SeBiArt's Creative Life Journey

Hail A Wall of Accountability

2012-01-22T23:41:00.000-05:00

This from MOVEON.org:

"How we can hold Wall Street accountable

Reports are out that within the next 24 hours, President Obama
could make the call on whether to hold Wall Street accountable and open an
investigation into the banks' role in the housing crisis, or agree to a
sweetheart deal that lets them off the hook.

The greed and fraud of Wall Street banks caused the loss of millions of homes and billions of dollars in the housing crash. 

Now we need President Obama to take a strong stance for homeowners, and for accountability, by opening a federal investigation into big bank fraud.

This is something the president can do on his own right now, without fighting Congress. And millions of Americans can be helped if banks are held responsible and forced to compensate homeowners for their wrongdoing. 

A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to President Obama."

How do you feel about the idea of signing a petition to urge Obama to move forward with an investigation of Wall Street Bankers?  I feel alright about that actually.  I mean if memory serves, he's been cussin' about them since his Senator days right?  Long before the now worldwide OCCUPY WALL STREET movement.  So...now it's time for action yah?

If you feel apathetic about it - let recent results of the riZe of the people encourage you.  What you do or say, sign your name to, or act on has real effect and that's no rhetoric.  All you need to do is look at the recent SOPA and PIPA squash, done by the people and for the people, to understand where the power of your voice lies.  Need more - read this article from Mike Lux of the Huffington Post to excite you a bit more:  Shaking Their Windows and Rattling Their Walls - it's awfully inspiring:

"As Bob Dylan would put it, the times they are a-changin'. There's a storm outside and it's raging, baby. We really are shaking their windows and rattling their walls. Done deals are not getting done. Dead appointments are acting like Lazarus and rising from the dead. The establishment is getting very, very nervous. And grassroots activists, from the occupiers to the netroots to those chaining themselves to the White House fence or sitting in at the Wisconsin Capitol last year, are shaking and rattling things all over."

                      As he also notes in his article, Obama would be wise to align himself with the grassroots movement - I say REALIGN as lest we forget it is from whence he came.  It's time to stop the bullshit.  24 hours folks.  
 

ACT, to make our leaders ACT.  Here's the link if you feel inclined to get a real investigation going on this 'recession' matter:  

Move On Petition LINK: http://pol.moveon.org/bankfraud/?r_by=&rc=pac_bankfraud.email.g0

Extra Reading Class :)

-Constitutional Amendment Not Needed: Congress Already Has a Remedy

-President Carter on the Supreme Court's decision to legalize private funding for political campaigning,"It's legalized bribery"

*Photos from Occupy Denver 2011

RELATED JOURNEY POSTS:

->The e-Con Highway (Nov 2010)

Adopted Yank and iPad Published

2012-01-04T14:44:00.000-05:00

Two quick bits of change folks:

1)  I'm officially a Yankee -  I was adopted by the United States of America as of Dec 13, 2011 at 10:20 hours.  Should be interesting coming up with a new acronym of identity now along with all the other nations I claim - haha!!  JABAG??? 

2)  Some of you may have heard already,  but here it is again, I have a new article featured in an iPad App Magazine, Small Talk.   

I was commissioned to write a feature length article on Fuerza Bruta in the late fall for their 4 year anniversary, complete with photos and video, titled:  The Spirit Dreams When You Look Up.   

that's my shot from Fuerza Bruta on the iTunes page! YeeHAW!

So if you have an iPad, ...which funny enough I don't...lol - please check it out by either purchasing the current issue (only $2.99!!), OR, just subscribing for the year on iTunes (just $19.99).   It's a great mag covering arts, entertainment, and culture world wide and I will be working with them on upcoming issues, so hop on it!  

Direct Link: Small Talk Magazine on iTunes

A Year of Collective Paradigm Shifts: Mind, World Body, and Soul...

2011-12-31T12:23:00.000-05:00

I am grateful to be ringing in the New Year in a place where I am afforded a couple extra hours to reflect. As we cross the threshold of 2011 to 2012, there are a few feelings about this shift - the most popular being: GOOD RIDDANCE! I will second that; but I also give big thanks.

This life is a fascinating journey, and as many of you have come to know, is the main focus of this blog. Though this year marked the end of my 'sabbatical' that I went on about for a couple of years, it ended up being one of the most dense to date. So personal, painful, joyful, and intense were the paradigm shifts that I often felt too overwhelmed by the experiences to even blog about it - hence the significant lack of soulful and investigative posts this year.

I met and connected with scores of new souls, each of whom touched and moved and lifted me in ways I can scarcely recall in years past. I think it had much to do with being more open myself. When terrifying events in life come to test our characters, or the resilience of our hearts, it's truly the tribes we have formed around us that keep us reaching higher. And this year was high. If there was any moment to question the oddity of serendipitous or seemingly coincidentally unlucky events, all one had to do was truly listen to the tale of another, or turn on the BBC news to truly feel connected to something bigger. I can't remember any time of worldwide uproars such as what we witnessed this year - so much so that TIME magazine name The Protestor the person of the year! To feel this connection is to be charged by it, whatever the circumstances or prior held convictions. The pulse of our world this year insisted on truth, equality, openness, second chances; it demanded a rebirth of ONE spirit, in friendships, business alliances, communities, and nations.

As I prepare to look back while stepping forward, I will set my focus on the very long list of things I have to be grateful for this year; my new friendships and the evolution of old ones, my accomplishments with my creative work, my freedom to travel, and my deeper understanding and connection with my family. And all this despite the very real and frightening challenges I faced regarding all of the above since Jan 1st, 2011.

Perhaps the thing I am most grateful for is in ending the year in integrity. I have no hang ups about how I have related to the world - and I can't truly say that about any other year. I got comfortable enough in my humanity this year to be myself, to stand my ground, and to offer understanding, patience, truth, and love, where ever and whenever I could - and I'm incapable of accounting for the worth of such a gift.

I've always been one to insist on focusing on gratitude - as it's the only way to see what you have to work with rather than to live in lack. It's the only way you will feel abundant enough to help someone else. It is the only way you will feel whole enough to forgive others, or to offer true understanding and compassion. True gratitude will keep fear away, and keep you honest. It's the only way to love your life, to love yourself, and to love your fellow human - who is just as challenged in navigating this journey as you are.

Happy New Year folks - May you cross into 2012 with an open heart charged with courage to soar ever higher. Know what you deserve, and dare to manifest it all, and do it with love.

Next SeBiArt Show in Miami + first time Art Basel Visit

2011-11-24T14:14:00.000-05:00

First to my US of A readers:

...and be careful on Black Friday guys - I somehow doubt all those deals are real...or will remain real after 6am. Like I heard someone say - those shopping 'deals' will be around next week too, so if you have the day off, sleep in. Shop later. Hahaha!

Okay folks - so here it is - news of the next. I'm so excited; so stressed; so overwhelmed with gratitude. And so UNDER the PRESSURE to kick ass at this show people!! I've never been to Art Basel Miami Beach week and I'm pleased to announce that thanks to my beloved Art for Progress, I will have my first experience as an exhibited artist. AFP is presenting 15 of their artists at the Fountain Arts Fair during Basel week from Dec 1st - 4th.


white box frame for the pieces - sample for Herman

In preparing for this show, I've been tested in every exercise of faith, and come through victoriously with unquantifiable and indefatigable support from a number of people. First off my patrons* who made donations to this effort thereby enabling me to meet the cost of participating in the show. And to my family - wow do I come from a seriously supportive family.

I decided to support the local economy of my beloved Jamaica by having the pieces printed by master Jamaican photogs Franz Marzouca and Jeremy Francis, and to have them framed by Herman van Asbroek of Amaicraft (both located in The Trade Center, Red Hills Rd, Kingston, Jamaica). These guys have handled my work superbly for previous shows, and since I was doing this essentially in the dark (from New York), it just made sense that I do so with familiar guides. And no matter the preparatory choices for this, shipping my art was an unavoidable part of the process - perhaps the most frightening part of all. I just confirmed today however that the pieces arrived safely. YeeeeHAW!!! Thanks Bernadine, Marjorie, and Carmalita!

After 3 weeks of fundraising, frantic emails, phone calls, and panic attacks - it's all come together and I can finally breathe. Two pieces chosen for the show are from my series you've heard and seen bits about over the past year, BRANDED ...therefore I AM. I finally finished it in Denver's Civic Center Park this summer with a portrait of budding young illustration artist, Hans DeHaas (seen below on the show postcard[click for larger view]). I also have to send out appreciative words to all who participated as models and assistants in this project. I hope to name every single one of you when I blog next year about the solo baby!! Hear that Mother Universe. Manifest. In'sha Allah.

SOoooo...pleeeeeez spread the word on this guys, whether you can attend or not. According to The Economist,the Fountain Art Fair is "The way an art fair should be". So if you will happen to be in Miami from Dec 1st thru 4th, or know anyone down there (particularly collectors!! hee hee) - come one and all and support the AFP artists!!

AFP Artists at Fountain Art Fair: Sol Kjøk | Berette Macaulay | Juan Manuel Pajares

The Miami Art Week breakdown and Fountain Art Fair sweet talk from ARTSLANT - SO excited!

FREE iPAD app for the Fountain Art Fair - how cool is that??!!! Download HERE

Exhibition Location:

FOUNTAIN ART FAIR
2505 North Miami Ave
Miami, FL 33137

Exhibition Schedule:

Thursday, December 1

12pm - 5pm

VIP/Press Preview

Friday, December 2

12pm – 7pm

Open to the public

7pm - midnight

Opening Reception with curated music program

Saturday, December 3

12pm - 7pm

Open to the public

Saturday, December 3

7pm – midnight

Party with curated music program

Sunday, December 4

12pm - 5pm

Open to the public

*A special word of thanks to my patrons without whom my part in the Fountain Arts Fair SERIOUSLY would have been impossible.  Thank you for supporting me and my ability to show my art.  You have instilled great confidence in me to keep creating and sharing my work by validating me with your fiscal assistance.  It sure does feel good to be a funded creative.  Eternal Gratitude.

Berthan Macaulay, Jr.

Margarette May Macaulay

James Joseph

Bernadine Simpson

Martyn and Jenny Marriott

Steve "Urchin" Wilson

Gertrud Kretzschmar

Robert Sinclair

Raxann Chin-Anguin

Janice Thompson

Shirley Hawkinson

Mark Pergola

Rachel Tinguely

Merle Bassie

Show Follow Up: AFTH with The Vanderbilt Republic

2011-11-22T13:00:00.000-05:00

So my debut last week with The Vanderbilt Republic at 25CPW Gallery was a wonderful success. The pop up (one night only) gallery exhibit entitled Art From The Heart was seen by over 500 visitors which is what you call a kick ass event man! And as I understand it - there will be a book featuring all the work of the artists in the show, which will be available via VR's Artifacts Store. I suggest checking it out. With such a large group of shooters represented, it is truly a rare thing to say that all the art was good. But seriously, ALL the art was good - it felt great to be in such company. Jo-Anneke van der Molen (curator) made funky use of the space and represented us well.

AFTH/Vanderbilt Republic photos at 25CPW Gallery by Justin Lynch

And now that the surprise is over with (remember I didn't know what they were gonna show from my submission packet), the piece they chose was a pinhole camera portrait I took of Mark Sink this summer. YeeHAW!!! And I STILL have yet to blog about THAT experience - IE. my Pinhole and Collodion Wet Plate apprenticeship with Denver based master shooter - the Sink himself. Once I'm outta the pressure zone with these shows that will come...

...next up: Fountain Arts Fair during Art Basel Miami Beach week!

RELATED JOURNEY POST:  

Next SeBiArt Show - New York City/Central Park West! (Nov 2011)

Next SeBiArt Show - New York City/Central Park West!

2011-11-09T00:03:00.000-05:00

Hey guys - here's a flyer for my next show - it's a pop up gallery group show Art from the Heart(AFTH) with a really cool new organization called the Vanderbilt Republic (VR). AFTH is in it's 2nd year and it's going up in a uber sweet spot - 25CPW Gallery (click here for their FB page). It's gonna be a treat - come if you're free, up for buying some affordable art, or just ready for some fun!

Oh and what I'm showing is a surprise even to me - they selected one piece from my batch of submissions and refuse to tell me which one! Anyway you can preview some of the pieces (mine not included) at the link provided above.

More online information can be found through these links. 

The press release: http://vanderbiltrepublic.com/pr

The Facebook event: http://facebook.com/event.php?eid=197593476984040

Check out this Vanderbilt Picture Story preview featuring the curator Jo-Anneke van der Molen at work - if you squint and concentrate you'll see some of my work! haha

AFTH2011: First Look from The Vanderbilt Republic on Vimeo.

As always - thanks for your support PEOPLE!!

Oh - and stay close by - more news coming your way about my next show in December...in Miami! YeeeeHAW!!!

♡♡♡

All is illuminated...

2011-11-07T15:28:00.002-05:00

Thank You Steve Jobs - You Changed It All

2011-10-06T02:53:00.002-04:00

I have no words of my own. Gobsmacked...

"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it." ~ Barack Obama

from BBC: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies aged 56

More than almost any other business leader, he was indistinguishable from his company, which he co-founded in the 1970s. 

Apple - whose market value is estimated at $351bn (£227bn) - is now the world's most valuable technology company. Only oil giant Exxon Mobil is worth more.

As the face of Apple, Jobs represented its dedication to high-end technology and fashionable design. 

And inside the company he exerted a level of influence unheard of in most businesses.

Jamrock Talk, Jamrock Walk

2011-10-04T17:23:00.002-04:00

Got a few posts building up in me and while I'm getting all caught up in drafting them... the weeks are going by.  So forgive the slight incongruity here - but I need to quickly put up a couple of thoughts and 'shares'.

As some of you know for the past few years - and stemming out of my public school teaching experience with ALATetc and Art for Progress -  I've been working in a volunteer capacity to create educational art workshops/community projects with a couple of organizations; namely CITYarts, Studio 174, and INSCAPE Foundation.  It's all been a bit slow, but the relationships built have been steady and consistently inspiring.  My 'fave orgs' you see listed always in the sidebar is a record of my alliances thus far, and new to the list is Save Our Jamaica - founded by a most passionate soul and loyal Jamrocker - Raxann Chin.   

foto by SeBiArt

Raxann and I have partnered in deep conversation and intention to merge our efforts where ever needed to compliment/assist groups we are individually affiliated with.  The promise and potential of this is invigorating and inspiring to say the least.  With SOJ, Raxann is passionately trying to create a stable financial platform of support for established and new community building organizations on the island of Jamaica. 

foto from SOJ website

Please visit her website here: Save Our Jamaica

Check and LIKE the SOJ Facebook page. 

Please spread the word - and volunteer what you can in this movement, whether it be contact resources, donations - financial or goods, consultation services, field work in workshops, PR, or any other talent or tangible gesture you can offer! 

There is great potential here for true collaboration with visual and performing artists, writers, educators, entrepreneurs, tech specialists, etc, and a host of community advocates in all fields to build up a nation of unspeakable talent, potential, and spirit.

---

The next item - just to get this up - is: with the tsunami of protests racing around the globe, it was a matter of time before it hit the US shores.  The Occupy Wall Street protest (sparked originally by Adbusters back in July [great magazine btw!]) is strong, expanding exponentially, and inspiring.  It makes me think of a rant I put up last year (the e-Con Highway) during the midterm elections about the economic disparities in the world, and the vulgar division of wealth and poverty that glows blindingly on a daily basis - and created a good chunk of the messes we're all swimming in now.  Naturally it makes me think of my countries Jamaica, and Sierra Leone - both of which (but SL even more so), are near breathlessly struggling to stay at the surface of this tank, let alone above it!  So I had to share a post from a fellow blogger, which was written specifically from a Jamaican point of view about the London riots.

For further reading about the Occupy Wall Street Protest:
1) The Demand List 
2) Growing Support for OWS - Day 19 Support from Unions 10/05/2011
 

Jamaican Till I Die!: Whites have become Black ...WTF?

foto from Jamaican Till I Die blog

RELATED JOURNEY POST:  The e-Con Highway (Nov 2010)

foto by SeBiArt

Acting in Evolution

2011-09-27T07:06:00.000-04:00

This is new kind of share (and update for some of you) about a most timely and beautiful opportunity I had this summer. I'm always going on about 'the journey' and usually a very internal and personal one at that - with the occassional dash of work/professional news. But as these two aspects of our lives are intrinsically tied - I must share this recent and particularly meaningful connection.

I have been excavating a whole heap of stuff over the past couple of years, and one aspect of my past has been left unexplored: acting. It's kinda ironic, but not entirely uncommon, to find myself on a professional journey that has little to do with my course of study in college: Theater Arts. I have certainly created real connections between this and photography, in so far as how I develop my work, and how I attempt to go about the business of creating it. The principles of collaboration that I seek always to work by, come directly from the culture of the theater world. But acting - well, this I have not done for some years now. As I often would put it when it came up: I haven't spoken text on stage/on camera for....

As I've been on my other artistic explorations, I've missed acting, not sharply mind you, but rather, I've been aware of its absence as a form of expression.

My friend Danae Grandison, another soul-searcher/explorer and accomplished graphic designer, decided to switch gears and explore the artform of film making. Her first film, Unconditional Love, is a work straight from the highway of personal explorations, directly from the heart, a beautiful distillation of what it means to come out on the other end of a growth passage emotionally in tact, and in fact, to find yourself utterly in love with life and all the vicissitudes therein; to arrive at acceptance, wonderment, and open curiosity to what comes next. We can only be in such a place when we are willing to release the past, and thus the expectations it invariably breeds for the future.

I auditioned at precisely the right time for the part in this 2 minute short - when I could understand the meaning of such a personal evolution. It was also therefore, the right project to bring me back to this art form. Oh the connectivity!

Danae's work premiered at SVA (School of Visual Arts) at the end of her film course this past August, and she received the Audience Award for her work. I was so chuffed too of course - haha!

Here's our Labour of Love - which was shot in the New York City heat wave of 115ºF! Not easy, but totally cathartic. Thank you for this journey Danae!

Unconditional Love from Danae Grandison on Vimeo.
Time to release the bags you collect along the way...

Featuring Berette Macaulay
Written and Directed by Danae Grandison
Edited by David Lee

Credit Where It's Due

2011-09-24T20:50:00.000-04:00

I got an email today that I had to share here:

    Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light - Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark?

But can't be seen fit to lead a country to the true light.

Why is it that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock - Benjamin Banneker) that all people use to tell time?

But people don't think it is time for him to run a country.

Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in and a place for the president to live in (The Capital and the White House Phillip Reid (a slave) and Pierre L'Enfant)?

But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself.

Why is it that a Black Man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (Dr. Dan iel Hale Williams) and show the world how to get and preserve plasma (Dr. Charles Drew)?

But not good enough to put a program in place where everyone can afford this surgery.

Why is it that a Black Man was creative enough to design an instrument (traffic light - Garrett Morgan) to bring multiple people (traffic) to a halt?

But not seen creative enough to design a plan to bring all this unnecessary and worthless fighting between countries, to an end.

Why is it that a Black Man could create the soles (shoes - Jan Matzeliger) that people walk on every day?
But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of a bad president.

Why is it that a Black Man was smart enough and brave enough to teach himself (Fredrick Douglas and Thomas Fuller - both slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math?

But not seen smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs another first by us.

So you see my Brothers and Sisters, what I am saying is, let us not forgot our past which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our future. We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so let us all give Obama the chance to show that we are still these things and more. We all are as strong as our weakest link, so do not be that weak link that denies our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME AND BE THE FIRST!
THE PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA !

LET US ALL CONTINUE PRAYING THAT THIS PRESIDENT WILL ADHERE TO AND BE LED BY FAITH.   PASS THIS ON!       =

Nacho Duato's "Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness"

2011-09-17T23:30:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I would go so far as to say Nacho Duato is my favourite choreographer...ever...but, he's so very close to being so.

His movement and interpretation of music is so specific yet loose, so perfect yet such a celebration of emotional erratic flaws of the soul.  The shapes from the relationships he creates with dancers is a rare beauty to behold; it's heart-stopping; it's heartbreaking. 

OWN Your Skin NOW

2011-08-06T20:48:00.000-04:00

At last it feels right
No more struggle or fight
Evolving into me
Expanding beyond the deep

The meditation for the past few months, or years, well, my lifetime, is to actualize 'self', which creates such fulfilling connections with others, to keep opening and expanding the heart so as to lead the body with love.

It is so important to learn how to be ourselves, and not a premeditated, planned out version of this...; and in being who we really are - being the beautiful imperfect beings that we are in every moment of 'now', will inevitably lead to the perfect expression of our essential selves, our inner most beauty, the core light that shines unobstructed and thus brighter from this 'letting'.

It has taken (and is taking) a lot of time, focus, daring, and fight, ...constant conscious pushing... to grow into me, to grow into myself, to grow into my skin; to stop struggling with the fit as if it belonged to someone else or should belong to someone else, to evolve beyond an old idea that the fit was wrong or would never be a good enough, or worse - that it sometimes felt so itchy that I wanted to rip it off and cast it away. But alas, it is the perfect fit. We settle down don't we (?), and then every crevasse fills in snugly.

Sweet exhale: Growing into self. Growing into me.

Mind the Gap note for today and always...
Be Yourself. Everyone else is taken.
~Oscar Wilde

SeBiArt News: Running on Joy

2011-07-25T02:37:00.002-04:00

It would simply be a shame to let too much time pass without sharing this news guys. Last week was full of fortune and surprises that all occurred rather closely together.

Last Sunday I found out that my work (shown below) was awarded at the JCDC/National Gallery of Jamaica Competition and exhibition with a Bronze medal for Visual Arts and the sectional trophy and cash award for Adult Photography. Wow. That's the 2nd year that's happened. And here I was feeling all itchy about having not produced enough new work in the last months, fretting that my incubation period would adversely affect the reception of my work. The Universe really reinforced my dreams and vigor to keep going.

Coronation Market Lady 2011 JCDC/Nat'l Gallery JA Award Winner

Then 2 days later, (and actually a few minutes after I had shared the former news on Facebook) I got a random, really random email from the CEO of MyArtSpace, Catherine McCormick-Skiba (a site that I have a membership page on but, embarrassingly, I rarely use due to overwhelm) congratulating me on being featured on their front page media windows!!! As in the front page of their website! A site that according to some articles out there gets more hits than Saatchi Gallery! Hello! What? I totally freaked. Who knew anyone was watching? Especially a sloth-like network member like me? And it was for my (not-so) new series, still in progress, BRANDED, that I'd just uploaded over the weekend*. Please visit and check it out! I could never pay for such exposure - really. Of course I took a screen capture of it to share here - see below.

*view images samples of the project, featuring music mix by Sawandi.

click for larger view - or footer tab to share!

I wrote her back after two days (it took me a minute to digest this stuff) and thanked her quite enthusiastically; I did not make any effort to hide my shock and befuddlement - trust me. Haha. And she wrote back the most complimentary and encouraging email about how she felt about my work - with adjectives like "emotionally impactful" and "poignant". I still CANNOT believe it. So - the dare is on people...Mind the Gap...EVEN more. Hahaha! You know - in this life, you really NEVER know who's watching. Funny thing is, I kinda put that project to bed, or on a long pause shall we say, but now I aim to finish this thing and get it submitted, once and for all dammit. Special shout out to Sean John (Spur Tree Lounge, NYC) for pushing me to finish this. Love ya buddy! And, and - while I'm there - congrats to him for the recent feature on his restaurant in Maxim Magazine - #2 in top 5 dinner line up in America! AND to my god brother, Akindele Hickling (who my father named by the way - heehee) for his JCDC visual arts awarded paintings as well. He's SUCH an amazing talent as you can see below for yourself. YeehAW!

The Trials of Elegba by Akindele Hickling

Okay so lots of glee here, but I have to reveal something, and I'm sure some of you will concur, that the reality of life as an artist is indeed cathartic, exciting, and purifying, but, it's utterly terrifying sometimes. Especially when it comes to sharing this kind of news, or appealing for support. Overcoming fear to create work is somehow easier than writing this blog post right now...which is why I'm forcing myself to do it. It is important for me to share with you, that of all the little adventures I gleefully, and sometimes (maybe most times) naively charge into - this is always the biggest dare of all. So thank you for hugging me along the way - you'll never know how encouraging it is, how much it means to me.

Sooooo...(eye dab, sniffle), on that note; here I go leaping across the gap again to plead for your support on a couple other ventures.

I have 4 photos in a shoot out contest called "Beginnings" on the JPG website. Eeek! No awards there, but a cash prize is up for grabs, and I need to hear chi-CHING soon! Please check it out if you have a spare minute. I've linked each entry below. Just click the photos to Visit, View, and Vote:

Is it better at the start?

Sick of Waiting

(from BRANDED series)

Endless Island Bliss

(published in Jamaica Fi Real, Randle Publishers 2010)

Timelessness

Secondly, the JCDC/National Gallery Visual Arts Competition has a Viewers Vote section - which I'm now in the running for (like last year some of you might recall...). It would be awesome (and financially useful) to win this - hello - funding to continue my work!!! This is for those of you in Jamaica specifically, as it involves text voting with local cell phone providers. I will be blogging the details on how to vote in my next post. Stay tuned!

In the meantime - make sure to visit the National Gallery and check out the show - it's going on now until Aug 20th! Lemme know how it is since I can't be there. :( :)

Have a SUPER productive, creative, and fun week people!!

Weiner isn't the only weiner who should resign...

2011-06-23T02:17:00.003-04:00

Incredible.  First there's talk of the EPA being dismantled (cuz who  the hell needs clean air and water anyway?!!).  Then Pawlenty suggests  dismantling Amtrak since it isn't profitable.  And now Romney releases a  few unfortunate quips on privatizing FEMA.  I can't decide if these  people are just plain dumb, crazy, or pure evil.  Sure boys, while we're  at it - let's skip the gradual 'screw the world initiative', and high  tale it to privatizing the government (especially considering the now  apparent prerequisite for Republican leadership: IRRESPONSIBLE &  RICH). 

Why pretend to believe there should be a body of individuals  assigned to protect and serve its country and people? Just tell the  millions who'll disappear into nonexistence that it's just better for  business.  Oh wait, we could just feed them the newly developed (and  sustainable) shit burgers. I wonder if in his free time, Weiner is  following or tweeting any of this from his sex rehab quarters.  WTF is  going on???!!!!!!

Links: 

Republican Plans for Dismantling the  EPA

Pawlenty blunder

Romney's  stance on the immoral role of FEMA

Meat from Shit - YUMMY!!

And why isn't this all on the news???

Nature Nurtures; with a Ku

2011-06-07T02:24:00.002-04:00

Not simply drinking,
This important peaty work
Watering the muse

Haiku by Mystic Urchin

APRIL  2010

Way back in February (I can't believe it's June already!!) I was taken on an incredible drive up to the Blue Mountains and I'm only now posting my notes about it. Still, I can't gush enough about the renewing effect of that fresh clean air high above the heat and smog of Kingston, with breathtaking views of nearly untouched land. It was quite heavenly, and I absolutely aim to do this again when I return to Jamaica.

It's simply a place of modest communities (Irish Town, Hardware Gap, Greenwich...) scattered with beautiful bed and breakfast cabins, private homes, and quaint cafes, all hugged in a cozy blanket of fog and lush flora.

There were breathtaking views of tree fern covered valleys, bright green moss wrapped trees, and quite a bit of non-tropical botanical varieties to my surprise, with pine covered mountainsides, and flower gardens much like you would find in Oxford, England! And that said, there is quite a significant community of British expatriates living up there.

A week after my trip I stumbled upon a Kuya Magazine issue with an article  about Greenwich, and a cover photo of the same house I captured here, beautifully shot on  a sunny day by  Franz Marzouca. It was still on the shelves  when I left in May, so grab it if you can find it - the full photo spread is quite magnificent.

click for larger view

Here is a mini list of what I found (and aim to check out when I return):

FLORA: 
 
Tree ferns, pines, orchids, sunflowers, ginger lilies, bright green moss  (I think it was spanish moss - but don't quote me on on that...), and quite a bit more - the names of which escape me now.  

BIRDS:
 
wood pecker, hummingbirds 

CAFES/EATERIES:

Gap Cafe - where I ate coconut creamy rice and peas, with 3 pepper  spiced yellow curry steamed fish, and a thick slice of homemade carrot  cake.  and yes, the blue mountain coffee was stella!

Others I hear worth checking out are Cafe Blu, IMZ Cafe, and Mount Edge (thanks Steve!) 

INDUSTRY: 
 
Catherine's Peak water, Jamaica Coffee Board (Blue Mountain Coffee), Craighton Coffee Estate (tours available), Strawberry Hill Hotel and Spa, and private rental homes and cabins are available - like the one pictured above.

ARMY BASE:
foto by Jamdiver
Jamaica Defense Force  (JDF)

  

TRAILS and TOURS:  
 

-The Mountain Peak Trail 
(starting at Abbey Green)
I HAVE to do a hike one day... 

    -Holywell Nature Reserve

     -Old Tavern Coffee Estate 

Nabes with cabin homes and B+Bs for getaway rentals: 

Irish Town 

Hardware Gap 

Holywell

Greenwich
Whitefield Hall 

If you have a free weekend and sometime to research a tailor made trip for yourself, do it!  It's the rejuvenating gift that keeps on giving. And please let me know what you find - so I can make a list for my next trip!

For way more additional info - check out:
-YardEdge and read up on their tale of hiking to the top. 

Colorado Boxes

2011-06-06T00:45:00.003-04:00

suburban subdivisions of greater denver - slightly bigger boxes...

foto by SeBiArt - found object piece by Carlos Michael Finn/KANON Gallery, Denver, Colorado

Beautiful Ironies

2011-05-25T05:39:00.004-04:00

A persistent belief of mine, even in the most trying of times is that unexpected beauty in life shatters our monument to suffering.  When we experience an unlikely turn of events in the last minute of fitful desperation, or  witness a just reward for sacrificial work of an underdog, we cannot help but be inspired; yet to hold on to this inspiration requires a williingness to release the often irresistable need to hold blame.

While I've been busy in my little cocoon these past months, trying to figure out which way to turn next and how to get there with confidence and gratitude as my companions (because it's been a bit challenging to hold the road with them lately...) I have been slapped back to reality with three most inspiring and ironic things over the past days. 

As we see a historic end to the Oprah Winfrey Show today (so many of us grew up with this woman-with-a-message, whether we watched all along or not), I tuned into one of her farewell shows last week, and she did me in AGAIN!!   It was a rainy, gloomy day and I was feeling particularly sapped of motivation - and boy did her show bring me to my senses.  She highlighted the lives of two incredibly 'unlikely' beacons of hope and true purpose (Oprah being one too, if we recall this billionaire's beginnings):   

Photo: Oprah Winfrey Website

Mattie J. T. Stepanek - Thirteen years young and centuries old in wisdom, this wheel chair bound prophet spent his very short life from the age of three, spreading messages of love, peace, joy, and delight with life.  A boy who had every reason to sing only woes of his very trying physical existence with muscular dystrophy, but chose (or was chosen) instead to guide his experience here on earth as one of consistent and constant gratitude and wonderment with life. He shared this message with millions through his writings, and by the end of his life, Mattie had 6 New York Times bestsellers of his poems and one of his essays.  He is currently being considered for sainthood!

See a short tribute clip of his life: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/A-Tribute-to-Mattie-JT-Stepanek

Your heartsong is your inner beauty.  It's the song in  your heart that wants you to help make yourself a better person, and to  help other people do the same. Everybody has one.

~Mattie J.T. Stepanek, 1990 - 2004~ 

photo: Oprah Winfrey Website

Dr. Tererai Trent, Ph.D. -  From a poor rural farming village in Zimbabwe and denied an education simply because she was girl, set her dreams of earning the highest academic credentials in the unimaginably distant United States of America.  She wrote these dreams on a piece of paper and buried them under a rock. Then proceeded to be challenged at every step - sold into marriage at 11 years old, mothering 4 children by the age of 20, being severely abused by a husband who refused her any space to learn anything let alone go to school. But she persevered against these impossible odds to see the suffix 'Ph.D.' follow her name. 

Photo: Oprah Winfrey Website

I remember very well my father pointing to my brothers and the other  boys in the village and saying: 'These are the breadwinners of tomorrow.  We need to educate them. We need to send them to school. The girls will  get married.'

~Tererai Trent~

See Tererai's story here: http://www.oprah.com/world/Tererai-Trent-Returns-to-Zimbabwe-to-Share-Her-Story-Video

Then, just yesterday we were given near unimaginable video footage to add to the unfolding shift in inspiring relationships in our world today, when Michelle and Barack Obama were greeted MOST ceremoniously by the Queen of England, complete with a 41 gun salute from antique muskets and canons by the Scottish Guard on the Buckingham Palace grounds.  I needn't wax on about the historical complexity of this image except to express my exact thoughts upon watching the footage - that seated at the 'highest' table were the most elite lineage of our collective  ancestors of slaves and slave masters toasting each other and their 'special' relationship in basically ruling the world.  I felt so awed, inspired, utterly amazed and filled by the meaning of this.  It's no small matter, and irrespective of how we may or may not feel about these people as individuals, this was a sight to behold and one that I know our parents and elders (regardless of race, culture, or social standing) would never have imagined, and unfortunately that my father, one of the first black Queens Counsel attorneys in England, never lived to see. And it got me thinking...

When people can no longer be blamed, or historical atrocities, past indiscretions, or other external circumstances can no longer utilized as reasons for the real or perceived inadequacies of our lives, it simply means we must now take real responsibility for what we dream of, where we invest our energies, and how we work to fulfill our purpose - our 'heartsong'. This is the paradoxical manifestation of desires fulfilled  - individually AND collectively; as the old adage cautions, "Be careful what you wish for..."  

One personal example of a wish, and embarrassing gripe: I keep wishing for money to purchase new camera so I can get on with my work.  But I already have a camera - it may be old, but it still works beautifully, so what do I think will change in my creative process by getting a new one??  It cannot be denied - I AM, we ARE starting at the same line of possibility each day we awake, and the attitude and energy we bring to it will determine how the race is run.  Funny how nothing could be more terrifying, or more exciting.  And how beautifully ironic. 

For more footage of this, see BBC links below:

Obama toasts the Queen

The Queen toasts Barack and Michelle Obama

footage updates (may 26th) - Obama becomes the first US President to address the UK Parliament in Westminster, and was introduced most admiringly with the famous quote, so apt for this post and all the people spoken of here: 

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~Abraham Lincoln

comment from youtube: 

 "Great Speech. I am an American who lives in the UK and it feels so good  not to have to apologize for my president anymore. President Obama has  returned dignity, thoughtfulness and intelligence to his﻿ office."

Prick the 'filter bubbles'

2011-05-20T07:48:00.001-04:00

Aim to discombobulate the organizing algorithms of amalgamated trivial feeds:

Taking A Piss

2011-05-16T16:28:00.002-04:00

I do not purport to be a spoofer, satirist, graphic designer, or anything of the like - but I just can't get over the slick timing of the events in the news over the past 2 weeks.

From all that nonsense with the presidential hopeful Donald Trump, and his rude, baseless, and thoughtless time wasting insistence on getting proof of Barack Obama's birth place; to the disappointing concession of said proof. And then, the hysterical and painful slamming of Trump with college haze-like 'you-think-you-can-handle-this-town?' jokes from both Seth Meyers(SNL Head Writer and Cast Member) and Obama at the Whitehouse Correspondence Dinner (PLEASE watch if you somehow missed that...nonstop hilarity); and finally the ultimate, can I say, 'trump card' issuance less that than 48 hours later - the Obama got Osama/You Can't Touch This bitch slap.

I don't think I've ever seen someone punked to this level ever, with absolutely no chance of a comeback. I mean - wow. It's possibly the funniest and sexiest thing I've ever seen a current president do - to sweep aside a spoiled, rich and bossy hopeful with absolutely no real political agenda, and just a self centered schtick.

In the latest news: Trump just announced an hour ago that he will not run for President in 2012 - ahahahaaaa - bye bye Donald. Apparently politics and real estate development ain't the same business bitch. lol

So  a friend of mine (thanks for the 'aha' Mark!)   mentioned Wag the Dog  when we were going over the whole thing, and that  got me all tickled  about making a spoof poster of the film.  Of course  so much has  happened (and is happening) since then, but I had to put  this up here  for posterity, joining CNN, BBC, ABC, et al in going on and on and on  about this...                                                                                             
(Click the image to see details in bigger copy)

In case you missed it by some unfortunate mishap - the jokes:

Inconsistency of optional identities

2011-04-11T16:59:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I feel like a shit photographer with just a bunch of 'great' ideas.

Sometimes I feel like a great photographer with either stupid ideas, 

     or worse, 

     NO IDEA.

Most times I don't feel like a photographer at all

Just a dreamer, a shapeless artist with intangible ambitions, 

     itching to move away from 'craft' 

     and more into seeing, 'be-ing', believing

Living with a childlike heart and precocious lust to rewrite the world 

     with the pen of my lens 

     to create a new vision

     or version

     of reality

Cuz sometimes this version sucks!

Pier @ 79th Street, near the Boat House Basin, New York City

Japan's Crisis and the Photography Industry

2011-03-17T15:11:00.028-04:00

As I'm sure everyone is aware, Japan a grappling with a domino series of crises of incalculable proportions due to the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant explosion. Thankfully so far, though still in heartbreaking numbers, the loss of lives has been far less than feared which is of greatest importance in our concerns. It's a shallow relief however as a huge worry is when and where hundreds of thousands of displaced evacuees will be settled - all this while exhaustive searches are still underway for thousands of missing victims.

foto source: Reuters via Int'l Business Times

And of course, the next set of concerns are the radiation levels still being assessed post the nuclear reactor explosion; and the economic strain and certain domino effect of that, to Japan's manufacturing industries - which will most certainly affect global industries, not least of which will be for consumer electronics, technology, and photography/film industries.

Adorama - one of America's reliable and lauded importers of consumer and pro photo, video, and printing equipment recently released a report that thankfully includes some good news of most companies including Nikon, Sony, Canon, and others reporting no loss of employee lives and minimal injuries. But quite a few have harrowing reports of extensive damage to factories and equipment, and an inability to resume operations due to frequent power outages.

NB. Links for retailers and manufacturers above relay to new or relief effort pages on their respective sites.

foto source: the Nikon Blog

*
- Sony, Japan's largest exporter of consumer electronics has stopped operations in 10 factories.

- Canon has suspended operations in 8 plants

foto source: Digital Photography Review: Canon Japan Tour

- Nikon's Sendai factory where D3X, D3S, and other popular pro slrs are produced has had to close due to damaged equipment

foto source: Amateur Photographer

- Epson has had to close two factories located nearby the Fukushima nuclear plant

- Sigma has halted operations at two plants due to power outages.

foto source: Photo Rumors

- Apple has also reported a halt in operations due to temporary shut down of their suppliers Mitsubishi and Toshiba (also see Toshiba's LCD Plant news just released on REUTERS). **

How will this affect shooters? Well at the outset this will create shortages in supply, as there were also damages to freight ships just about to depart with equipment due for markets around the world. Of course the other fear is a rise in costs in an already expensive industry.

Hundreds of millions of relief dollars have been donated to the government, and victims of Japan's earthquake disaster by Nikon, Apple, Canon, Epson, Sony, Panasonic, Ricoh, and a growing number of other technology, freight, airline, and entertainment industries.

*
See the full article with a more comprehensive report here on the Adorama News page.

See the first Adorama crisis report on here: Japan Photo Industry Disrupted by quake

**
See latest Apple report here: Apple Supply Chain Temporarily Affected by Japan Earthquake.

"From Harm to Hope"

Unbelievable that this time last year the fundraising focus was on helping Haiti recover from devastation caused by the same seismic disturbance. And like that crisis (and countless others worldwide in similar and different disasters or crises) there are a great number of organisations collecting donations to help.

As I've done before here on this blog - I will post a link to one that I've supported time and again. The IRC is an non-governmental organisation whose sole purpose is to work in rescue and resettlement missions to aid displaced victims of natural or political disasters. That's ALL they do people! They are of course setting up operations in Japan. Check 'em out in your charitable considerations.

Or donate directly to the IRC Japan Rescue, Relief, and Resettlemnt missions HERE

Additional Sources for this post and Adorama article: Reuters, TIPA, Amateur Photographer , San Francisco Chronicle, Optics, International Rescue Committee, Canon News, Nikon Blog, Industry Pulse News, and statements from numerous technology consumer and pro equipment manufacturers.

NB - if the format is mangled on the Facebook version of this post - hit 'View Original Post' for the um...original post.

BIG PICTURE Fun on the Rock

2011-03-08T11:44:00.011-05:00

So I just made my photographic debut in Denver this last Friday with the opening of the BIG PICTURE show in celebration of the Month of Photography. It's a cool idea really - where photography meets street art on a global scale, with a clever use of geotagging so all can attend - all conceptualized by the directors of ILLITERATE Media Gallery. 

 Though I'm clearly not in Denver to see my work up (I do have spies on the look out tho - heehee) - I was excited to get Jamaica on the BIG PICTURE google map by posting work by Colorado artist Brenda Biondo - sent on from the gallery. 

It was also a great opportunity to get Studio 174 involved! It's a great community art space located @ 174 Harbour Street in downtown Kingston, and founded by Rozi Chung, where the creative potential of inner-city kids is unearthed, nurtured, and fully expressed in Saturday morning art workshops.

Rozi and I have been in conversation about creating outdoor projects specifically aligned with global outreach programs for kids, most specifically with CITYarts in New York (more on that in another post).   Anyway this came along and Rozi was the best person to run to! Luckily volunteer clinical psychologist, Dr. Tammy Haynes was on site as well; both women were so excited and  accommodating in letting me treck my zerox prints and yucky wheat paste down there for the kids to put up our work outside on the studio walls.

Rozi Chung - founder of Studio 174
 
Rozi and Jason, also a one of the DIGICEL Mural Artists (see YardEdge)

Crude as the finish appears, I think it's cool, and it was a really a fun and fulfilling Saturday morning with those kids.  With just two moderately sized 16x20 prints and everyone getting their hands in on fitting the pieces and sticking - a smooth finish was not the point - at least not in the end - ha!  Participating in the exchange and showing the work was, and ohhhh yes, I'll have more please! Can't wait to see it up on the map. Stay tuned!

*Workshop fotos by Me and Dr. Tammy Haynes

**Studio 174's Rozi Chung, Dr. Tammy Haynes, and photographer Max Earle have cofounded INSCAPE. It is a non-profit organisation which evolved from an earlier collaborative endeavor known as the Tivoli Resolution Project), which helped traumatized young victims of the Tivoli incident last May (2010), through visual and performing art therapies.  The mission of INSCAPE is to provide the space and  resources to continue such work in the inner-city communities in Jamaica - free of charge to those in need.  Please follow the links to learn more about them and how you can help.

Big Picture Works on Live View in Kingston on Harbour Street:


Plant With Roots © Brenda Biondo

Behind The Hidden Gate © SeBiArt

 
Big Picture Works on Live View in Denver:

CrowDeD - Maki © SeBiArt

Dragon's Lair © SeBiArt

View the BIG PICTURE Worldwide MAP

The Lady Lunches, and Lunches, and Lunches...

2011-03-04T19:06:00.002-05:00

To supplement a wretched week of reality bites, I've been breaking up the madness with some sweet foodie pauses around town this week with some buddies. Just when I get to the edge and think its time to fly outta here - Kingston gets sweeter.

First Stop - Cafe El Centro @ 8 Hillcrest Avenue

We had quite the yummy seafood gumbo, sandwiches, tea, and cookies,

all for the sum total of about $12!! Run there! 

 
Next stop, just downstairs - the newly opened Uncorked.  A godsend really, since I'd been complaining endlessly about not finding anywhere to get my cheeses.  Well they have quite the selection of wine and a yummy cheese list that extends BEYOND smoked gouda, goat cheese logs, and gruyere.

 
 For those of you who tweet - you can follow them here:
http://twitter.com/uncorked_ja

  
So not that anything's wrong with those selections, but I was happier than a pig in shit to sup on my purchases of Cantalet, Mahon, and Comte - along with smoked Marlin, and other pairing goodies. Yum! Such discoveries continue to endanger my commitment to board a return flight to New York...eek!

 
Met up with my darling Karin (YardEdge) at Suzie's Bakery - a sweet cafe with good coffee, sinful pastries, sandwiches, and Mediterranean fair.  
 
There are two locations: one in Orchid Patch Plaza at 20 Barbican Road, and the other in shops 1 & 2 Southdale Plaza on South Avenue.

 
Just had a super creative meeting with my BFF Steve Urchin (Brand New Machine Global) - looking a bit funny in this shot, and talented sound engineer/composer, Sawandi, at Bookophilia - a sweet bookshop with yummy cupcakes, cookies, and a great reading selection from local and international authors.

 
 Located at 92 Hope Road, Suite 1

 
 You can also look 'em up on their Facebook group page
and fan page

After such treats I'm REALLY excited about the weekend.  

Loving my Jamaica.  

Sent from my BlackBerry® device from Digicel

Power to the People

2011-02-11T12:20:00.000-05:00

Mass, en masse, united in purpose and a clear non-violent vision for change, and we mean change - 5000 years of one way, ...to a new way.  That's DEEP!  

These people have proved a most important philosophy to a world that often seems exhausted by or allergic to true activism.   Inspired by Tunisia's revolution, they now inspire the world with their demand for free expression.  

Photo Source: Travel Guide

Photo Source: Flickr

Congratulations to Egypt - Land of the Ancient Kingdoms, Land of the Pyramids, may you continue to beguile, seduce, and expand our minds with your mysterious history, and the enthusiastic valor with which you tread the path of your future.  


Photo Source: Travel Pod

NB.  I've posted this before, but Ben Okri's Lines in Potensis is I think a perfect toast to this historical moment.  (Thanks Sean for sharing this - it's never lost its potency for here it is again.)

Walking Impressions for Inspirational Flight, with a whole lotta Leica

2011-02-10T19:31:00.002-05:00

Back in October that photographer friend of mine I recently posted about, Christian Macauley, and I spent a day getting inspired. First he met up with me at the PDN Int'l PhotoPlus Conference and Expo at the  Jacob Javits Center. It's a sort of capitalistic-anxiety-inducing-soul-sucking-goodie-coveting-"shit-I'm-poor"-yet-thoroughly-exciting event where you get to look, touch, test, and learn about the latest photo, video, printing, and  software tools, as well as marketing services newly available to image makers. 

Armed with my floor map and exhibitor list - off I went for my industry  education and the free goodies! I'd hoped to sit in on a seminar or two but the whole thing got a bit overwhelming after a while, so off we went. 

Composite Source: YellowKorner
Christian took me walking through SoHo and we stopped in this pop up gallery set up by YellowKorner, a British company specifically aimed at making photographic prints more accessible to buyers of lesser means than trust fund babies.  Pop up galleries are the coolest concepts I think - they are to visual artists what low cost old warehouse spaces and self-publishing programs are to musicians...in a way: prime spaces (on short n' free or barter loans, or leases) to exhibit work in a gallery setting, sans the politics and prohibitive costs or commission fees for the artists.

Anyway - there were some great prints on display, but one image/artist, Kourtney Roy, held me spellbound and sent me rushing to the nearest bench, to jot down my reactions in my little journal that I carry with me at all times.  Since photography is typically prohibited in exhibition spaces - I needed to write something to remind me of this work and what I felt upon seeing it.   I am thoroughly moved by artists who can produce a simple image that induces complex emotions or projections from the viewer.  I felt her image accomplished this perfectly - or at least, it did so for me... and the fact that it was a self portrait killed me all the more.

 
Heart reaching into the 'guess' of an event

- prior - now - or about to happen,

The hanging pause of the story of two...

Who falls, who catches, who fails, who saves?

Deal, Dare, or Damage?

Is there Death, Ownership, or Love?

Another stop along the way was a thing of wonder, a prime example of reasons to LOVE LOVE LOVE New York: The Levi's/Leica Workshop.

Located where the Deitch Project used to be, :(, Levi's®, along with sponsorship by Leica, opened up a temporary space for photographers to utilize an incredible wealth of equipment PLUS studio space...FOR FREE!!!

photo & logo composite: http://workshops.levi.com

The list of cameras included the Nikon D series, the Canon EOS-D series, and of course a range of film and digital Leicas - including the $30,000 monster body Leica Camera AG S2 and fitted with the Summarit-S 1:2.5/70 mm lens. Other vintage/film cams on hand were the Hasselblad 500 series and the Mamiya RZ67 Pro II. There was an open white studio space, plus a cheesy basement set - both of which you could use with your choice of Profoto monolights, modifiers, and power packs; make up stations for M.U. artists and models; MAC G5 work stations with 30" screens for post-production work; and printing stations for fine art prints, etc. It was QuiTe incredible. All you had to do was sign up in time, book the space, and the camera you wanted to use, and voila! No deposits even (while in house)! The insurance on this friggin deal must have been INSANE! You could even sign out cameras to shoot on location - for a mere $100 refundable deposit for 24 hours!

Wha-HUH????!!!!!

photo source: Camera Monster

I thank my lucky panties that I got to squeeze in two sessions before it got too crazy in there. I opted to shoot with the Leica S2 which I couldn't believe was available both times. And you know - I couldn't take myself too seriously with it all. I decided, rather than to use this opportunity for work, to just have fun; so I called up some friends to 'shoot the shit' - hahaha. No major planning, no stress, just show up to the studio where all was on hand PLUS the Bentley of cameras in my hand (that creates images with pixels the size of a fucking fist ), and here's the silliness we got up to: some friendly portraits, fashion fun with an African feather headdress (JuJu hat), and a music bubble session Las Vegas 70s style - heeeheee. Gotta love New York! Thank you Christian!!! And thanks Michael, LaLa, Justin, Yolanda, Manny and Kevin!! It's all coming back to me now - I CAN'T BELIEVE I shot with that thing! :D

Michael Gilbert, founder of Language of Opposites

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The Ruling Valve

2011-02-10T01:14:00.002-05:00

Performer: Crimson Heart Replica  
Does the wounded part of your heart direct your life, or do the wishes of the soft untarnished part race to create your experiences? People say life is short.  But I say life is long.  Think of how many memories you have, how many people you've met, how many disappointments you've moved past, how many surprises have tickled your outlook?  And just think how many more of those are ahead.  Every aspect of life, major or minor, in every place you have lived, every job you've had, every failing or successful result from any effort, every person - asshole or angel, stranger, family member, or friend, has shaped and reshaped your choices for your life,  the lessons you've learned, and how you feel about yourself and others...in short your identity...your heart.  

Our hearts get molded and recolored over and over again, but over the course of this long LONG journey we start to see and feel a graphic pattern of our ruling valve; the one that shapes our perceptions of this journey.  Does your ruling valve restrict flow to protect the whole heart from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune*?  Or does it pump energetically and openly, absorbing those arrows with an enduring life flow of wonderment and delight?  We all know the latter creates ease, and the former creates pressure...and with enough of the former, follows an inevitable implosion of explosive destruction.  That valve would restrict any inclination for open exploration, including the idea that seeking to remain innocent is life affirming, rather than emotional suicide.  

Like most people, my valves work in shifts, and as I get older I restrict myself more frequently - which always comes about from 
fotos © Monique MOGI Gilpin
fear of a myriad of things, including fear of wanting good things for myself. But my ever dreaming childlike valve keeps screaming to reign supreme.  I breathe better by searching for fair perspectives in things; mercy and forgiveness  amidst negativity, acceptance of the inexplicable or indelible hurts, and the insistence in dancing on common ground with myself and everyone I share space and time with.  Yes there are some serious assholes out there, and real life challenges to contend with, but I feel we must understand that those who behave like assholes are simply people who are emotionally restricted by fear; and that the mental and physical work required to overcome personal conflicts or life challenges are better sustained with an open flow of positive energy (if even at a distance), than by use of suffocating anger or despairing restrictions of the heart.

What you are choosing at this precise moment is what is ruling your life at present.  But life is long, so there's time, now - if there's a need - to change your ruling valve.  What you feel, is how you live. It's your heart, no one can break it, build it, or open it more completely than you. 

* from Shakespeare's Hamlet, III.i., To be, or not to be, - sililoquy 
  

----

Crimson Heart Replica: Beautiful Mistake
"My music is my natural instinct, an illustration of immense emotion bleeding out from passionate hearts and souls." ~CHR 

---
 
To all my peeps who keep my ruling valve open. 
♡♡♡

"Sonnet 29" - Performed by  Rufus Wainright, Clips from Pride & Prejudice:

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

--William Shakespeare

 ---

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RELATED JOURNEY POSTS:   Warm Light and Love (AUG 2010)
                         I Broke Up With Self-Sabotage...(JUNE 2010)

SUPPORT POST: Another Modern Salone Pilgrim

2011-02-02T18:11:00.004-05:00

So by now you know that every now and then I just HAVE to drop a word about a friend/fellow artist/seeker/human being who is on their own inspiring journey. Another such soul is MyronChristian Macauley. Yes - um we have the same name, AND we come from the same country, Sierra Leone, AND, AND, he's a photographer and a fine one at that.

MCM image from Marc Ecko ad campaign in Europe

A mutual friend - also a photographer and restaurant owner, Sean John, introduced us some years ago and I've been an admirer of Christian's vision ever since. I've heard him refer to the body of his work in a nutshell as a hybrid of fashion and fine art photography...well...with a big helping of spiritual mysticism I might add. His images have a dreamlike, ethereal quality that is attempted by many image makers today but rarely accomplished to this standard. Rather than one-dimensional aesthetic imagery, I think Christian produces mentally and emotionally provocative beauty.

He recently put out a coffee table book, Modern Man in Search of Soul, Pub. MCM Collective, July 2010, currently available on Amazon.com, and at Bookophilia (if you're in JA) which showcases some of his best mystical work chronicling his creative and personal spiritual journey over the past seven years in Thailand, Brazil, Kenya, India, and Greece.

During my last stop in New York I made it a huge priority to get the book for my library. I ran over to Sean's spot, Spur Tree, to meet up with Christian and Danae Grandison of (book designer from KGN6 Design and business partner for the MCM Collective)to get my copy. Of course there's no big mystery why I'd love it (having been on my own version of Eat, Pray, Love for the past year and a half!), but trust - if you flip through this journey, you'll be transported further than any plane can take you.

Here's a video from MCM's journey:

Modern Man in Search of A Soul from ofa on Vimeo.

Footage and reactions from a recent Pop-Up Gallery show in SoHo:

You can find more about him here:

-JAMATI

-The Observer

-MyronChristian Macauley blog

You can buy your book at these places too:

-Greenlight Bookstore

(Fort Greene, Bklyn - in store)

-Georgia Salon

(Nolita, NY - in store)
www.georgianyc.com

-Studio Museum of Harlem (NY)

144 West 125th Street

(212) 864-4500
-MCJ bookstore

(Nolita, NY - in store)
www.mcnallyjackson.com/

K&M Camera

(Tribecca, NY)
www.kmcamera.com‎

RELATED JOURNEY POSTS: The Wanderer: And Old Path to Renewal (Feb 2010)

Marathon for Stillness (March 2010)

SOLE of REDEMPTION: Majesty of the Little Things (May 2010)

In Search of Simplicity, with a Ku

2011-02-01T13:56:00.004-05:00

arawak head

The past few days, I've been looking out, around, and up.  Amazing how easy it is really.  You just have to choose to step out your door and let yourself see.  Funny how alluring the idea is that we have to plan a faraway trip to do the same thing... Funny how seduced I've been by that idea...

the hang after the clean up

poor man's orchid

birth of a breadfruit

pine nuts

bougainvillea

ackee

i don't know...pussy willows???

poor man's orchid tree

breadfruit tree top
not sure really...

sun setting palms

Mellow

I lay here laid bare, 
as unplanned to be open, 
happy to be shared.

Haiku by Mystic Urchin
JANUARY  2011

last shadows til night...

So yah - I went back to the Bahamas...

2011-01-30T18:30:00.006-05:00

...and barely shot a thing.   Truth is I was with family for the holidays and we spent much of the time indoors; and frankly a good chunk of the time it was actually cold!  We're talking 50s, even 40s!  Not exactly beach weather - ha!  Anyway...here are a few sightings:

Waterside

west bay

south bay ridge

from the other side of Balmoral Island...

Seashells on Porches

queen conch

cross barreled venus with white coral - cool way to dress up plants I thought...

coral and shell mix in a dry nut shell

Vegetation

baby coconuts

I frankly can NEVER remember the name of this flower. Anyone?

hot mix of local peppers

elizabeth street roots

Atlantis

shark tank with encased water slide that takes you thru the tank. not for the risk averse I should think...

$25,000 p/night suite - i bet those who can afford it still stay for free...

glowing jellies

my nephew and the blow fish

Confessions from the Gap

2010-12-30T03:18:00.006-05:00

One random and uneventful day in the last couple of months of 2010 I caught myself barely hanging on to the edge, with just small traces of motivation to maintain my grip - and so, I fell in anyway. Those days were made up of worry about what the heck I was doing with my life, how hard it had become to stay home in New York, how false it felt to propogate any attempt to network or market myself or my work, anywhere, and how unwilling I was to pour my heart out to myself or to you, or why the hell I felt so uninspired to do ANYthing.  

Falling into a real depression was what it felt like, but like a functioning alcoholic - one never would have known it to look at me. I didn't know it!  I was still getting out, or getting online, still going through the motions of a 'fine art photographer' with another show opening to close off a good year - which meant life was moving forward right?  Or just moving in any event...  But internally I felt stagnant - resigned to keep falling through the dark gap, smacking into the detritus of strange, reactive, accidental, or just plain stupid choices I made - including the complacently coorperative (or indecisive) moments that played out in several areas of my life over the course of the last year.   

It's funny to say in contrast that I didn't feel dark, or sad.  There wasn't the typical dose of self bashing, that I'm fairly good at, nor were there tears (which sometimes I desperately wanted), but there was some anger...the type that tends to rise when I'm in NYC, or what I'm now transporting to Jamaica.  I'm learning slowly to see/feel it's usefulness for creation though.  It's an anxious irritability that forces me into a silent period where I begin to look, listen, fall into communicative spells of imaginative trances - and from there I work, unencumbered by impatience or self judgment.  It's textures and colors useful. But it's dimensions dreadful.

I heard Maya Angelou in a preview for Oprah's Master Class show on OWN, utter the words "Love LIBERATES.  Love does not own - that's Ego.  Love LIBERATES".  It happened in the middle of the night, around 2:30 in the morning on January 2nd. Quite suddenly, like a light switch being flicked up, I hit ground zero -  its landing like a freshly fluffed pillow covered in silk. After a long dark fall, I fell into this soundless open cavern surrounded by portals of light - none promising anything, all inviting liberation.  I ran to grab my diary and a wrote, and cried, and laughed, and purged.  Sounds mad - but it was just my way of crawling slowly back out of the gap.  

2010 was a year of countless fortuitous events for me both professionally and personally, but I judged myself for not being enough of an architect of the better looking structures formed out of those events; thus I named myself a reactive dweller in my life.  I stopped practicing yoga, continued daily to promise myself to return to dance - and each day breaking the promise, and I took up smoking again (I know, I know...).  I basically sat around a lot, pressing auto-response buttons to my life to at least engage in minimal participation of the opportunities afforded to me.  Or so I thought.  But in actuality, I drove myself down every yellow brick bumpy road I found myself on - I just dared not admit it in a moment when loving myself was not on the agenda.  

But love LIBERATES.
  
How easy it was once I just recognized my own bullshit!  Isn't that always the case?  You crawl out of denial only to discover what a simple fool you've been for investing such energies in a self imposed (imprisoning) cover up operation.  And for whom??? For what?  To arrive where?  Well, here I guess. Full and empty. Released and ready to begin building and balancing all over again.  And yeah...to quit smoking too. Again. Sigh. 

Dare  NOT to live in auto pilot mode - because it is precisely there that  gaps form; 
DARE to live inside your dreams, be in touch with your unique  imagination.

There, is your evolution,  
There you flourish,  
Only  there, can you oppose all external expectations of the 'established'  paradigms of successful living.  
There, is a place where you can create, approve of, and use your own paradigms. 

 
Unpredictable  ends and the fear of them make this a hard-sought and hard-won place, 
But there is the place of charged confident comfort in knowing your  purpose;
a place of  sustainable contentment, innocence, strength,  wonderment, and grace.  

To live there is to indeed be a free radical.
     Be radical. 
     Follow Your Heart.
     Become Your Dream. 
     MIND the GAP.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-24T15:26:00.000-05:00

Thank you for a great year, for teaching me again and again the value of community.

Where ever you are, whomever you're with, manifest the best possible celebration over the next few days. Throw the diet out the window, and the gripes out the door - we can always get back to those later! haha!

Have a good one folks.

Condensed Milk

2010-12-17T02:01:00.004-05:00

It's been a LONG break since my last post and I'm not even coming back at you with a production of philosophical rantings with fotos right now. I've been back in Jamaica for just under 2  weeks and the  blessings have been so delicious that I just had to jot down a condensed sweet n' creamy report of recent fortunes.  

Upon arrival I received my copy of the recently released Jamaica Fi Real: Beauty, Vibes and Culture - a book written about Jamaican history, culture, and contemporary life on the island by Kevin O'Brien Chang.   I submitted a couple shots to Randle Publishers earlier in the year, just a couple images I had lying around really - some of which were taken with my little (now old) Canon Powershot S1000 point + shoot.  Anyway the book features about 200 fotos and illustrations - and they printed two of mine.  SWEET! 
Original - cliK for a larger view 

One as the first foto page... 
(Taken in Port Antonio, 2007)  

Original - cliK for Larger View 

...and the other as the Introduction page (which also appears on the back cover)  Yay!!
(Taken @ Hellshire Beach, Kingston, 2010)

For more info on this book or where to buy it check these links:

•CVM TV Interview with writer Kevin O'Brien Chang  
•JA LITERATURE BLOG 

JAMAICA GLEANER ARTICLES: 
 •Highlighting The Nation's Positives 
•ARTS + LEISURE: Understanding 'Jamaica Fi Real'
•CHAT BOUT Blog

Check these sellers:
•Jamaica Fi Real from AMAZON BookSellers  
•Bookophilia, 92 Hope Road, Kingston
•Fontana, in Savanna-la-mar, Mandeville, and Montego Bay

 ...  
Right - Dyllese, Left Steve, and me, freaked with glee!
The co-conspirators - heehee ;)
Then...my best friends Dyllese(UK)and Steve (GLOBAL) threw me a surprise bday party (in JA) at which a good handful of dear friends were in attendance.  Everyone kept the damn secret via email and a FB group page!  I was so shocked I couldn't stop breaking sweats all night.  haha.  And I keep going on about this because I still can't believe they pulled it off.  To be so actively loved is to be truly blessed.  Endless gratitude and creamy yum!!  :)

...

Berette Macaulay Neue Rootz - Marisa Willoughby-Holland Uprising

After partying LITERALLY all night, I dragged my hung-over ass to the opening of the National Biennial @ the National Gallery of Jamaica the next morning.  I kind of waded through the whole show in a condensed mix of extreme nervousness, nausea, and hazy euphoria.  The two works from my Neue Rootz series seemed to be well received, and really, what more can a girl ask for?!  My childhood friend and ridiculously talented painter, Marisa Willoughby-Holland, also had a piece in the show - and it was great to experience doing one of these things with a close gal-pal. 

(Btw I will also have photo books of all the black and white portraits from Neue Rootz on sale at the gallery, and through an online store - more on that in another post.)

See YardEdge Interview I did with Marisa a couple years ago.  Her work is MINT!

...
  
 And now...B A H A M A S!!!
Photo Source Link
Extra Rich, Sweet n' Creamy 
;)

The e-Con Highway

2010-11-02T02:55:00.011-04:00

Money or the lack of money fuels fear, power, fear, greed, fear, control, then fear again, and thus the need to be released from all these things via distraction, and preferably inexpensively and free of consequence.  Welcome to the convergence of the information highway and the super-cause way of acceptable corruption of our minds, imagination, politics, media - de facto - our society.  The loafers often found at this intersection are 'we' the addicted apathetic consumers of the 'have it your way right away' gimmick that holds no truth for anything worth a fuck in this world; but if packaged correctly and flashed before our eyes quickly enough with as few informative words as possible, won't  be unwrapped or checked for ingredients, but rather gobbled up at the drive-up window before speeding off again to the next. 

Everything is about economics - everything in this world whether we want to believe it or not, is about money.  And while there are streams of exits we could jump off on in response to that remark, I mean only to focus right now on the economic con of politics and the frightening reality, that it is now nearly entirely driven by private funds/interests/agendas that all boil down to getting more of OUR money whilst giving us less, and, less of an explanation for the shit deal. 

Let's break it down shall we. The borders set up all over the world that are more heavily controlled than ever before, have more to do with controlling the movement of consumers, and the overhead costs of running countries than it has to do with...terror and those who are marketed as the purveyors of it.  Immigration control is a financial concern first and foremost isn't it?  Running a country is running a business, essentially.   Cut overheads, secure the fixed capital which includes land ownership (for majority shareholders) and its use, control distribution, keep the cogs maintained and oiled, upgrade where you can and especially in areas where wear-and-tear can break down the machine, outsource and delegate expensive industries, create cost effective partnerships and efficiency, and increase rest/rejuvenating spaces to keep customers and in-house staff and shareholders healthy...and happy to come and happy to stay without incurring debt.  These are some the basics - often spoken of politically as health care, immigration, education, infrastructure, treaties and trade, bills and legislative laws, environment, etc, etc, etc...etc.  We get emotional and rightfully impatient about these issues because the business is 'us', and the business practices must adhere to the inalienable and indisputable edicts of fair conduct and human rights - and our day to day lives incur immediate data on how well the business is serving our lives; and if the current faltering comforts of living don't change in 2.5 nanoseconds - somebody has got to go down...now.  

Well, I rant on not from a place of financial comfort - I'm an artist, and all the risk that that implies.  But I fancy myself a crude analyst as well, in that I need to distill, compare, correlate, and stratify, in order to understand the macro and the minutia so as to nullify the mind-numbing fear that would certainly result if I didn't.  And THIS my friends is EXACTLY what I'm not supposed to do.  Of course not.  Not in a world that is currently driven by a new culture of attention deficiency that keeps us apathetic rather than critical; overwhelmed from too much information rather than energized by it (guilty here - often guilty!); and thus too tired and happy with our shiny-flashy-media-filled-giggle-toys to be bothered with a thought, let alone act of revolution.

Now I'm no revolutionary.  I love my toys.  And I take lots of pictures so you can look at them on your toys!  I've never held a picket sign or attended a march.  I've been a petition signer, or a volunteer in various relief or art organizations, and ah...that's it folks.  But I do choose to create this much of a footprint here on this blog as my act of revolution - to simply say, I'm on to you funding-machine mutherfuckers!  People, let us not kid about the topic at hand, politicians don't have that kind of money, the private sector does.  I have maintained in private company for some time now that I can barely watch or read the news anymore because it has become oh-too-common, or dare I say, lazy, to blame them - or at least to blame them solely.  The real blame for me lies with the greedy land/big biz/corp owners who amalgamated this paradigm we live in to keep us brilliantly distracted, and now the politicians need them to fund their campaigns the way Zuckerberg had fun creating networks.  Do you see the connection?  We're not so powerless you know - in so far as being able to demand differently anyway. Look at the landslide win that seated a black man in the Presidential office! The trouble is we don't use this voice consistently.   We won't pay attention to any serious issue without it being packaged the same way the private sector packages the merchandise we like to buy!  And who's going to pay for that kind of marketing for financially restricted politicians?  Bingo guys!  The private sector - now having racked up nearly $2bn in campaign spending tomorrow to get your vote or to stop your vote.

Anyone familiar with third world politics, directly or indirectly, can say a thing or two about that slippery slope.  There is a type of corruption that exists in other parts of the world, that no matter what you say, I'm sorry, has never had the privilege of existing here in the US of A.  It's in fact what the nation was founded on, in part, right? Earning your fortune the new fashioned way - by working hard for it, rather than having it by connection, lineage, or sponsorship - like the old monarchies the founding fathers split ways with.  And yes, I am aware that the unfair edges and slopes have been around from jump street everywhere and will be - but that super highway I mentioned at the top of this post just got tilted to a near 72° angle in the last year and if this upcoming election and the wealthy finger-pointing-parties keep tipping it with no intervention from us, it'll hit 96°, and um...that's what you call a free fall.  How did it become so acceptable for people have to use such obscene amounts of money just to convince us to support improvements to our lives?  How did we become so fickle and short-sighted?  Where did the critical conversation go, and the analytical look at the long-sighted plan - or rather the real understanding of work, sacrifice, investment and timely care for sustainable growth?  These are the things that keep a  country evolving, and keep social activism...well...active. 

Now this is all just a general gripe, I don't have all the details of the successes and failures by our current President Obama.  But I do have enough in my noggin to know that his agenda for this country has more to do with the long view improvement plan for us shareholders.  And a personal favourite of his record is that this man holds the correct group responsible; the greedy corporations who sunk our globally collective ship, dried out the land, and sped away atop it, in their gold encrusted Bentleys.  And if you've been paying close attention and doing your cog part in this, some of that has been immediately effective.  But because everything didn't and isn't happening in 2.5 nanoseconds - we're ready to push out the folks who are helping the fella we were so wet for just a mere two years ago. And why, because we have a mid-afternoon-biscuit-and-scones party with no real or current responsibilities or accountability who can spout off risk-free criticisms without cited support and without real refute.  And why again, because they lost money when he charged their friends for greed.  And....WHY would WE side with that gripe of theirs???  It's the most incredible thing to me really.  That all said - I also worried during the elections in 2008, when we saw so many come out in droves to support Obama's proposed policies. Yes, he put a grassroots money cap on how much could be pledged to his campaign...but I wondered what we didn't see...and if he pushed forward with his plans with any integrity - surely this would piss off a few of his new rich friends.  And so...in some cases...it seems this has come to pass...

We live in a nation that should be leading in a good handful of industries, not least of all technology, manufacture, and green energy and we don't have a foothold in any of these - because that other late afternoon party with their pots of money thought it better to export...(why bother list them when the only competitive ones remaining are showbiz and the military)...nearly ALL our industries to other nations to cut overhead costs here.  Hence no jobs.  Hence no 2.5 nanosecond economic or employment rebound.  Hence our faltering infrastructure with few remaining experienced/skilled/trained labor to address it.  Hence unhappy shareholders.  Quite simple really, and not such a smart way to run a business is it?  Rather, a stupid and shortsighted way for you and me, while their pockets get longer under the cutting table in the stretch-custom-fitted-G5-winged-Bentley taking off from our barren highway for a weekend in Dubai! 

Yep this is a long one, and I don't get so political usually and I know I often give you pics too (back to that next time, I promise)  - but for God's sake people, use your voice while we still have a bit of a lean on this slope.  Barrack Obama still has the office for another two years, and what he is able to do while there is quite dependent on these elections.  So yes, this started actually as a spontaneus gripe, but has turned into a plea for you to vote today. It's harder for any of us to speak up when we're piled up over the edge of any highway if it leads us to nowhere, or worse, veers 96° down.

-Voting Offices in New York   

-Voting Offices by State

-President Carter on the Supreme Court's decision to legalize private funding for political campaigning,"It's legalized bribery"

-Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (The Supreme Court Rules No Limit on Corporate Funding of Political Campaigns, Jan 2010) 

Addendum provided Nov 4th, by a dear friend T.S. - thanks. A perfect site of factoids with links to bigger chunks if you feel like informing yourself further...

- What the Fuck Has Obama Done So Far Dot Com

Youthful Heroism Dressed in Pink

2010-10-27T06:42:00.002-04:00

My relationship with cancer is for the most part a repressed one. I have it in my family; my grand-aunt, grandmother, and other relatives had it, my father battled it for years, as well as some very significant friends of mine. But, for the first time actually, I am acknowledging publicly that I've never really ventured into a real conversation about this neither with friends or family. The platform just hasn't yet appeared to explore how I feel about it, how it concerns me, or influences my lifestyle choices, etc - and I don't even know the reason why - which on my worse days I judge quite harshly. I seem to face-off and blurt out all manner of things - but alas - this silent Machiavellian disease is a mum subject for me and I'll dare say for my loved ones too. And while the title features the word 'heroism' - I must admit, this is as far as my valiant efforts will take me today, until I can rap on the door of this topic again with pink ribbon waving high. Til then, I wanted to do something here in the last days of this very important month, to share two somewhat related things I recently came across that inspired me and why.

All stories from anyone whose life has been touched by cancer are rife with episodic or spasmodic, maddening reports of impossibly persistent fortitude in fighting it, or in soldiering on when it has robbed us of our cherished friend, cousin, sister, mother, brother, father, or child. There is always inspiration to be found in recounts of caregivers or receivers during this illness and its trying treatments; but there is also the most incomprehensible force of energy to be gained from any simple triumphant report over the powerlessness this disease seems to fabricate.

There are, in my estimation, two such examples below - each infused with beauty, a touch of the silly, with brilliant simplicity fused with complex imaginative victories...over what is, well...definitively destructive. Art is creative, as is science, and the greatest abandon in creativity is often expressed youthfully - which has always been symbolised so perfectly by the pink ribbons we see everywhere during Breast Cancer Month. So while not directly related to breast cancer - I hope you see the connective tissue of these youthful forms of heroism.

Dedicated to us all - may we always imagine our way past the impossible.

The Women Project::::by JR - 2011 Ted Prize Winner

"Women Are Heroes"

Website

Synopsis Excerpt: The Women project wants to underline their pivotal role and to highlight  their dignity by shooting them in their daily lives and posting them on  the walls of their country.

On the other hand, by posting the same images of these women in Western  countries, the project allows everyone to feel concerned by their  condition and connects, through art, the two different worlds.

Kenya, South-Sudan, Sierra-Leone, Liberia

"Could cancer be caused by the body's own repair system going awry?"

:::::::by Eva Vertes, a fresh faced 19 year old at the time of this talk, shows her genius creative curiousity in exploring how to cure cancer

Website for Molecular Biology, Princeton University

Eva Vertes is a microbiology prodigy. Her discovery, at age 17,  of a compound that stops fruit-fly brain cells from dying was regarded  as a step toward curing Alzheimer's. Now she aims to find better ways to  treat -- and avoid -- cancer.   She asks this and other breathtaking questions in her conference-closing 2005 talk. Her approach marks an important shift in scientific thinking,  looking in brand-new places for cancer's cause -- and its cure. Her  ultimate goal, which even she calls far-fetched, is to fight cancer with  cancer.

Some talk about a new project ...'BRANDED'

2010-10-10T19:35:00.003-04:00

So finally - a chat about the creative part of the journey - or at least, the current inspiration for my artistic trippin'.  I know it seems like I've been vacationing and getting rewarded for it - haha.  But the truth is my last couple of trips to Jamaica have mainly been about work, work-work-work.  I have 3 new projects slow roasting on the burner now  - but the higher fire is under a series called BRANDED...therefore I AM  which I started in the early Spring of this year.  

I've had a couple of delicious 'AHA' moments over the past  year and a half regarding the use of social websites, and the  maddeningly-genius-connectivity-of-a-near-socio-psychotic-reality that  bothered the heck out of me but didn't seem to bother as many other people as I'd thought!  Of  course I'm a player and therefore a part of this online global community  shift, so it feels oddly dissociative to criticize the mediums that I  use on a daily basis - but, my fascination with human complexities and  my studies in psychology just dragged me into this analytical and  critical discourse - and naturally I had to figure out how to create  work out of it.  Hence the first 'exile' image of the series that I posted back in April:

BRANDED - Fool In Exile

BRANDED... is in essence, a rudimentary representation of the seemingly open and  sophisticated, yet phatic self-branding we often create on social websites. It  is comprised  of a series of location portrait and nude photographs showing aphorisms or phrases on body painted subjects; a  video short; and an interactive installation (a secret until showtime);  all serving as  observations or portrayals of  private thoughts and social fears of  rejection,  isolation, or persecution, - or conversely - social wishes  of mass  acceptance, popularity, power, and influence.  BRANDED...   however, is raw on purpose. I don't want to create polished imagery because I want  to test our senses to see if a crudely  created image can still be  visually, psychologically, and emotionally tangible. And, in  this mass intangible coming together there seems to me to be a new collective isolation which begs at the very least, for some mental  masturbation on the matter! 

I  have interviewed a number of people so far for this work, and in so  doing I've been inspired to conduct a full scale survey on the usage  habits of social websites (which will take me back to my school days  when I had to do surveys for my social psych papers - ahhhh!).  It's so  fascinating how we all have deeply rooted ideas about our identities and  character traits, and how sharply these ideas sometimes contradict  our online (onstage) personas.  And what I've found even more  interesting is how some of us seem to need to express these altered  parts of ourselves to jumpstart or finish our days!  But sadly, if we're not careful, we can be 'outed' but not-so-friendly 'friends'.

BRANDED - Beautiful Mistakes

Just a few days ago it was reported that a young man, shamed in the virtual world by his roommate, shared his last words on Facebook before jumping off the very real George Washington Bridge in New York.  And I just heard on the news this week that the first US internet withdrawal clinic  (requiring physical check-ins, as opposed to that of virtual clinics -  a sardonic  contradiction)  just opened up in Washington!  Actually the nation with the second  largest web user population of 94 million*, China, beat the USA (the largest user pop) to this back in 2005,  with the opening of a Web Addiction Center for children and young adults - after government officials  cited concerns that the internet was "eroding public morality". And speaking of that - don't you  find it troubling that face-to-face contact has not only decreased as a result of our online social lives, but with the acceptability of our web/iphone/bberry-time demands, many of us actively create that decrease in our scheduled time for hanging out with our friends?  Will the norm of staring into screens make us socially enept?  I kind of think so.  And as a friend of mine noted, and aptly too, even when we are in each others company - the unspoken understanding is that at least 50% of that time will be devoted to staying connected on our devices while chowing on brunch or in the theater watching a flick!  

I just stumbled upon yet another by-product of this phenomenal shift on the BBC news site where the new business concept of friendship rental services are now popping up in several countries - where, yes guys, people are renting 'friends' so they can have company in their actual lives since their real friends are too busy to go to the movies or check out a new restaurant, etc; like online dating if you will. Now some of you may say, 'that's never gonna take off' - 'those people need to get a life' - 'that shit is for looo-sers'; not far from the general protests to social websites in recent years too, until one by one...we conformed.  The  point is - this is not my imagination (well duh Berette!)- the virtual world is so close to really taking over that  I have to ask if this 1984-BigBro-touchless-life-of-staring-into-lit-screens is really the way  to get closer or to keep in touch (as we ironically justify it)??? Do we want to live in the matrix; I mean really?  And though it may seem like it, no, this is not meant to be a  seditious plea against the advertising mecca** of Facebook and the like; I mean, maybe all the entertaining online bonding and networking benefits outweigh the unfortunate  community  expropriations*** - who knows? I'm just inspired to examine its effects, on me, my relationships, and social behavioral changes in general - for the good and for the bad.  And where Facebook is concerned, how can one effectively speak out against the Goliath of middle and upper class conformity of 500+  million??!!

BRANDED - Signs of Success

Where ever one stands on this topic (which may soon spark sensitive reactions in proportions akin to the other hot topics like religion, politics, and sex)the newly released film "the social network" from the brilliant mind of Aaron Sorkin, has really put the topic on the big thinking table now, which kinda feels like a notarization of my artistic response - heehee - so I am thus, in a rush to share this with you, on my blog, before the tangible gallery exhibit.  And, um, to the first obvious counter response here - touché.
BRANDED - Running for Stillness

More Fun Reading:

*Wired Magazine, Beijing Clinic Treats Web Addicts, July 3rd, 2005
**Bloomberg Businessweek, How Facebook Sells Your Friends, Sept 24, 2010
***Net Addiction Souces

© BRANDED (...therefore I AM) in name, concept, and imagery are the copyrighted property of Berette Macaulay/SeBiArt. All rights reserved.

SeBiArt upcoming show dates

2010-10-03T00:16:00.000-04:00

Hey Jamrockers and New Yorkers, 

I have a couple of shows coming up in both spots - soooo between the lot of you, some of you in either place should be able to check my work out on one of the dates! Ha - mouthful! I'm still high on back painkillers okay. :)

Okay so first there's the JCDC/NGJ Traveling Showcase featuring all the award winning works from the National Visual Arts competition. And yep-yep - my award winning Liquid Trees image from this summer will be featured! HellZ-yeah! So if you missed it at the National Gallery - check it at one of these spots.

See Details here (click image for larger view):

Next up is Critical Mass, a group exhibit at HeadQuarters Gallery in TriBeCa, NYC. The event will be hosted by Art for Progress, featuring original works by 16 artists and curated by Natalie Kates. All works will be for sale through the gallery and will be up for only two days!

Details here (click image for larger view):

As for my current creative efforts(funny that I rarely discuss my actual day-to-day-creative-work-life on my blog...I wonder why that is...hmmmmm....chin scratch...ANYhoo), I've been working on a series called BRANDED since the Spring. Gonna dive into that in my next jotting.

Awakening in the Illusion

2010-09-20T01:43:00.000-04:00

I've pretty much done away with the old anal me, the organized, neat, over-planning freak who had to be certain of every iota of everything in order to move forward with anything. I'm paraphrasing my internal mantra here, but now each day I sludge or skip forward with this guiding belief:

The only way to travel light is really to release the heavily packaged idea that you need to know everything. Release into the unknown, dance with the uncertainty of fudged plans; only there lie the surprises of certain rewards.

Lofty innit? But you know, I've honestly found this to be quite true. Just two years ago, I, and a couple witnesses in my life, would have laughed at the idea of how I live now. Guilt and fear were my close allies in how I perceived my life or any possibilities that lay before me, and they informed how I would arm myself against disaster (though I did often contradict myself, thereby creating fine messes to clean up anyway). As I shared with a dear friend the other day, it recently dawned on me that I currently have stuff left in homes of friends and family in 3 regions of the world - and, unbelievably, I'm not bothered!

That said - I've not brought this gypsy-footing around to the close I imagined I would have by now. The marvelous lesson and gift of detachment that I've gained with all this jumping around, has also enabled a not-so-complimentary trait of mine: indecisiveness. It would appear that I no longer know how, and thus by default, where to land - which is beginning to concern me...but only a little bit. Not being tied to a calendar has filled my mostly unscheduled life with an immense amount of fulfilling activity, that ironically now seems to need a bit of structure. With all this ambiguity about where to finally unpack my suitcases, I've been wondering a lot lately if the impending external pressure to do so means it's time to grow up, or if this is really the distance for me.

I mean, I handle the business of adulthood as well as the next person I suppose; attending to duties and responsibilities with a fair amount of acceptance (haha) and efficiency, even aplomb on occasion! Admittedly though, my hypersensitivity to the realities of post-childhood life will sometimes grip me with sheer panic beyond what I've observed in others. But, I soldier on, as must we all!

Given such observations, I must concede to the truth that I chase novelty at every turn, because I have yet to truly make peace with the sheer regularness of living. Does this mean that my development is stunted? Or could it mean simply, that I reach for constant expansion? I really fear that too much routine (though I synchronously yearn for it...) will put me to sleep, but who's to say really that I'm even awake? I could be just an indulgent escapist, justifying my ever changing mindset and physical location as necessary creative food for my artistic and spiritual development!

What is it to be living in an illusion? What is it to be awake? Can we do both; can we "dream awake"? Really, is there a satisfying definition of either choice, and which therefore is the more beneficial and actionable prescription for a fulfilling life? What has been a most amusing thing to me for the past couple of years, is the common mantra that "life is short", and its expression is often followed by an urging to figure out the 'how' and the correct 'how' now, so as to live it to the fullest. But I think life is long, really long. The changes are constant and the shifts can be huge, and if you're really paying attention and being honest with yourself, even the obvious answers are never really clear because they're simply not static enough to be always useful and ever true. So - I have no idea what the right prescription is. But maybe it's just choosing NOW and all that now has to offer, since all else - as new age philosophers and meta-physicists may propose - doesn't really exist and therefore doesn't matter...

London Tube 2007

Fighters Get Scared Too

2010-08-23T11:49:00.002-04:00

My mother shared a most insightful passage she wrote on a brief mental respite at her work table, amidst a tsunami of files and papers where she is regularly found toiling over a paper, article, appeal, or judgment for her clients or the human rights movement. She has spent the past 30+ years of her life working for and attending to the business of educating, supporting, and winning equal rights battles and lobbying for law reform for women, children, and all, in various organizations and international courts.

Her sacrifices for the struggles of others are countless, and frankly the workload is mind boggling. Her efforts take her all over the world hearing stories and cases of unimaginable atrocities which she simply cannot abide, and so she barrels forth beyond any reasonable expectation and often with little reward or at personal cost, with a tireless dedication and optimism that floors me. I could never hope to step into the shoes of such a woman, but I was touched to be let into a vulnerable outpouring of her heart in this impromptu passage that has thankfully been legally released for my blog (haha!):

My Struggle

They praise my work for the rights of women and children - in fact for the enjoyment of human rights by all. But do they know?

Do they know the fears?

Do they know the doubts?

Do they know the nervousness?

Do they know the exhaustion?

Do they know the passion and the energy it takes to overcome these things, and which push me on to do, to speak, to write, to present, to lobby, to participate?

Do they know the prayers I say for strength, for inspiration, for knowledge, for understanding, for patience, for consistency?

Do they know?

Do they even care to know?

Does it matter if they know, if it's what I must do to fulfill my life, when I chose my struggle as the soul transporter of my purpose?

Margarette May Macaulay, July 11, 2010

SUPPORT POST: ArtsLawRoundUp

2010-08-13T11:05:00.002-04:00

So usually I'm waxing on about feelings, creativity, shows, or some sort of community project.

Now it's time for the business of art people, and no better way to get yourself prepared than to arm yourself with knowledge, specifically legal facts and rights pertaining to your work. I'm talkin' copyright issues, contracts, licensing, advertising, creative commons, rights to credit, patents, etc, etc, et al.

My dear friend Justin Lynch, attorney-at-law AND pianist AND dancer (yes, you read that right) started a blog that addresses all these issues factually, patiently, humoursly, and thoroughly (and always with additional sources) which will leave you less frightened and better armed for protecting your work.

Leap off this page, check it, and Subscribe! Where else are you gonna get legal advice from a lawyer who is also an artist?!