to Military Urbanism
A current favourite online visit, Bryan Finoki's Subtopia is a discourse on military urbanism, the architecture of occupation and oppression, and the overarching question of why we, as humans, have it in our nature to build walls between ourselves.
To give you an idea of the subject matter, a recent entry features Jonathan Olley's stark, haunting photos of Northern Ireland's police stations, barracks and watchtowers; structures from a troubled past that are quickly disappearing to progress; to be too readily forgotten rather than stand as a reminder/memorial of how very wrong the world can sometimes turn.
Finoki writes:
"While [these] photos are evidence of a distinctly terrorized Irish landscape the more frightening truth about them for me is that they could almost be, in so many regards, the filmic traces of any number of places around the world today.
If we were just to focus on the brutish walls and violent features of defensive accouterment, it wouldn't be that inconceivable to mistake N. Ireland for, say, parts of Jerusalem or Gaza, or even Johannesburg, maybe downtown Manilla for that matter - possibly a neighborhood in central Egypt or Lebanon; conflicted places which are facing some of their own most cruel histories with political walls and entangled battle urbanism still today."
A current favourite online visit, Bryan Finoki's Subtopia is a discourse on military urbanism, the architecture of occupation and oppression, and the overarching question of why we, as humans, have it in our nature to build walls between ourselves.
To give you an idea of the subject matter, a recent entry features Jonathan Olley's stark, haunting photos of Northern Ireland's police stations, barracks and watchtowers; structures from a troubled past that are quickly disappearing to progress; to be too readily forgotten rather than stand as a reminder/memorial of how very wrong the world can sometimes turn.
Finoki writes:
"While [these] photos are evidence of a distinctly terrorized Irish landscape the more frightening truth about them for me is that they could almost be, in so many regards, the filmic traces of any number of places around the world today.
If we were just to focus on the brutish walls and violent features of defensive accouterment, it wouldn't be that inconceivable to mistake N. Ireland for, say, parts of Jerusalem or Gaza, or even Johannesburg, maybe downtown Manilla for that matter - possibly a neighborhood in central Egypt or Lebanon; conflicted places which are facing some of their own most cruel histories with political walls and entangled battle urbanism still today."
Labels: Architecture, Photography, World at Large
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Signs of Our Time
"The first video news I watched on a cellphone was a smoke signal. I saw it in the back of a cab. The Pope had died, and CNN had its cameras trained on the chimney over St. Peter’s Square. Viewers were told to expect white smoke when the cardinals had elected his replacement.
The sight of this primitive signal on a screen the size of a Saltine in a taxi in New York City was mind-blowing. I peered into the machine in my hand. I could make out the image. I could understand it. It needed no translation."
– Virginia Hefferman, Screens
The sight of this primitive signal on a screen the size of a Saltine in a taxi in New York City was mind-blowing. I peered into the machine in my hand. I could make out the image. I could understand it. It needed no translation."
– Virginia Hefferman, Screens
Labels: NY Times, Signs of Our Time, World at Large, YouTube
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Somebody is trying to tell you something
Can inspiration occur after the fact? Yesterday's post, the first in a new series entitled "Art I Pass By On My Way To Work" could very well have been born from a website that I stumbled upon today. Written On The City, a project by the troublemakers over at Language In Common "celebrates the conversation that's happening on the walls and sidewalks of the places we live."
Can inspiration occur after the fact? Yesterday's post, the first in a new series entitled "Art I Pass By On My Way To Work" could very well have been born from a website that I stumbled upon today. Written On The City, a project by the troublemakers over at Language In Common "celebrates the conversation that's happening on the walls and sidewalks of the places we live."
Labels: Art, Art-I-Pass-By, Street Level, World at Large
Monday, February 26, 2007
What Barry Says
Expressing similar sentiments and political slant to Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, check out the beautifully realized, infographic-inspired piece on America's involvement in Iraq, What Barry Says by Knife Party.
Expressing similar sentiments and political slant to Eugene Jarecki's Why We Fight, check out the beautifully realized, infographic-inspired piece on America's involvement in Iraq, What Barry Says by Knife Party.
Labels: Animation, Design Can Change the World, World at Large
Monday, February 05, 2007
Edge of Chaos
As a followup to yesterday's entry:
"Functional visualizations are more than innovative statistical analyses and computational algorithms. They must make sense to the user and require a visual language system that uses colour, shape, line, hierarchy and composition to communicate clearly and appropriately, much like the alphabetic and character-based languages used worldwide between humans."
Matt Woolman
Digital Information Graphics
As a followup to yesterday's entry:
"Functional visualizations are more than innovative statistical analyses and computational algorithms. They must make sense to the user and require a visual language system that uses colour, shape, line, hierarchy and composition to communicate clearly and appropriately, much like the alphabetic and character-based languages used worldwide between humans."
Matt Woolman
Digital Information Graphics
Labels: Design, Design Can Change the World, Edge of Chaos, World at Large
Sunday, February 04, 2007
31 Days in Iraq
From this morning's New York Times, graphic designer Alicia Cheng's gut-churning visual depiction of the reported 1900+ deaths in Iraq during the first month of 2007, a toll that has markedly increased from 800 in January 2006.
From this morning's New York Times, graphic designer Alicia Cheng's gut-churning visual depiction of the reported 1900+ deaths in Iraq during the first month of 2007, a toll that has markedly increased from 800 in January 2006.
Labels: Design Can Change the World, NY Times, World at Large
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Look Again
As a follow up to last week's post on the Whole Earth Campaign it seems that at this rather crucial juncture in the relationship between ourselves and our planet, we are again being encouraged to observe, contemplate and allow ourselves to be overcome by the profound image of the Earth from outer space.
As a follow up to last week's post on the Whole Earth Campaign it seems that at this rather crucial juncture in the relationship between ourselves and our planet, we are again being encouraged to observe, contemplate and allow ourselves to be overcome by the profound image of the Earth from outer space.
Labels: Photography, World at Large
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Before The World Was Whole
"It was one month after the Trips Festival at Longshoreman’s Hall when the “whole earth” in The Whole Earth Catalog came to me with the help of one hundred micrograms of lysergic acid diethylamide. I was sitting on a gravelly roof in San Francisco’s North Beach. It was February 1966. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters were waning toward Mexico. I was twenty-eight...
"...The buildings were not parallel—because the earth curved under them, and me, and all of us; it closed on itself. I remembered that Buckminster Fuller had been harping on this at a recent lecture—that people perceived the earth as flat and infinite, and that was the root of all their misbehavior. Now from my altitude of three stories and one hundred mikes, I could see that it was curved, think it, and finally feel it."
-Stewart Brand
"It was one month after the Trips Festival at Longshoreman’s Hall when the “whole earth” in The Whole Earth Catalog came to me with the help of one hundred micrograms of lysergic acid diethylamide. I was sitting on a gravelly roof in San Francisco’s North Beach. It was February 1966. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters were waning toward Mexico. I was twenty-eight...
"...The buildings were not parallel—because the earth curved under them, and me, and all of us; it closed on itself. I remembered that Buckminster Fuller had been harping on this at a recent lecture—that people perceived the earth as flat and infinite, and that was the root of all their misbehavior. Now from my altitude of three stories and one hundred mikes, I could see that it was curved, think it, and finally feel it."
-Stewart Brand
Labels: Design Can Change the World, Sixties, World at Large
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Ox Project
My wife Jane and I launched The Ox Project today, a holiday fund raiser with the goal of purchasing 2 oxen and a plow for the Kenyan village of Kanyawegi.
My wife Jane and I launched The Ox Project today, a holiday fund raiser with the goal of purchasing 2 oxen and a plow for the Kenyan village of Kanyawegi.
Labels: Design Can Change the World, World at Large
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
No Ritual Can Heal
Currently showing at the Met and corresponding with a book of the same name, Robert Polidori's New Orleans After the Flood: Photographs hauntingly documents the post-Katrina devastation of the once Big Easy. With the same passion that affected his photographic essay on Chernobyl in 2001, Polidori once again succeeds in capturing the magnitude of loss and human folly in each frame.
For more info check out John Updike's review of After the Flood in the New York Times Review of Books.
Currently showing at the Met and corresponding with a book of the same name, Robert Polidori's New Orleans After the Flood: Photographs hauntingly documents the post-Katrina devastation of the once Big Easy. With the same passion that affected his photographic essay on Chernobyl in 2001, Polidori once again succeeds in capturing the magnitude of loss and human folly in each frame.
For more info check out John Updike's review of After the Flood in the New York Times Review of Books.
Labels: Art, Disasters, Photography, World at Large
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Link Trolling: Brazil
From Diplo's Mad Decent Worldwide Radio: "its crazy here in Rio.. guns go missing and police go to war with poor people and then i get kicked out of my apt and i got no internet access.. but heres a random mix."
It was Diplo's show with Brazilian acts, Cansei de Ser Sexy (who win the title of Dance Hit of the Summer with the brilliant "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above") and Bonde do Role a few weeks ago at Celebrities here in Vancouver that first made me take notice and begin to wonder "what the heck is going on in Brazil?" The energy from both of these bands was raw and unrefined. These were acts that would never have seen the outside of the Brazilian club scene if it weren't for MySpace.com and the endorsement of a worldclass dj like Diplo who, it seems has made Rio his second home.
Another discovery via Diplo that churned up while surfing the net this evening: the work of Leandro HBL, a director, photographer, designer etc. who did some time at Fabrica. Great, great work.
The next stop on my journey, an old favorite: the fantastic art of Alexandre Orion, which combines street art and photography to create often comic and poignant stories. This led me to consult a source who knows far better than me of other instances of Brazilian street art which ultimately brought an end to my surf as I settled in with this enchanting video entitled "Brilliant Tyger".
Whew! So the answer to "What the heck is going on in Brazil?", it would seem a whole heck of a lot!
From Diplo's Mad Decent Worldwide Radio: "its crazy here in Rio.. guns go missing and police go to war with poor people and then i get kicked out of my apt and i got no internet access.. but heres a random mix."
It was Diplo's show with Brazilian acts, Cansei de Ser Sexy (who win the title of Dance Hit of the Summer with the brilliant "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above") and Bonde do Role a few weeks ago at Celebrities here in Vancouver that first made me take notice and begin to wonder "what the heck is going on in Brazil?" The energy from both of these bands was raw and unrefined. These were acts that would never have seen the outside of the Brazilian club scene if it weren't for MySpace.com and the endorsement of a worldclass dj like Diplo who, it seems has made Rio his second home.
Another discovery via Diplo that churned up while surfing the net this evening: the work of Leandro HBL, a director, photographer, designer etc. who did some time at Fabrica. Great, great work.
The next stop on my journey, an old favorite: the fantastic art of Alexandre Orion, which combines street art and photography to create often comic and poignant stories. This led me to consult a source who knows far better than me of other instances of Brazilian street art which ultimately brought an end to my surf as I settled in with this enchanting video entitled "Brilliant Tyger".
Whew! So the answer to "What the heck is going on in Brazil?", it would seem a whole heck of a lot!
Labels: Design, Music, Photography, Podcast, Street Level, World at Large
Monday, August 28, 2006
Tokyo Hectic
This video, found over on William Gibson's blog this morning made me immediately nostalgic for my old Tokyo 'hood.
This video, found over on William Gibson's blog this morning made me immediately nostalgic for my old Tokyo 'hood.
Labels: Asia, Japan, Tuned to a Dead Channel, World at Large, YouTube
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Crucial Viewing: Why We Fight
"[The] conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
These cautionary and prophetic words from Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Speech as President of the United States on January 17, 1961 serve as the starting point for Eugene Jarecki's powerful exploration of the American Military Industrial Complex in Why We Fight. As we learn, the answer to this question is convoluted, misguided and never easy; but rarely does it seem to be for the right reasons.
"[The] conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
These cautionary and prophetic words from Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Speech as President of the United States on January 17, 1961 serve as the starting point for Eugene Jarecki's powerful exploration of the American Military Industrial Complex in Why We Fight. As we learn, the answer to this question is convoluted, misguided and never easy; but rarely does it seem to be for the right reasons.
Labels: Crucial Viewing, Film, World at Large
Monday, March 13, 2006
Edward Burtynsky's China
My own personal experience has taught me that China is a force to be reckoned with. As it careens forth into this century - a century that most have already conceded that it will dominate - gaining momentum at every turn, one is left to ponder how anyone is going to keep a hold of the reigns.
Edward's Burtynsky's photographs, recently compiled in the book Burtynsky - China, document the harsher side of this burgeoning rise and provide a rare glimpse into the hefty price of progress.
My own personal experience has taught me that China is a force to be reckoned with. As it careens forth into this century - a century that most have already conceded that it will dominate - gaining momentum at every turn, one is left to ponder how anyone is going to keep a hold of the reigns.
Edward's Burtynsky's photographs, recently compiled in the book Burtynsky - China, document the harsher side of this burgeoning rise and provide a rare glimpse into the hefty price of progress.
Labels: Asia, Photography, World at Large
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Innocence Lost
One of my wife's colleagues, who is working as a teacher in Dubai stumbled upon this image in a 1972 British text book entitled "America". He writes, "When I first saw the picture I almost dropped the book in disbelief. One of my students, after seeing the publication date, said: 'How teacher? Is it magic?'".
Not magic, but it is amazing how such an innocent watercolour illustration could inherit so much horror and historical importance to turn it at once into a globally understood icon.
One of my wife's colleagues, who is working as a teacher in Dubai stumbled upon this image in a 1972 British text book entitled "America". He writes, "When I first saw the picture I almost dropped the book in disbelief. One of my students, after seeing the publication date, said: 'How teacher? Is it magic?'".
Not magic, but it is amazing how such an innocent watercolour illustration could inherit so much horror and historical importance to turn it at once into a globally understood icon.
Labels: Art, World at Large
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Left Behind
There is something eerily resounding in the utter silence of abandoned buildings. No longer with purpose, emptied of their human charge, they stand as physical prophecies to the conquest of time and the inevitable reinstatement of nature.
Check out these spectacular images of Abandoned Japan (via the Skinny). And if you are left wanting more there is a very comprehensive listing of similar urban skeletons at Ruins and Urban Exploration.
There is something eerily resounding in the utter silence of abandoned buildings. No longer with purpose, emptied of their human charge, they stand as physical prophecies to the conquest of time and the inevitable reinstatement of nature.
Check out these spectacular images of Abandoned Japan (via the Skinny). And if you are left wanting more there is a very comprehensive listing of similar urban skeletons at Ruins and Urban Exploration.
Labels: Art, Disasters, Japan, Photography, World at Large
Friday, September 16, 2005
Returning to Asia
We are in the final hours before our flight to Beijing. Plans to blog while on the trip are foggy at best. I may try to fire off a few quick impressions of the digital skylines and cybernetic crowds but I will have to see how it all plays out. As a last blog entry, I leave you with photographer Michael Wolf's website, a series of photographs and collected posters that best represent the contents of my dreams over these last days before my imminent departure. Mata ne.
We are in the final hours before our flight to Beijing. Plans to blog while on the trip are foggy at best. I may try to fire off a few quick impressions of the digital skylines and cybernetic crowds but I will have to see how it all plays out. As a last blog entry, I leave you with photographer Michael Wolf's website, a series of photographs and collected posters that best represent the contents of my dreams over these last days before my imminent departure. Mata ne.
Labels: Asia, Travel, World at Large
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Steve Mumford: Combat Artist
In the era of videophone war journalism, it seems implausible to find someone like Steve Mumford who chose to cover the U.S. occupation of Iraq with sketch book and canvas. Following in the tradition of Winslow Homer, who illustrated scenes from the American Civil War for Harper's Weekly, Mumford's paintings often capture a deeper reality and an added dimension of humanity that the click of a camera shutter cannot portray.
Having returned to New York after over 10 months in the heart of the action, Mumford's work is now on display in the "Greater New York" show at the P.S.1 museum through September.
In the era of videophone war journalism, it seems implausible to find someone like Steve Mumford who chose to cover the U.S. occupation of Iraq with sketch book and canvas. Following in the tradition of Winslow Homer, who illustrated scenes from the American Civil War for Harper's Weekly, Mumford's paintings often capture a deeper reality and an added dimension of humanity that the click of a camera shutter cannot portray.
Having returned to New York after over 10 months in the heart of the action, Mumford's work is now on display in the "Greater New York" show at the P.S.1 museum through September.
Labels: Art, World at Large
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Top of the World
Looking like a gnat considering an elephant's shoulder, Didier Delsalle makes history as the first person to land a helicopter on top of Everest.
Looking like a gnat considering an elephant's shoulder, Didier Delsalle makes history as the first person to land a helicopter on top of Everest.
Labels: World at Large
