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Come visit the Cradle of Humankind! Starting in a camp reflecting the 1920s you soon cross a wide river with the wildlife veterinary station and a savanna lying behind. Or you visit a small native village near the dark jungle. Safari feeling guaranteed!
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The oak tree comes in a number of various flavors from the Red Oak to the White Oak, Live Oak to the Lacey Oak, Water Oak to the Blue Oak. The species are numerous and the range is vast encompassing almost every forest on the planet from the boreal to the tropical rainforests. The oak is almost a symbolic, unifying tree of humankind. It's as if it is a prop in the backdrop of the world stage as it creates a common, stately experience amongst us all, yet it is barely celebrated beyond the acorn and fall foliage or for its wood to burn and build with. The omnipresential oak is truly omnipresidential; the true peaceful plant of this planet.
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The “Nuremberg Chronicle” is an illustrated world history that follows the story of humankind related in the Bible, from Creation to Last Judgment. It was written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel in the city of Nuremberg and is one of the best-documented early printed books – an incunabulum – and one of the first to successfully integrate illustrations and text. The publisher and printer was Anton Koberger, the godfather of Albrecht Durer. The large workshop of Michael Wolgemut, then Nuremberg’s leading artist, provided the unprecedented 1,809 woodcut illustrations. Albrecht Durer was an apprentice with Wolgemut from 1486 to 1489, so may well have participated in designing some of the illustrations for the specialist craftsmen who cut the blocks.
Approximately 400 Latin and 300 German copies of the Chronicle survived into the twenty-first century. Some copies were broken up for sale as decorative prints. The larger illustrations in the book were sold separately, often hand-colored in watercolor. Many copies of the book are also colored, with varying degrees of skill; there were specialist shops for this. The coloring on some examples has been added much later.
Created by Melbourne stained glass manufacturer Ferguson and Urie in 1880 for the opening of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church, the triangular epitrochoidal (curved triangular form) rose window is a very unusual example of such a window.
It features a number of symbols in small circles of brilliantly painted stained glass. These include:
- Alfa and Omega (taken from the statement by Jesus in the Book of Revelations 22 - 13 "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End")
- a set of crossed keys (symbolising the keys to heaven as held by Saint Peter, its traditional gatekeeper)
- a sanctuary lamp (which symbolises the presence of the Lord)
- an anchor (symbolising hope), an eight pointed start (symbolising resurrection)
- the sun (symbolising good shining over evil)
- an Ichthys (fish) (symbolising Christ)
- a dove (symbolising the Holy Spirit)
- a five petal red Tudor Rose (symbolising the five wounds of Jesus Christ from the crucifixion)
- crossed palm branches (representing martyrdom)
- a chalice (taken from the glass from which Jesus drank with his disciples during the Las Supper - symbolising Christ's power to redeem humankind)
- a wheat sheath (also taken from the Last Supper, symbolising the body of Christ and Christ's power to redeem humankind)
- a bunch of grapes (symbolising the blood of Christ and Christ's power to redeem humankind)
- a harp (symbolising music, musical instruments and the joy and worship in praising God)
- a crown (representing immortality, righteousness and the resurrection)
- the cross in the centre of the window, which is the principal symbol of the Christian religion, recalling the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the redeeming benefits of his Passion and death. The cross is thus a sign both of Christ himself and of the faith of Christians
Together, these circles, along with seven stars form the triangular epitrochoidal (curved triangular form) rose window.
The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church, which stands on busy Chapel Street in St Kilda East, is a well known and loved local landmark, not least of all because of its strikingly tall (33.5 metre or 110 foot) banded bell tower which can be spotted from far away. In the Nineteenth Century when it was built, it would have been even more striking for its great height and domineering presence. Designed by architect Albert Purchas, the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is often referred to as his ecclesiastical tour-de-force, and it is most certainly one of his most dramatic and memorable churches.
The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was constructed on a plot of land reserved in Chapel Street for the Presbyterian Church of Victoria in 1866. Initially services were held in a small hall whilst fundraising efforts advanced the erection of a church. The architect Albert Purchas was commissioned to design the church and the foundation stone for the western portion of the nave was finally laid in April 1877 by Sir James McCulloch. The first service was held in the church on the 1st of October 1877. The first clergyman of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was the Reverend John Laurence Rentoul (father to world renown and much loved Australian children's book illustrator Ida Rentoul Outhwaite). However, the swelling Presbyterian congregation of St Kilda and its surrounding districts quickly outgrew the initial Saint George's Presbyterian Church building, so Albert Purchas was obliged to re-design and enlarge the church to allow a doubling in capacity. Robert S. Ekins was the contractor and his tender was £3000.00. It is this imposing church building, reopened in 1880, that we see today. The "Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil" noted that the total length of the building was 118 feet and 6 inches (36 metres), by 40 foot (12 metres) wide and that the striking octagonal tower to the north-west was 110ft 6 in high. It perhaps reflected better the wealth and aspirations of the congregation.
The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is constructed on bluestone foundations and is built in an ornate polychromatic Gothic Revival style in the tradition of English designers like William Butterfield and John L. Pearson. Built of red brick building, it is decorated in contrasting cream bricks and Waurn Ponds freestone dressings. It features a slate roof with prominent roof vents, iron ridge cresting and fleche at the intersection of the nave and transepts. The front facade of the church is dominated by the slender, banded octagonal tower topped by a narrow spire. The entrance features a double arched portal portico. The facade also features a dominant triangular epitrochoidal (curved triangular form) rose window. The church, like its bluestone neighbour All Saints Church of England, is built to a T-shaped plan, with an aisleless nave, broad transepts and internal walls of cream brick, relieved with coloured brickwork. The former Saint George's Presbyterian Church was one of the first major church design in Melbourne in which polychrome brickwork was lavishly employed both externally and internally.
The inside of the former Saint George's Presbyterian Church is equally as grand as the exterior, with ornamental Gothic Revival polychromatic brickwork, a lofty vaulted ceiling, deal and kauri pine joinery and pulpit and reredos of Keene's cement. The building originally contained a complete set of Victorian stained glass windows by well known and successful Melbourne manufacturers Ferguson and Urie, all of which remain intact today except for one of the non-figurative windows which was replaced by a memorial window to Samuel Lyons McKenzie, the congregation’s beloved minister, who served from 1930 to 1948, in 1949. The earliest of the Ferguson and Urie windows are non-figurative windows which feature the distinctive diaper pattern and floral motifs of Fergus and Urie's work, and are often argued to be amongst the finest of their non-figurative designs. The large triple window in the chancel was presented by Lady McCulloch in memory of the ‘loved and dead’. Another, in memory of John Kane Smyth, the Vice-Consul for the United States of America in Melbourne, has the American Stars and Stripes on the top ventilator above it. An organ by Thomas C. Lewis of London, one of the leading 19th century English organ builders, was installed in the south transept in 1882. It was designed to blend with its architectural setting, with pipework styled to avoid the obstruction of windows. The action of this organ was altered in 1935, but the pipework, and the original sound, have been retained.
Over the years many spiritual and social activities were instituted at Saint George’s, Presbyterian Church some of short duration such as the Ladies’ Reading Club which operated between 1888 and 1893. There were segregated Bible classes for young men and women, the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union, formed in 1892, a cricket club and a floral guild. Guilds teaching physical culture for girls, boys and young men began in 1904. They were entirely financed by John Maclellan and the idea extended to other denominations throughout Victoria. John Maclellan died in 1936 and the guilds ceased at Saint George’s Presbyterian church through lack of funds although in 1977 the members of the girls’ guild were still holding bi-annual reunions and raising money for charity. Sadly, the Presbyterian congregations may have been large in the Nineteenth Century, but by St George's Presbyterian Church's 110th centenary, its doors had already closed during the week due to dwindling numbers and an ageing congregation as a result of the general decline in church attendances after the Second World War exacerbated by the changing nature of St Kilda and the decrease in numbers of residents living in the vicinity of the church. So it stood, forlorn and empty and seemingly nothing more than a relic of a glorious but bygone religious past. However in 1990, Saint Michael's Grammar School across the road leased the Victorian Heritage listed building during weekdays, and it was eventually sold to them in 2015. It now forms part of the school's performing-arts complex, and it has a wonderful new lease of life.
St George's Presbyterian Church is sometimes hired out for performances, and I had the pleasure of receiving an invitation to hear Handel's Messiah performed there in 2009. The ecclesiastical acoustics made the performance all the more magnificent. I remember as I sat on one of the original (hard) kauri pine pews, I looked around me and admired the stained glass and ornamental brickwork. I tried without success over several subsequent years to gain access to the church's interior, settling for photographs of the exterior instead, but it wasn't until 2018 that I was fortunate enough to gain entry to photograph the church's interior. The former St George's Presbyterian Church was opened up to the public for one Sunday morning only as part of Open House Melbourne in July 2018. It was a fantastic morning, and I am very grateful to the staff who manned the church for the day and watched bemused as I photographed the stained glass extensively and in such detail.
Albert Purchas, born in 1825 in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales, was a prominent Nineteenth Century architect who achieved great success for himself in Melbourne. Born to parents Robert Whittlesey Purchas and Marianne Guyon, he migrated to Australia in 1851 to establish himself in the then quickly expanding city of Melbourne, where he set up a small architect's firm in Little Collins Street. He also offered surveying services. His first major building was constructing the mansion "Berkeley Hall" in St Kilda on Princes Street in 1854. The house still exists today. Two years after migrating, Albert designed the layout of the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton. It was the first "garden cemetery" in Victoria, and his curvilinear design is still in existence, unaltered, today. In 1854, Albert married Eliza Anne Sawyer (1825 - 1869) in St Kilda. The couple had ten children over their marriage, including a son, Robert, who followed in his father's footsteps as an architect. Albert's brother-in-law, Charles Sawyer joined him in the partnership of Purchas and Sawyer, which existed from 1856 until 1862 in Queens Street. The firm produced more than 140 houses, churches, offices and cemetery buildings including: the nave and transepts of Christ Church St Kilda between 1854 and 1857, "Glenara Homestead"in Bulla in 1857, the Melbourne Savings Bank on the corner of Flinders Lane and Market Street (now demolished) between 1857 and 1858, the Geelong branch of the Bank of Australasia in Malop Street between 1859 and 1860, and Beck's Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine in 1861. When the firm broke up, Albert returned to Little Collins Street, and the best known building he designed during this period was Saint. George's Presbyterian Church in St Kilda East between 1877 and 1880. The church's tall polychomatic brick bell tower is still a local landmark, even in the times of high rise architecture and development, and Saint, George's itself is said to be one of his most striking church designs. Socially, Albert was vice president of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects for many years, before becoming president in 1887. He was also an inventor and philanthropist. Albert died in 1909 at his home in Kew, a wealthy widower and much loved father.
The stained glass firm of Ferguson and Urie was established by Scots James Ferguson (1818 – 1894), James Urie (1828 – 1890) and John Lamb Lyon (1836 – 1916). They were the first known makers of stained glass in Australia. Until the early 1860s, window glass in Melbourne had been clear or plain coloured, and nearly all was imported, but new churches and elaborate buildings created a demand for pictorial windows. The three Scotsmen set up Ferguson and Urie in 1862 and the business thrived until 1899, when it ceased operation, with only John Lamb Lyon left alive. Ferguson and Urie was the most successful Nineteenth Century Australian stained glass window making company. Among their earliest works were a Shakespeare window for the Haymarket Theatre in Bourke Street, a memorial window to Prince Albert in Holy Trinity, Kew, and a set of Apostles for the West Melbourne Presbyterian Church. Their palatial Gothic Revival office building stood at 283 Collins Street from 1875. Ironically, their last major commission, a window depicting “labour”, was installed in the old Melbourne Stock Exchange in Collins Street in 1893 on the eve of the bank crash. Their windows can be found throughout the older suburbs of Melbourne and across provincial Victoria.
I took the photos in this series for Birth for Humankind, an organisation that provides free birth support and education for pregnant women in Melbourne who are experiencing financial and social hardship.
You can read the story behind these photos here: medium.com/@Birth_for_HumanKIND/the-beautiful-bond-betwee...
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Dan Reinberg and Susie McMonagle attend CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Brisa Hernandez, Kathy Graulich and Erin Erickson attend CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography)
After mechanical apocalypse there are 3 factions - Humankind Army, Junk Raiders and Machines Hivemind. This is unit 1 from Humankind Army. It has shield generator on right manipulator and its main purpose - shielding the attaking units.
Humankind's first ever view of the Earth from the Moon.
From the crew of Apollo 8, orbiting the Moon
via NASA
24 December 1968.
***************
Live radio broadcast from the spacecraft:
Astronaut William Anders:
"We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
James Lovell:
"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Frank Borman:
"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good.
And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."
***************
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ISS030-S-001 (April 2011) --- The International Space Station (ISS) program is completing the transition from assembly to full utilization as humankind celebrates the golden anniversary of human space exploration. In recognition of these milestones and especially of the contribution of those whose dedication and ingenuity make spaceflight possible, a fully assembled ISS is depicted rising above a sunlit Earth limb. Eastward of the sunlit limb, the distinctive portrayal of Earth's surface illuminated by nighttime city lights is a reminder of mankind's presence on the planet, most readily apparent from space only by night, and commemorates how human beings have transcended their early bonds throughout the previous 50 years of space exploration. The ISS, a unique space-based outpost for research in biological, physical, space and Earth sciences, in the words of the crew members, is an impressive testament to the tremendous teamwork of the engineers, scientists and technicians from 15 countries and five national space agencies. The six crew members of Expedition 30, like those who have gone before them, express that they are honored to represent their countries and the ISS team in conducting research aboard the station and adding to the body of knowledge that will enable the world's space faring countries to more safely and more productively live, work and explore outer space, paving the way for future missions beyond low Earth orbit, and inspiring young people to join in this great adventure. The NASA insignia design for shuttle and space station flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the form of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which is not anticipated, it will be publicly announced. Photo credit: NASA
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Joni Rubin attends CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Drew Altizer)
Among the many topics of interest to non-Muslims, the status of Muslim women and the theme of their rights -- or rather, the perceived lack of them – seems to be foremost. The media’s portrayal of Muslim women, usually outlining their “oppression and mystery” seems to contribute to this negative perception.
The main reason for this is that people often fail to distinguish between culture and religion -- two things that are completely different. In fact, Islam condemns oppression of any kind whether it is towards a woman or humankind in general.
The Quran is the sacred book by which Muslims live. This book was revealed 1400 years ago to a man named Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, (may Allaah exalt his mention) who would later become the Prophet, may Allaah exalt his mention. Fourteen centuries have passed and this book has not been changed since, not one letter has been altered.
In chapter 33, entitled Soorah Al-Ahzaab (The Clans), verse 59 Allaah The Exalted Almighty Says (what means): "O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the woman of the believers to bring down over themselves (part) of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known (as free respectable women) and not be abused. And ever is Allaah Forgiving and Merciful." [Quran 33:59] This verse shows that Islam makes wearing a Hijaab necessary. Hijaab is the word used for covering, not only the headscarves (as some people may think) but also wearing loose clothes that are not too bright.
Sometimes, people see covered Muslim women and they think of this as oppression. This is wrong. A Muslim woman is not oppressed, in fact, she is liberated. This is because she is no longer valued for something material, such as her good looks or the shape of her body. She compels others to judge her for her intelligence, kindness, honesty and personality. Therefore, people judge her for who she actually is.
When Muslim women cover their hair and wear loose clothes, they are obeying the orders of their Lord to be modest, not cultural or social mores. In fact, Christian nuns cover their hair out of modesty, yet no one considers them “oppressed”. By following the command of Allaah, Muslim women are doing the exact same thing.
The lives of the people who responded to the Quran have changed drastically. It had a tremendous impact on so many people, especially women, since this was the first time that the souls of man and women were declared equal -- with the same obligations as well as the same rewards.
For the first time in history, women were granted economic independence in Islam. The money they bring in to marriage is theirs as well as the money they earn. In Islam, women are allowed to choose their own husbands and in extreme cases, ask for divorce. A woman has the right to be educated, contrary to what the contemporary world might think. The responsibility is that of the person who is raising her.
Islam is a religion that holds women in high regard. Long ago, when baby boys were born, they brought great joy to the family. The birth of a girl was greeted with considerably less joy and enthusiasm. Sometimes, girls were hated so much that they were buried alive. Islam has always been against this irrational discrimination against girls and female infanticide.
The Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam, said: "Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim (male and female)." Men and women both have the capacity for learning and understanding. Since it is also their obligation to promote good behavior and condemn bad behavior in all spheres of life, Muslim women must acquire the appropriate education to perform this duty in accordance with their own natural talents and interests.
While maintenance of their homes, providing support to the husband and bearing, raising and teaching children are among the first and very highly regarded roles for a woman, if she has the skills to work outside the home for the good of the community, she may do so. However, this is allowed only as long as her family obligations are met and as long as she complies with the Islamic code of dress and conduct, with no intermingling with men in the workplace.
Islam recognizes and fosters the natural differences between men and women despite their equality. Some types of work are more suitable for men and other types for women. This differentiation in no way diminishes the effort or benefit of one gender over the other. God will reward both genders equally for the value of their work, though it may not necessarily be within the same sphere of activity.
The two great roles a woman plays in life are that of a wife and a mother. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, once said to a group of Companions, may Allaah be pleased with them: "The best among you are those who are the best to their wives." This shows that Islam highly encourages treating the wives well. They should be shown love, respect and care. To foster the love and security that comes with marriage, Muslim wives have various rights. The first of the wife's rights is to receive dowry, a gift from the husband, which is part of the marriage contract and required for the legality of the marriage.
The second right of a wife is maintenance. Despite any wealth she may have, her husband is obligated to provide her with food, shelter and clothing. He is not forced, however, to spend beyond his capability and his wife is not entitled to make unreasonable demands.
Concerning motherhood, the Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam, said: "Heaven lies under the feet of mothers." This implies that the success of a society can be traced to the mothers who raised it. The first and greatest influence on a person comes from the sense of security, affection and training received from the mother. Therefore, a woman having children must be educated and conscientious in order to be a skillful parent.
A man came to the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam, and asked: "Who among my kinfolk is worthy of my good companionship?" The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, replied: "Your mother" three times before saying: "Your father." This indicates the impact that a mother has in a person's life. So women are highly honored in this great religion.
Islam is a religion that treats women fairly. The Muslim woman was given a role, duties and rights 1400 years ago that most women do not enjoy even today in the West. These rights are from God and are designed to maintain a balance in society; what may seem “unjust” or “missing” in one place is compensated for or explained in another place.
[From: Al-Jumu’ah Vol. 14]
Intertwined, grasping, touching, leaning, helping. All done by humans and in nature as well. We all need to have someone or something to let us know we are not alone. This is a silhouette of one of my favorite trees across the street from my home. I look at it everyday and get a sense of peace. Have a great evening!!
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…after a long walk, with the threat of heavy rain, you get to spend a good hour or two slipping and sliding, crouching and crawling along one of the oldest tunnels dug by humankind. That mud is sticky…very sticky and I’ll defy anyone to go down there and not come out covered!
It’s normal to spend a good couple of hours cleaning your camera equipment once you have been down here!
Went with a good friend Jim who, as a postman, you would have thought a long walk would have been no bother…jeez…the moaning !
All pictures copyright to www.mckenzie.photos
The full history....
The idea of a fixed link across the English Channel was first put forward in the early part of the 19th Century but concerns over national security stalled attempts to progress it.
But an Anglo-French protocol was established in 1876 for a railway tunnel under the Channel. South Eastern Railway Chairman Sir Edward Watkin and French Suez Canal contractor Alexandre Lavalley conducted exploratory works on either side of the water, coming together in 1882 under the umbrella of the Submarine Railway Company.
In 1880, No.1 shaft was sunk and a 7-foot diameter pilot tunnel begun below Abbot's Cliff, between Dover and Folkestone, 10 feet above high water level. The driving force was Captain Thomas English's rotary boring machine - 33 feet in length and powered by compressed air - which was capable of cutting 5/16" for every rotation of its cutting head, at a rate of two revolutions per minute and almost half-a-mile per month. It was though hoped that this performance could be improved over time.
In February 1881, with about 800 feet driven and the machine proven, work was refocused at a site further along the coast, accessed via the 160-foot No.2 shaft at Shakespeare Cliff. Here another pilot tunnel was started under the foreshore, progressing through lower grey chalk towards a meeting with the French pilot tunnel - which was extending from Sangatte - 11 miles out to sea. This phase of the work was expected to be complete by 1886. Machinery was being developed which would then have enlarged the heading to 14 feet in diameter before a 2-foot thick concrete lining was inserted. The approach railways would fall on a gradient of 1:80 before reaching a depth of 150 feet below the sea bed. Operational ventilation would be provided by the compressed-air locomotives used to haul the trains.
But 1882 saw the government call a halt, worried about the military implications of a land-link to Europe. Sir Edward's well-reasoned reassurances fell on deaf ears with 2,040 yards of the Shakespeare Cliff heading driven, another 897 yards at Abbot's Cliff and 1,825 yards on the French side of the Channel. Both shafts were later backfilled.
When the idea of a tunnel was revisited in both 1974 and 1988, various remedial works were carried out on the 1880s workings as a result of the new alignments potentially intersecting with them. This work discovered a number of roof falls and broken timber supports. A concrete bulkhead was installed 890 yards into the No.2 heading, effectively entombing the boring machine.
Access to the original heading has been maintained as it meets one of the drainage adits driven from the base of the cliff under the coastal railway. This joins the 1880 tunnel 70 metres from the surface, after passing beneath Shakespeare Cliff Tunnel where it has been reinforced with concrete arches. Adjacent to the junction is a timber-lined passage leading to the base of the shaft where the boring machine would have been assembled.
Cute chinstrap penguins on a stroll....
This was taken on Deception Island, an island that is actually part of an active volcano still today. The island is unfortunately best known for some of the most gruesome acts of humankind as it was used for whaling. The ruins of this station are the most complete remains of whaling history in the Antarctic, and governments have agreed to let the remains stand, undisturbed, to be seen and understood as part of maritime history and to show the immense power of the volcanic activity that still haunts the island.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Victoria Fung and Kim Young attend CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography)
Before reading the actual photo caption:
Keeping in mind... this is Humankind's FIRST MANNED journey to the MOON, leaving the cradle, slipping earth’s surly bonds, etc., etc...bold, daring and historic.
And this, THIS is the 'official' caption? Any ‘Weekly Reader’ article of the time was more thoughtfully & articulately written...ANY:
"A duck appears to be watching the launch of Apollo 8 astronauts Borman, Lovell and Anders to the Moon December 21, 1968."
Duh.
In color:
history.nasa.gov/afj/ap08fj/photos/ksc/19681221-ksc-68pc-...
With intelligent, informative and articulate content:
I was asked by UNIQLO to create six designs for their Nippon-Omiyage T-shirt lineup, the second three in the series were Onsen, Sakana and Animal Onomatopoeia. All using handmade typography and a connection to the subject itself.
ユニクロの「日本のお土産シリーズ」のデザインに参加させて頂きました。ハンドメイドのタイポグラフィーを使って、イメージを表現するという内容です。2013年の春夏に発売されたのは「東京」「銀座」「神戸」の三都市のお土産でした。2013年の秋冬シーズンは、日本の好きなところを何でもデザインしてもいいという内容でしたので、僕も日本人に負けないぐらい大好きな「温泉」「さかな」をモチーフにデザインしました。「温泉」のデザインでは、日本で大流行している"ゆるキャラ" もつくってみました。３つめのデザインは、音を表現する擬音語が英語と違うところ面白くて、動物の鳴き声をタイポグラフィーにしてデザインしてみました。
Onsen Daisuki 温泉大好き
There are few nations that have a love for bathing in natural hot springs more than the Japanese. Some outsiders are embarrassed to try while others fall in love this amazing experience. I took the commonly recognised symbol for hot spring (Onsen in Japanese), adapting it in to a kind of "yuru kyara" to illustrate the experience with the addition of hand drawn typography declaring a love for hot springs ‘Onsen Daisuki’.
温泉をこよなく愛するのは日本人だけではありません。しかし外国人の中には、日本の温泉の公衆浴場に抵抗を感じて、その素晴らしさを体験するところまで行けない人も少なくはありません。日本人なら誰もが知っている温泉のロゴを、温泉でゆっくりしているキャラクターにしてみました。温泉大好きという手書きの文字と共に、その素晴らしさが伝わればと思います。
It's always been one of humankind’s fantasies. Future times and wars would leave a solitary group of human beings the last of their race, stranded in a galaxy turned inside out against them. They would adventure forth, the burden of duty between their shoulders, to one day set down the cross and start a new civilization in the name of those who were lost.
But a cruel twist of fate decided that wasn’t how it would happen.
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Photo by Chris Acheson.
Location: Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa.
Photo taken: March 2015.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Pablo Bravo, Sister Mary Haddad and Fred Najjar attend CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography)
Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome)
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) was the only structure left standing in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on 6 August 1945. Through the efforts of many people, including those of the city of Hiroshima, it has been preserved in the same state as immediately after the bombing. Not only is it a stark and powerful symbol of the most destructive force ever created by humankind; it also expresses the hope for world peace and the ultimate elimination of all nuclear weapons.
(from: whc.unesco.org/en/list/775)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Natalie Shrik for Drew Altizer Photography)
On a planet which provides such scenes it is quite easy to comprehend why humankind is perpetually happy & lives in a perpetual state of peace within & without. It is obvious that intelligence and free will have served to produce a sort of utopia on the Earth that such must exist throughout the Universe on every single planet hospitable to life.
If the town wasn't awake before, it sure as hell is now. The Thunderhead Asgard hauls immeasurable amounts of ass. Yes, it's impractical. Yes, it's gonna fuck me with the maintenance costs. Yes, I have a more economical bike. But this thing is badass. That's all that matters. I drove around town for a bit pissing off everyone with the loudest exhaust known to humankind before taking a break and parking just outside of Patton Arms.Need to see how Arnie's holding up, if the paranoia's subsided yet or what. The only reason he's not rotting away in Guantanamo right now or something is at the ruins of the Cathedral a piece of the Xenothium was recovered. He took credit for finding it, and his punishment was the government not including Patton Arms into any more projects. He still thinks men in black are gonna come along and cause an "accident" for him. I go into the building, tell the secretary I'm here to see him, and I go up to his office. First thing I notice is some remodelings been done. New desk, file cabinet moved, some weird lamp, and a couch. On that couch was a man reading a book. This guy seemed familiar, then I saw his right arm and noticed he lacked most of it. Then I remember those eyes. Those cold, cold eyes. Arnie was talking to this guy a while ago when that stolen helicopter was still a thing. Arnie gets out of his desk wearing his usual smile and pipes in.
"Ah, what a surprise! Mr. Kamiroff, this is Jerrick Davao, a good friend of mine. Mr Josef Kamiroff"
"Mr. Davao. Mr Patton has told me stories of you."
"Has he..."
"Yes. I can say it's a pleasure to meet you."
His voice matches his eyes. It's really fucked up because it doesn't sound like it would either, but...that doesn't stop a slight chill going down my back. And that shit doesn't happen to me. Ever. He gets up out of the couch, gives this equally cold smile, and extends his left had out to me. It's all he's got anyway. Well, don't wanna be rude, guess I should---
Don't do it.
...great, now he doesn't even have the balls to show himself. Wait, what the hell is that by the couch? Is that his...
"I, uh, fell in the gutter down there and my hands are kinda dirty. Sorry, but---"
"Understandable.I appreciate the consideration. Something I don't see much."
"Is that your sword?"
"Sword?"
"By the couch there?"
"I don't follow you, Mr. Davao. I haven't brought anything with me beyond the cloths on my back."
"Yeah, yeah, sorry. Must've hit the ground harder than I thought..."
Am I sweating?
"So J, what's up? Why you here?"
"Just stopped in to say Hi, wanted to tell you about my new car, and, uh..."
"New car? 'bout time you got rid of that old bike. What'cha get?"
"1970 Thunderhead Asgard. Restomodded. Had to import it from Europe, of all places."
"What makes importing this car from Europe so peculiar, Mr Davao? Might I ask where in Europe?"
"Well, a Thunderhead Asgard is an American Musclecar. Not the most popular kind of car in Europe. Especially in the U.K where I found it."
"Ah, the United Kingdom. Makes sense I suppose. There wouldn't be any American sportscars in Wymarcie."
"Where?"
"Republic of Wymarcie, Mr. Kamiroff's home. Mr Kamiroff is a high ranking member of the Wymarcie military and he's interesting in buying weapons, specifically one of our laser sharpeners."
"What do you need the guns for?"
"The current Cremia crisis is too close to home. I want my men armed in case that scum Putin decides he wants my land, too. I'm especially interested in the laser sharpener. According to Mr Patton, this sharpener can sharpen a blade to the width of a molecule. Is that true, Mr. Davao?"
"Yeah. I own a knife that got sharpened by that thing. Don't let the kids near 'em."
"Funny. My army is no place for children, though. You look like you'd fit perfectly, though, Mr. Davao. You've got the body of a great soldier. Do you have a military past?"
"Nope..."
Christ, why do I feel like I'm gonna shit myself?
"Hm. You'd make a great soldier from the things Mr Patton has told me. You're a career fighter who is currently undefeated? MMA, I believe it's called?"
"Yeah. Not a single loss in years."
"Very impressive. I can see why Mr. Patton would have someone like you test his best weapons."
"Yeah.....uh, you guys gotta excuse me, I'm kinda sick. Woke up feeling terrible and it hasn't gone down since. I'll let you guys keep talking business."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Davao. I wish you the best."
Something is very, very wrong about that guy...
....................................................
Thanks to Billy Riner for Editing work.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - May 18 - Andrew Nice and Lauren Paglini attend CommonSpirit's Humankindness Gala 2023 on May 18th 2023 at San Francisco in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Devlin Shand for Drew Altizer Photography)
A 360° Panorama on a hill in the area of the "Cradle of Humankind" (a World Heritage Site in Kromdraai, Gauteng, South Africa). Xerophyta retinervis, Spotted Aloes (Aloe greatheadii var. davyana) and Sugar Bush Proteas are scattered throughout the grasslands.
"Mrs. Ples" (Australopithecus africanus) was found in this area in 1947, and is currently the oldest human fossil found to date. This gave rise to the idea that Africa is the "Cradle of Humankind";.
In 2008 two fossilised skeletons of a new species of early human "Australopithecus sediba" were discovered.
Winter, June 2007.
Best viewed LARGE.
Martin
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Administrator of:
All things beautiful in Nature Group
Thor (from Old Norse: Þórr) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, and fertility. Besides Old Norse Þórr, the deity occurs in Old English as Þunor ("Thunor"), in Old Frisian as Thuner, in Old Saxon as Thunar, and in Old High German as Donar, all ultimately stemming from the Proto-Germanic theonym *Þun(a)raz, meaning 'Thunder'.
Thor is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania, to the Germanic expansions of the Migration Period, to his high popularity during the Viking Age, when, in the face of the process of the Christianization of Scandinavia, emblems of his hammer, Mjölnir, were worn and Norse pagan personal names containing the name of the god bear witness to his popularity.
Due to the nature of the Germanic corpus, narratives featuring Thor are only attested in Old Norse, where Thor appears throughout Norse mythology. Norse mythology, largely recorded in Iceland from traditional material stemming from Scandinavia, provides numerous tales featuring the god. In these sources, Thor bears at least fifteen names, and is the husband of the golden-haired goddess Sif and the lover of the jötunn Járnsaxa. With Sif, Thor fathered the goddess (and possible valkyrie) Þrúðr; with Járnsaxa, he fathered Magni; with a mother whose name is not recorded, he fathered Móði, and he is the stepfather of the god Ullr. Thor is the son of Odin and Jörð, by way of his father Odin, he has numerous brothers, including Baldr. Thor has two servants, Þjálfi and Röskva, rides in a cart or chariot pulled by two goats, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr (whom he eats and resurrects), and is ascribed three dwellings (Bilskirnir, Þrúðheimr, and Þrúðvangr). Thor wields the hammer Mjölnir, wears the belt Megingjörð and the iron gloves Járngreipr, and owns the staff Gríðarvölr. Thor's exploits, including his relentless slaughter of his foes and fierce battles with the monstrous serpent Jörmungandr—and their foretold mutual deaths during the events of Ragnarök—are recorded throughout sources for Norse mythology.
Into the modern period, Thor continued to be acknowledged in rural folklore throughout Germanic-speaking Europe. Thor is frequently referred to in place names, the day of the week Thursday bears his name (modern English Thursday derives from Old English þunresdæġ, 'Þunor's day'), and names stemming from the pagan period containing his own continue to be used today, particularly in Scandinavia. Thor has inspired numerous works of art and references to Thor appear in modern popular culture. Like other Germanic deities, veneration of Thor is revived in the modern period in Heathenry.
Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).
Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions
"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".
The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.
The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.
Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:
Wet with cool dew drops
fragrant with perfume from the flowers
came the gentle breeze
jasmine and water lily
dance in the spring sunshine
side-long glances
of the golden-hued ladies
stab into my thoughts
heaven itself cannot take my mind
as it has been captivated by one lass
among the five hundred I have seen here.
Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.
Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.
There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.
Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.
The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.
In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:
During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".
Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.
While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’
Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.
An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.
Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983
Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture
Main article: Commercial graffiti
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.
In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".
Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.
Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.
Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.
Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.
There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.
The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.
Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.
Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis
Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.
Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.
Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"
Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal
In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.
Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.
Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.
Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.
With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.
Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.
Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.
Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.
Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.
Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.
Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.
Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.
The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.
I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.
The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.
Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.
Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.
In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".
There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.
Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.
A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.
By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.
Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.
In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.
A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.
From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.
Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.
In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.
Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.
In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.
In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."
In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.
In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.
In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.
In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.
In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.
The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.
To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."
In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.
In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.
Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".
Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)
In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.
Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.
Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.
In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.
Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.
Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.
To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.
When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.
A 360° Panorama just after sunrise (with most of the landscape still in deep sadow) on a hill in the area of the "Cradle of Humankind" (a World Heritage Site in Kromdraai, Gauteng, South Africa). Xerophyta retinervis, Spotted Aloes (Aloe greatheadii var. davyana) and Sugar Bush Proteas are scattered throughout the grasslands.
"Mrs Ples" (Australopithecus africanus) was found in this area in 1947, and is currently the oldest human fossil found to date. This gave rise to the idea that Africa is the "Cradle of Humankind".
In 2008 two fossilised skeletons of a new species of early human "Australopithecus sediba" were discovered.
Winter, June 2007.
Best viewed LARGE.
Martin
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Administrator of:
All things beautiful in Nature Group
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The concept of Rewilding may be understood as one which undertakes to show what healthy, as opposed to diseased, relationships between all things in Nature, including humankind, would look like. It is something of a rage on many college campuses & among both moderate & radical environmentalists, entails a growing body of theory & literature, & deserves to be taken seriously not just as a notion, but also as a practice - for indeed, it is a concept created to be practiced with all the arts & fervor presently devoted to war & other means of destruction, such as global capitalism.
Before Darwin most westerners believed that humans were a special creation, & thus, though in Nature, not of Nature. Many people still believe this, but only a small percentage of educated people ignore the elegance & satisfactoriness of Evolution, which since the discovery of the double helix has been fully outfitted with the mechanism that makes it indisputably true, DNA. Humanity is in & of Nature. What we did throughout all of our past, & are presently doing & in the future will do, is altogether natural.
Species differ from one another. The species humankind, too, differs from other life forms. Among our differences is an ability to recognize, name & act upon alternatives that we know will shape the future of a substance, a thing, a place, & of our minds. We are beings who generate values. In brief, a value is a preferred end enjoined to one or more preferred means that pursue, enable or secure said end. Values evolve as the circumstances in which they are lived by change. For reasons not pertinent to the immediate discussion, values change more slowly than do circumstances. In many cases, values, such as ones occasioned by & concomitant with religious & economic beliefs, are notably resistant to change. For instance, although grotesque overpopulation is strongly contributing to the ever increasing poverty, misery, explosive social disorder & possible extinction of our kind, Islamic, Christian & Jewish institutions persist in regarding birth control & all abortions as anathema.
The world's scientific community is sufficiently convinced that the present century is an apocalyptic one. Unlike religious fanatics who pathologically wish for death rather than life (we are all in degree increasingly maddened by what our history has begot), the scientists wish for continued life. A few economists also wish for life, along with a few intellectuals, journalists, professors, students & some of the rest of us. Of the world's great politicians, prelates & oligarchs, there are none with us. Whether they consciously know it or not, they are in the oppression business - in the 'law & order' mindset - as they have been since agricultural arts made cities, the management of large groups of persons & the consequent acquisition of unequal wealth possible.
I am all for preserving Civilization, but not in the form in which it came into being 10,000 years ago & has remained in down to this moment. Boom & Bust must finally end in absolute, irresolvable Bust. I do not want that for me, nor for humankind.
In its better envisioning, Rewilding has little or nothing to do with primitivism. True Rewilders have much more important things to do than take to the woods, kill rabbits & light fires by rubbing wood sticks together. There are states of mind, economic theories & practical methodologies to be designed & achieved. Bows, arrows & clubs will not get us there. Nor will mere violence. If there must be violence, it must be informed by our minds, not just our guts & hearts. Revolutions can be intelligent, & a few have been. A small few have even been largely peaceful.
A lot of us are not going to survive what is coming, no matter how we try - the Earth is burning, & so are several billion of us. But it is our nature, is it not, to try? To accept suffering & death as a price of glory? To finally refuse to surrender, to lie down & be trampled upon, spit on, raped & robbed by tyrants?
Dare to denounce What Is & adventure for what could be. Stop treating What Is as though it were an implacable monster before which any of us need kneel. Extinguish rather than toady to what is no good. If what once seemed useful became a boomerang that turned on you - as, for instance, your bank, Obama, senator or congressperson - withdraw all of your money & support, & beg your neighbors to see the wisdom of this. Quit your political party. Examine the several fascinating alternatives to capitalism. Vote only for politicians who acknowledge the existence of & swear loyalty to humane economies, & above all speak well of & extend support only to politicians who take no payola or any services from corporations, oligarchs & lobbyists they say they oppose. Do not attend any church that preaches this is a god's business, not yours. File lawsuits against every corporation that offends you, & do not be ashamed of filing mere nuisance suits. Pay not in coin or respect to the masters of this world what the masters crookedly assert is theirs. Complain loudly, brazenly & incessantly, as a bear screams if its self, mate or cub is insulted. Join public protests, but do not just stand on corners - march to the doorways of newspapers, broadcasters, government offices, corporations, churches & every place that practices deceits to mislead, misinform or maltreat us ... & get in there if possible, & convert rather than just confront thy offenders. Rewild thyself, & thereby save us all.
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Unification and Divine Love: www.theawaitedone.com/articles/2016/04/30/unification-and...
Unity of humankind will occur when all human beings love God. A universal brotherhood can only be established when all hearts have the same direction and love for God.
#LordRaRiaz #GoharShahi #YounusAlGohar #spirituality #spiritualknowledge #Mexico #MexicoCity #MessiahFoundationInternational #religion #interfaith #instagood #God #holy #divinity #divine #interfaithdialogue #JesusChrist #Jesus #spanish #latino #Mexican #Christianity #Unification #brotherhood #humanity #enlightenment #spiritualhealing #goodvibes #religionofGod
1 - Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe
MARGUERITE HUMEAU
RIDDLES (Sphinx Otto Protecting Earth from Humankind) (2017)
Peau artificielle (gelcoat, résine teintée, poudre de marbre, fibre de verre) ossature acier, plantes sélectionnées parmi les recettes de magie noire (dont Cornus Sanguinea, Cornus alba Siberica, Salix Alba Chermesina, Hamamelis, Sedum
Marguerite Humeau est née en 1986 à Cholet, France, vit et travaille à Londres, Royaume-Uni.
Le Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe est le premier du parcours du Voyage d'Hiver, qui s'ouvre avec l'installation de Marguerite Humeau titrée Riddles (Sphinx Otto Protecting Earth from Humankind). Le Sphinx fut la première sculpture installée dans le jardin par Louis XIV, comme pour indiquer une mise en garde; l'omniprésence de l'énigme du vivant en ces lieux. Métaphore des dispositifs sécuritaires contemporains, le Sphinx Otto protège la planète des dangers et menaces provoqués par les humains. Le visiteur parcourt un labyrinthe végétal aux couleurs sanguines et à la chair empoisonnée pour faire face à une énigme totale et silencieuse, celle de notre humanité et de ses cyvles, de la condition de nos existences, de l’équilibre fragile de notre rapport au monde
(D'après la notice de l'Exposition)