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So, the majority of the image is a long exposure I took a couple of years go. Vader was added via the dark side of Photoshop.

  

Blake's watercoloured etching The Ancient of Days

---

turmarion.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/creation-vs-emanation/

 

The claim I want to make is that creation and emanation, though sometimes conflated, are very much different concepts.

 

The former emphasizes the separateness of the world from its Creator. Though God, by definition, would have had the world and everything in it eternally in mind, they still exist outside of God. God may be present in His cosmos metaphysically and by what the Orthodox would call His “energies“, and yet He is still existentially separate.

 

With emanation, the boundaries between God and His creation are much more blurred–more, in fact, than is commonly realized. In a sense, we are all part of God’s “dream”, which (God being eternal) has in a sense always existed. Not just us, however, but many, many other possibilities.

---

Blake's watercoloured etching The Ancient of Days

 

In the mythology of William Blake, Urizen is the embodiment of conventional reason and law. He is usually depicted as a bearded old man; he sometimes bears architect's tools, to create and constrain the universe; or nets, with which he ensnares people in webs of law and conventional society. Originally, Urizen represented one half of a two-part system, with him representing reason and Los, his opposition, representing imagination. In Blake's reworking of his mythic system,

 

Urizen is one of the four Zoas that result from the division of the primordial man, Albion, and he continues to represent reason.

 

He has an Emanation, or paired female equivalent, Ahania, who stands for Pleasure. In Blake's myth, Urizen is joined by many daughters with three representing aspects of the body. He is also joined by many sons, with four representing the four elements. These sons join in rebellion against their father but are later united in the Last Judgment. In many of Blake's books, Urizen is seen with four books that represent the various laws that he places upon humanity.

 

Character

 

In Blake's original myth, Urizen, the representation of abstractions and an abstraction of the human self, is the first entity. He believes himself holy and he sets about establishing various sins in a book of brass that serves as a combination of various laws as discovered by Newton, given to Moses, and the general concept of deism, which force uniformity upon mankind. The rest of the Eternals in turn become indignant at Urizen turning against eternity, and they instill these essences of sin within Urizen's creation. This torments Urizen, and Los soon after appears. Los's duty within the work is to watch over Urizen and serve as his opposition.

 

In terms of Blake's Orc cycle, Urizen serves as a Satanic force similar to Milton's Satan. After Urizen defeats the serpent/Orc figure in the Garden of Eden story, the Orc figure, in the form of Urizen's son Fuzon, battles against him in a story based on Exodus. Urizen, as a pillar of cloud that hinders the Israelites in their journey home, battles against Fuzon, as a pillar of fire that guides them by night. Eventually, Urizen is able to destroy his rebellious son and impose laws upon the Israelites in the form of the Ten Commandments. This also leads to a death of the Israelite society, and the Israelites under Urizen are imprisoned in a similar manner to how they were under the Egyptians. Symbolically, the Orc cycle describes how Urizen and Orc are part of one unified whole, with Urizen representing the destructive and older essence while Orc is the young and creative essence.

 

Urizen from the front page of Copy G (c. 1818) of The Book of Urizen currently held by the Library of Congress (detail)

 

In Blake's later myth, Urizen is one of the four Zoas, the fourfold division of the central god. The other three represent aspects of the trinity and he represents the fallen, Satanic figure although he is also the creator figure. Among the Zoas, he represents the south and the concept of reason. He is described as what binds and controls the universe through creating laws. He is connected to his Emanation known as Ahania, the representation of pleasure, and he is opposed to the Zoa named Urthona, the representation of Imagination. His name can mean many things, from "Your Reason" or a Greek word meaning "to limit". Urizen originates in the beginning of Blake's version of Genesis. He was the entity created when a voice said that light should be born, and he was the fourth child of the characters Albion and Vala. He is said to represent the Heavenly host, but he experiences a Satanic fall in that he desired to rule. He is motivated by his pride and becomes a hypocrite. When Albion asks for him, Urizen refuses and hides, which causes him to experience his fall. After his fall, Urizen set about creating the material world and his jealousy of mankind brought forth both Wrath and Justice.

 

In the material world, he had Steeds and a Chariot of Day that were stolen from him by Luvah. This occurred because he, reason, sought to take over the Northern lands of Luvah, Imagination. After setting to take over Imagination, Luvah's stealing of the horses, which represented instruction, showed how emotion could dominate over reason. After Luvah falls and becomes Orc, Urizen tries to regain his horses but can only witness them bound. Eventually, the horses are returned to him after the Final Judgment.

 

Within the early works, Urizen represents the chains of reason that are imposed on the mind. Urizen, like mankind, is bound by these chains. Additionally, these works describe how Newtonian reason and the enlightenment view of the universe traps the imagination. The poems emphasize an evolutionary development within the universe, and this early version of a "survival of the fittest" universe is connected to a fallen world of tyranny and murder.

 

Urizen's daughters started as the children of light and are possible images of either the planets or of the stars. After his fall, they gain human form. Three of his daughters are Eleth, Uveth and Ona, which represent the three parts of the human body. Together, they also organize the waters of Generation, they are the creators of the Bread of Sorrow, and read from the Book of Iron. At the Last Judgment, they watch over Ahania. His sons are differently organised, in different poems: as Thiriel, Utha, Grodna, Fuzon, aligned with the four classical elements; or as twelve, aligned with the signs of the Zodiac, and builders of the Mundane Shell and seek to keep mankind from falling. In Blake's early myths, they dwell in various cities and do not abide by Urizen's laws; Fuzon directly rebels against Urizen, is able to cut Urizen's loins, and is crucified for his actions. In later versions of the children, they are wise and dwell with Urizen. They, with Urizen, fall after Luvah takes over Urizen's realm. After their fall, they are tortured in hell, and Urizen's creation of science is seen as his domination over them.

 

However, the four sons are placed in charge of Urthona's armies and rebel against Urizen's rule. During the Last Judgment, the sons get rid of their weapons and celebrate Urizen's return to the plow, and they join together for the harvest.

 

Urizen is described as having multiple books: Gold, Silver, Iron, and Brass. They represent science, love, war, and sociology, which are four aspects of life. The books are filled with laws that seek to overcome the seven deadly sins. He constantly adds to the works, even when he faces his opposition in Orc, but the books are destroyed in the Last Judgment. The Book of Brass sets forth Urizen's social beliefs that seek to remove all pain and instill peace under one rule. The attempt to force love through law encouraged the Eternals to put forth the Seven Deadly Sins that Urizen hoped to prevent. The Book of Iron was lost in the Tree of Mystery, and represents how Urizen can create wars but cannot control them.[ (Wikipedia)

A serendipitous observation. The Whitney Museum, NYC -- February 15, 2021

Inspired by the great Jason Mott's book "The returned " about the return of the loved ones from the dead . Unfortunately the movie shot on the basis of this tragic , breathtaking , deeply emotional , existential novel turned out to be another banal thriller .

The idea , btw, had brought to life the creation of Martial Chronicles and Solaris...

  

Equipped with a Barron auto cannon (torso mounted)

A Barron anti infantry machine gun (arm mounted)

And is meant to combat infantry support armored infantry and defeat rogue jägers aka 7ft tall super soldiers as dangerous as a tactical nuke and as precise as a surgical scalpel.

 

Jägers are the best of the United Nations military command socom corps. Adept in combat and resourceful, jägers are practically a living weapon, and a existential threat that after the resent terrorist attack on the colony world of sernas, where a rogue jäger massacred over a thousand civilians before a jäger James 050 was able to stop him.

 

Made by davo mech works the JH-7070 or baryonyx will be tested for wide scale used by jäger James 050

Rovingian Existence as the Result of the Symbiosis Between Consciousness and Matter - The Lichen Metaphor by Daniel Arrhakis (2026)

  

Rovingian Existence as the Result of the Symbiosis Between Consciousness and Matter - The Lichen Metaphor

 

Rovingian animism, a non-theistic philosophical and spiritual perspective that redefines the relationship between being and environment. It proposes an absolute and unbreakable interdependence between consciousness and matter, where existence is only possible through this symbiosis and mutual exchange.

 

The Lichen Metaphor: Consciousness and Matter

 

Lichen is an excellent philosophical metaphor to illustrate existence as a symbiosis between consciousness and matter.

 

To understand this relationship, we can divide the roles of each element in this existential symbiosis:

 

The Fungus (Matter/Structure): In lichen, the fungus provides the physical structure, protection from the outside, and absorbs water and minerals. In existence, matter functions as the physical support, the body and brain, providing the tangible basis and the laws of physics that sustain life.

 

The Algae (Consciousness/Light): The algae perform photosynthesis, transforming sunlight into vital energy and food. In the analogy, consciousness is the force that captures the "light" of meaning, generating perception, subjective experience, emotion, and purpose from raw reality.

 

The Lichen (Experienced Existence): Without the algae, the fungus starves; without the fungus, the algae dries up and dies. Similarly, matter without consciousness would be a mechanical universe without witnesses; consciousness without matter would be pure abstraction without form or anchoring.

 

The "lichen" is our own existential life: a unified reality where both sides coexist.

 

This Rovingian animistic view presupposes:

 

- The Rejection of Cartesian Dualism: It breaks with the strict separation between mind (subject) and matter (object).

 

- Symbiotic Panpsychism: Suggests that consciousness is not a late byproduct of matter, but a fundamental component of the universe, walking side-by-side with the physical aspect from the subatomic level to complex biological systems.

 

- Phenomenology: Proposes that there is no "world out there" independent of a subject perceiving it; reality is always the living relationship between the observer and the observed.

 

Rovingian animism thus proposes a dualism of a double aspect or symbiotic panpsychism and the rejection of traditional determinism.

 

Rejection of Traditional Determinism

 

We are not machines: The human being is not merely a biological automaton governed by blind chemical reactions or whose emotions are solely due to chemical cocktails of synthesized molecules.

 

Co-creative agency: Consciousness is not passive; it shapes matter while being shaped by it.

 

Open future: Reality results from living interaction, making the future probabilistic and creative, not predetermined by an immutable destiny.

 

Ego Dissolution: The "I" is not isolated from the world; we are the very fabric of the environment in symbiosis.

 

Deep Ecological Ethics: Destroying the environment is not just damaging resources, it is mutilating the very structure of our consciousness.

 

Shared Responsibility: The individual assumes an active role in constructing their life experience and the collective world.

 

Naturalistic Spirituality: Dispenses with external deities (non-theistic), finding the sacred in the living relationship between perception and cosmos.

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

A Existência Rovingiana Como O resultado da Simbiose Entre Consciência E Matéria - A Metáfora do Líquen

  

Animismo Rovingiano, uma perspetiva filosófica e espiritual não-teísta que redefine a relação entre o ser e o ambiente. Ele propõe uma interdependência absoluta e inquebrável entre consciência e matéria, onde a existência só é possível através desta simbiose e troca mútua.

  

1- A Metáfora do Líquen: Consciência e Matéria

 

O líquen é uma excelente metáfora filosófica para ilustrar a existência como uma simbiose entre consciência e matéria.

Para compreender esta relação, podemos dividir os papéis de cada elemento nesta simbiose existencial:

 

O Fungo (A Matéria / Estrutura): No líquen, o fungo fornece a estrutura física, a proteção contra o exterior e absorve a água e os minerais. Na existência, a matéria funciona como o suporte físico, o corpo e o cérebro, fornecendo a base tangível e as leis da física que sustentam a vida.

 

A Alga (A Consciência / Luz): A alga realiza a fotossíntese, transformando a luz solar em energia vital e alimento. Na analogia, a consciência é a força que capta a "luz" do significado, gerando perceção, experiência subjetiva, emoção e propósito a partir da realidade bruta.

 

O Líquen (A Existência Experienciada): Sem a alga, o fungo morre à fome; sem o fungo, a alga seca e morre. Da mesma forma, a matéria sem consciência seria um universo mecânico e sem testemunhas; a consciência sem matéria seria pura abstração sem forma ou ancoragem.

 

O "líquen" é a nossa própria vida existêncial: uma realidade unificada onde os dois lados coexistem.

  

Esta visão animista rovingiana pressupõe:

 

- A Rejeição do Dualismo Cartesiano: Rompe com a separação estrita entre mente (sujeito) e matéria (objeto).

 

- Panpsiquismo Simbiótico: Sugere que a consciência não é um subproduto tardio da matéria, mas sim um componente fundamental do universo, caminhando lado a lado com a vertente física desde o nível subatómico até aos sistemas biológicos complexos.

 

- Fenomenologia: Propõe que não existe um "mundo lá fora" independente de um sujeito que o perceba; a realidade é sempre a relação viva entre o observador e o observado.

  

O animismo rovingiano propõem assim um dualismo de aspeto duplo ou pampsiquismo simbiótico e a rejeição do determinismo tradicional.

  

2 - Rejeição do Determinismo Tradicional

 

Não somos máquinas: O ser humano não é apenas um autómato biológico governado por reações químicas cegas ou cujas emoções se devem apenas a cocktails químicos de moléculas de síntese.

 

Agência cocriativa: A consciência não é passiva; ela molda a matéria enquanto é moldada por ela.

 

Futuro aberto: A realidade resulta da interação viva, tornando o futuro probabilístico e criativo, não predeterminado por um destino imutável.

 

Dissolução do Ego: O "eu" não está isolado do mundo; nós somos o próprio tecido do ambiente em simbiose.

 

Ética Ecológica Profunda: Destruir o ambiente não é apenas danificar recursos, é mutilar a própria estrutura da nossa consciência.

 

Responsabilidade Partilhada: O indivíduo assume um papel ativo na construção da sua experiência de vida e do mundo coletivo.

 

Espiritualidade Naturalista: Dispensa divindades externas (não-teísta), encontrando o sagrado na própria relação viva entre perceção e cosmos.

   

.... I can't choose between these two editions! lol What is your opinion??? Which do you prefer? xD Thanks in advance for the opinions! greetings and happy week!

 

....así es, no puedo decidirme por ninguna de las ediciones de esta foto!! jajaja Cuál es vuestra opinión??? Cuál os gusta más u os disgusta menos?? xD Gracias desde ya por las opiniones!! un saludo y feliz semana!

 

This image represents a state of active consciousness turned outward.

The gaze is alert, attentive, exposed. It observes the world as it is, without filters, fully aware of the risk involved in opening oneself to the outside. There is no naivety here, only awareness.

 

The external world appears as a place of possibility and, at the same time, of threat. The gaze does not close itself off, but remains on guard. It is a fragile balance between the desire for connection and the need for self-protection. Here, consciousness does not withdraw or escape; it faces what lies outside, accepting its own vulnerability.

Placed alongside the image of active consciousness turned inward, this work becomes its natural counterpart. The two images enter into dialogue as complementary states: one born from protection, the other from exposure. Two different, yet equally necessary, ways of inhabiting both the world and the self.

The sea had already begun forgetting the day.

 

Light still burned in the clouds above—slow, copper fire spreading across their soft towers—while the water below darkened into a patient, breathing gray. Between the two, a single figure moved with the rhythm of the swells, neither arriving nor leaving, simply balanced there where the world folds into itself.

 

From the shore, if there was a shore, the person would have looked like a mistake of scale. Too small for the sky, too fragile for the ocean. Yet the waves lifted them the way breath lifts a chest—again, and again—quietly insisting that being small does not mean being lost.

 

Nothing in the scene demanded meaning. The clouds did not speak. The horizon did not explain itself. The sea rolled on with the same ancient indifference it had always kept.

 

And still the figure remained upright on the moving water, watching the last color withdraw from the sky.

 

Perhaps that was all I saw.

 

A moment when the world grew enormous and silent, and a human being—brief, unremarkable, stubbornly alive—stood inside it anyway, suspended in the fading light, as if existence itself were a wave that had not yet decided whether to carry them forward or let them fall.

The devil makes work for idle minds too.

French Quarter

 

New Orleans, LA

Two dance friends were married last night at the little "E Church" (Existential Church) in Candler Park. I have been watching them dance together for years. They make a smashing couple on the dance floor, and that seems to bode for a happy marriage. I loved the look of rapture on her face when they danced a tango together last night.

 

Shot this handheld with the 50mm lens. The sun had gone down by that point. I'm pretty happy with how the lens held up in unpredictable light. The 20D body and the 50mm seem to "play well" together.

I am not broken. I am weathered.

The wind didn’t shatter me -it shaped me.

And in the hollow, I echo louder than ever.

 

Hurt ♪♪

 

There may be more to reality than what we can see. "The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next." — Ursula K. Le Guin

 

Pentax K1000, Tri-X at box speed, D23 1+1

 

I've been having a lot of existential crises lately. I have so many hopes for the future, and I just don't want to be let down and disappointed as a result.

 

Model: Lloyd Revald

Photograph published in News Junkie Post on 5/30/2020

 

newsjunkiepost.com/2020/05/30/climate-crisispandemics-and...

 

Photograph also published in The Duran on 5/31/2020

 

theduran.com/climate-crisis-pandemics-and-bad-governance-...

 

Also published in Dissident Voice on 6/3/2020

 

dissidentvoice.org/2020/06/climate-crisis-pandemics-and-b...

 

Also republished in TeleSUR English on 6/06/2020

 

www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/Climate-Crisis-Pandemics-a...

I remember the exact moment when I experienced my first existential crisis. I was sitting at the dinner table and my dad was going on and on about his miserable day at work. It suddenly struck me that my parents were no different than any of my friend's parents and my life was pretty much the same. Up until that moment I had lived the fantasy that my dad was a super hero, my mom a saint, and that I was destined for greatness. I was shaken to my core. But I suppose in the end, it relieved my parents and me from the pressure of unrealistic expectations.

 

I learned my lesson well. My wife once asked me what qualities I would look for in a woman if I were ever to remarry. Only one I told her, "low expectations."

 

Monterey CA

Instead of taking photos I have been watching The Office. The weird thing about the death of a friend...along with the sadness (regret, guilt, etc), there's also all these existential questions that come to mind, except instead of their usual abstract form, they suddenly seem so clear and important and personal. And it just comes 24/7, these thoughts... And so I drown it out by watching The Office and therapizing myself on flickr.

The apple motif is allusive in many ways. Voluminous and sensuous, it graces innumerable still-life compositions, but it is also traditionally pictured as the forbidden fruit.

 

One of the leading figures of American Pop art and an early pioneer of environmental and installation art, Claes Oldenburg reveals in his works the hidden potential of everyday objects, making them tangible, soft, and humorous. Oversized foodstuffs such as an ice cream cone or baked potato, often rendered in a somewhat unpredictable way, are frequent elements in his vocabulary.

 

The perishability and vulnerability of the decaying apple core evinces Oldenburg's consistent preoccupation with the process of decline and death. It is also the residue of a natural ("perfect") form altered ("spoiled") by human intervention. The existential imperative of growth and decomposition - its poignancy once heightened by the lushness of vanitas pictures, with a worm or insect accentuating the moralizing intent - is ironically underscored in Apple Core by both the mock-heroic scale and the "organic" coloring. Ultimately, these very elements, enhanced by tongue-in-cheek sculptural-painterly effects and hard-soft punning (the "rotten" apple has an actual steel core and is fashioned in stiffened urethane foam), make Apple Core an endearing rather than forbidding piece, inviting tactile exploration.

 

Another photo of this unique sculpture is in comment box below.

 

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Thanks to all for 11,000.000+ views and kind comments ... !

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

   

We're Here! : Existential - Picturing the questions {and vice versa}

 

Want more interaction on flickr? Join We're Here!

Sooner or later, the bill comes due originated in the United States between the late nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century within everyday commercial and accounting language. The expression is linked to informal credit practices in shops, general stores, and small businesses, where customers could buy “on account” and pay later. In this context, the phrase literally meant that, even if payment could be postponed, the debt would eventually have to be settled. Over time, the expression shifted into figurative use and entered journalistic, political, and social language, taking on a moral and existential meaning: every action, choice, or behavior generates inevitable consequences, leading sooner or later to a moment of reckoning. This proverb is often used to emphasize individual and collective responsibility: no one can avoid the effects of what they do forever.

 

I create these images using artificial intelligence not to replace photography, nor to question its artistic value, which remains central and untouchable in my practice, but to use a different tool in response to specific expressive needs in the present.

robertmgoldstein.com/

The wound was the boredom, the unconquerable, existential boredom that killed time and history, passions and hope. I see no sweetness in their eyes. I do not see that deep melancholy that we see in the young Renaissance faces painted by Lotto and Titian…. I see eyes that are bewildered, ecstatic, stunned, furtive, greedy without desire, lustful without lust, lonely in the crowd that contains them. I see desperate eyes … eternal children, … a desperate generation … advancing…. They are trying to escape from the plastic void that surrounds and suffocates them. Their salvation lies only in their hearts. We can only look at them with love and trepidation.

-Eugenio Scalfari, founder of La Repubblica

The image suggests the human condition of someone who, after a first negative event, is struck by further blows, yet continues to move forward.

 

ORIGIN OF THE PROVERB

The proverb “It never rains but it pours” is of English origin and dates back at least to the 18th century.

It appears in collections of British proverbs as early as the 1700s and has become commonly used in colloquial English.

Over time, it has also been used in literary and journalistic contexts to describe situations in which difficulties tend to arrive all at once.

 

MEANING

The proverb means that problems, misfortunes, or negative events rarely come alone:

when one happens, others often follow in quick succession.

More broadly, it expresses the idea that life unfolds through accumulation: both in hardship and, at times, even in good fortune, events tend to cluster together.

Italian conceptual equivalent:

“Le disgrazie non vengono mai sole.”

 

CONNECTION BETWEEN PROVERB AND IMAGE

The physical rain represents the accumulation of events.

The clouds wrapping around the body embody the weight of difficulties.

The figure who keeps walking, instead of stopping, introduces an additional dimension: not only the acknowledgment of misfortune, but the ability to pass through it.

The work does not merely illustrate the proverb; it transforms it into a visual experience.

....may occur when cellular and wifi service goes down for 10 minutes and everyone realizes who they really are.

 

Image imagined in MidJourney AI and finished with Topaz Studio and Lightroom Classic.

For this month of the Kinky Event, I've made another Male Torso Study Sculpture. I'm really enchanted by the human body and even creature anatomy. It's all such a very expressive sort of beauty. This was a lot of fun! I also made a short two-minute speed sculpt video of the process for the experience to be a little more intimate and less inanimate. Enjoy!

 

Find the Male Torso Study Sculpture at this month's Kinky Event starting September 28th, 7 PM SLT.

 

We live in a day and age where free time is glorified. We're conditioned to believe that while we have the gift of youth we're supposed to hustle and bustle until our knees give out at a predictive old age in our sixties or seventies where we retire and do (drumroll) nothing. Or rather, just less of everything. We've glorified Fridays and weekends and the feeling of endless vacations. But all that gives me existential angst and I feel my best when I'm creating. Something. Anything. It's the only time I feel truly alive. If I had a biological clock it might be screaming that it was time to have children. But I'm a better gay uncle than I am an actual dad. When I was in my early twenties I saw the cutest chinchilla's at Petco and I just had to have them! Little did I know that I'd be a terrible pet parent and my more responsible friend opted to adopting them, but not without giving me an endless scolding about how irresponsible I was. One day I met his fiance who referred to me as the, "Oh. You're that guy who abandoned his pets guy." So delighted I was by that experience that I ended up skipping that wedding and avoiding more awkward guilt trips. I get it, I was a bad pet dad and I assume in my greater adulthood that I'm also not fit to be a full-time parent. I'm better at spoiling the kids, taking them to Disneyland, filling them up with sugar, and then handing them back to a responsible adult.

 

I've been following this Japanese concept called 'Ikigai' which refers to 'our reason for being' or 'our reason to wake up in the morning'. Something about centennials in Japan who credit their longevity to a purpose they found deep within themselves, God-given or not. The unpolluted mountain air, close social ties, and organic food probably have something to do with it also. Anyway, free time is dangerous for me. It leaves me in a loop of bad habits and open to gateway addictions like World of Warcraft and or shopping for things I don't need on Amazon. In my recent free time though, in between all the dread, I did learn to make this silly speed sculpt video using Shotcut (a free video editing software) where an eight-year-old on YouTube did most of the tutoring. I'm confident, like him, I'm well on my way to be a future professional vlogger.

 

P.S. - I'm a better cat dad now. Like, really good. My cat Bon Bon and I are BFFs, bro's for life.

This project, where the use of reflecting surface and experimentation are the essence, includes three series exploring existential issues "Talk To Her", "Broken Embraces" and "Identity" ; two self-portraits with my tool of the trade "Self-portrait With Camera n◦ 3" and "Self-portrait With Camera n◦ 4" ; seven nudes "Nude With Camera" XIX, XX, XXI, XXII and XXIII, XXIV, XXV ; two works with the reflections of my cats as an integral part of my body "Self-portrait With a Paw And a Tail" and "Self-portrait With a Cat In the Belly" , two pieces of my ghostly nature "Ghost" I and "Ghost" II as well as two self-portraits focusing on deformations of the human body "Self-portrait With Three Heads" and "Self-portrait With Three Legs".

Part of "Melbourne International Arts Festival"

www.melbournefestival.com.au/

 

Scottish artist and Turner prize nominee, Nathan Coley will erect his famous message sculpture Heaven Is A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens on the ACCA Forecourt. The sign evokes religious roadside architecture conjoined with retro fairground aesthetics. Its message is open to a range of readings, both reassuring and unsettling, but is ultimately no salve for our existential angst.

.……………………………….

 

locandina

 

Su Re

 

“The Cross is not a Roman pole, but the wood on which God wrote his gospel”.

 

“La Croce non è un palo dei romani, ma il legno su cui Dio ha scritto il suo vangelo.

 

(Alda Merini)

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

oppure…. premi il tasto “L” per ingrandire l'immagine;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

 

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

 

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Good Friday is an anniversary which in Sicily acquires a cathartic meaning for those who are searching, not only photographically, for popular traditions (we find them widespread throughout Sicily), which are nothing other than a social, cultural event, which merge into a single past and present; from the web "popular traditions are a historical memory linked to customs and rituals that have given shape to the values and beliefs of that culture". Easter in Sicily can be a source of research, it can appear not without contradictions, citing the thoughts of that great Sicilian thinker Leonardo Sciascia, for him Sicily cannot be called Christian referring to the Sicilian festivals, at most it is only in appearance, in those properly pagan explosions tolerated by the Church; Sciascia addresses the topic as an introductory essay in the book "Religious celebrations in Sicily", illustrated with photographs of a young and still unknown Ferdinando Scianna, a book that did not fail to raise some controversy due to the Sicilian thinker's introductory note, thus being in open controversy with the sacredness of that popular Sicilian devotion (the book was criticized by the Holy See newspaper, the Osservatore Romano), Sciascia writes: “what is a religious festival in Sicily? It would be easy to answer that it is anything but a religious holiday. It is, first of all, an existential explosion; the explosion of the collective id, where the collectivity exists only at the level of the id. Since it is only during the celebration that the Sicilian emerges from his condition of a single man, which is the condition of his vigilant and painful superego, to find himself part of a class, of a class, of a city". Another Sicilian thinker, writer and poet, Gesualdo Bufalino, provides interesting indications on the meaning that Sicilians give to these traditional popular events, he says "during Easter every Sicilian feels not only a spectator, but an actor, first sorrowful and then exultant , for a Mystery that is its very existence. The time of the event is that of Spring, the season of metamorphosis, just as the very nature of the rite is metamorphic in which, as in a story from the Puppet Opera, the battle of Good against Evil is fought. Deception, Pain and Triumph, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ are present."

In short, Easter in Sicily is a deeply felt anniversary throughout the island since ancient times, it has always had as its fulcrum the emotional participation of the people, with representations and processions which have become rites and traditions which unequivocally characterize numerous Sicilian centres, which they recall the most salient moments narrated in the Gospels and which recall the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, with processions formed by the various brotherhoods (sometimes with theatrical re-enactments) which have within them contents and symbols often coming from the Spanish domination, which took place in Sicily between the 16th and 17th centuries. This year, on the occasion of Good Friday I went to the pretty town of Licodia Eubea (in the province of Catania), I'll start by saying that in this procession a unique character comes to life in statue form that cannot be found anywhere else place in Sicily, it is called "Ciurciddu" (translated "Circello"), he pulls Christ with a rope tied around his neck while he carries the Cross, this bad character has a profound symbolic-allegorical meaning, he represents "the Evil that exists in the world, the refusal towards the Truth announced by Christ", causing him suffering by pulling him with the rope tied around his neck. The boys and men "carriers of the floats" gather together, preparing for the moment when, once the procession has begun, the "'a Giunta" will take place around 10:00 a.m., or rather the very painful "encounter" between Christ ( who carries the Cross, linked to Ciurciddu) and His Mother of Sorrows (with her heart pierced by a sword, an iconic image of Spanish origin), during the meeting "the bow or greeting takes place" between the two floats, it is the Greeting that Mother and Son do in one of the most characteristic moments of this procession. While the two vares are brought to an ancient church, another event takes place which strongly characterizes this tradition, the "auction of the Cross" takes place, the ability to carry the Cross, weighing 70 kg, on one's shoulder, up to Churc of Calvary (a long uphill journey to reach the upper part of the town), is put up for auction, the highest bidder wins this possibility, after which an extraordinary event occurs: the devotee who wins the auction is embraced by numerous villagers, with great transport and affection, this is because those who participate in the auction certainly do so out of devotion but also possibly because they have had someone in their family with more or less serious health problems, and this is why people hug them and encourage them by showing their closeness . In the afternoon the procession resumes, now the Christ is dead, he is in the vara with the Urn, and is called "'u Signuri' a cascia" (by which term means "the Lord in the coffin"), the two vare (the dead Christ and His Mother of Sorrows) are carried in procession up to the Church of Calvary, where the heavy and ancient Cross carried on the shoulder by the devotee was hoisted; here, even if Christ is dead, the Crucifixion takes place , the mystical moment is accompanied by ancient songs-lamentations by the singers of the SS association. Crucifix; subsequently Christ is placed from the Cross in the urn, and descends back into the center of the town, where in the church of the Capuchin Fathers the devout people "make peace with the Lord", an act of reconciliation and request for forgiveness before the figure of Christ Died. Subsequently, late in the evening, Christ and his Mother are led into the Mother Church.

 

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Il Venerdì Santo è una ricorrenza che in Sicilia acquista un significato catartico per chi è alla ricerca, non solo fotografica, delle tradizioni popolari (le troviamo diffuse in tutta la Sicilia), che altro non sono che un evento sociale, culturale, che fondono in un tutt’uno passato e presente; dal web “le tradizioni popolari sono una memoria storica legata ad usanze e ritualità che hanno dato forma ai valori e alle credenze di quella cultura”. La Pasqua in Sicilia può essere fonte di ricerca, essa può apparire non priva di contraddizioni, citando il pensiero di quel grande pensatore Siciliano che fu Leonardo Sciascia, per lui la Sicilia non può dirsi cristiana riferendosi alle feste Siciliane, al massimo lo è solo in apparenza, in quelle esplosioni propriamente pagane, tollerate dalla Chiesa; Sciascia affronta l’argomento come saggio introduttivo nel libro “Feste religiose in Sicilia”, illustrato con fotografie di un giovane ed ancora sconosciuto Ferdinando Scianna, libro che non mancò di sollevare qualche polemica per la nota introduttiva del pensatore Siciliano, essendo così in aperta polemica con la sacralità di quella devozione popolare Siciliana (il libro fu oggetto di una stroncatura da parte del quotidiano della Santa Sede, l’Osservatore Romano), Sciascia scrive: “che cos’ è una festa religiosa in Sicilia? Sarebbe facile rispondere che è tutto, tranne che una festa religiosa. E’, innanzi tutto, un’esplosione esistenziale; l’esplosione dell’es collettivo, dove la collettività esiste soltanto a livello dell’es. Poiché è soltanto nella festa che il siciliano esce dalla sua condizione di uomo solo, che è poi la condizione del suo vigile e doloroso super io, per ritrovarsi parte di un ceto, di una classe, di una città ”. Altro pensatore, scrittore e poeta Siciliano, Gesualdo Bufalino, fornisce indicazioni interessanti sul senso che i Siciliani danno a questi eventi popolari tradizionali, egli dice “durante la Pasqua ogni siciliano si sente non solo uno spettatore, ma un attore, prima dolente e poi esultante, per un Mistero che è la sua stessa esistenza. Il tempo dell’evento è quello della Primavera, la stagione della metamorfosi, così come metamorfica è la natura stessa del rito nel quale, come in un racconto dell’Opera dei Pupi, si combatte la lotta del Bene contro il Male. Sono presenti l’Inganno, il Dolore e il Trionfo, la Passione, la Morte e la Resurrezione di Cristo”.

In breve, la Pasqua in Sicilia è una ricorrenza profondamente sentita in tutta l’isola fin dall’antichità, essa ha sempre avuto come fulcro la commossa partecipazione del popolo, con rappresentazioni e processioni divenuti riti e tradizioni che caratterizzano inequivocabilmente numerosissimi centri Siciliani, che rievocano i momenti più salienti narrati nei Vangeli e che ricordano la Passione, la Morte e la Resurrezione di Gesù Cristo, con cortei formati dalle varie confraternite (a volte con rievocazioni teatrali) che hanno in se contenuti e simbologie spesso provenienti dalla dominazione Spagnola, avvenuta in Sicilia tra il XVI ed il XVII secolo.

Quest’anno, in occasione del Venerdì Santo mi sono recato nel grazioso paese di Licodia Eubea (in provincia di Catania), inizio col dire che in questa processione prende vita, in forma statuaria, un personaggio unico che non si trova in nessun’altro luogo della Sicilia, si chiama “Ciurciddu” (tradotto “Circello”), egli tira con una corda legata al collo il Cristo mentre porta la Croce, questo tristo personaggio ha un profondo significato simbolico-allegorico, egli rappresenta “il Male che c’è nel mondo, il rifuto verso la Verità annunciata dal Cristo”, creandogli sofferenza tirandolo con la corda legata al collo. I ragazzi e gli uomini “portatori delle vare” si riuniscono tra loro, preparandosi al momento in cui, iniziata la processione, si realizzerà attorno alle ore 10:00 “ ‘a Giunta”, ovvero “l’incontro” dolorosissimo tra il Cristo (che porta la Croce, legato a Ciurciddu) e Sua Madre l’Addolorata (col cuore trafitto da una spada, immagine iconica di origine spagnola), durante l’incontro “avviene l’inchino o saluto” tra le due vare, è il Saluto che Madre e Figlio si fanno in uno dei momenti più caratteristici di questa processione. Mentre le due vare vengono portate in una antica chiesa, avviene un altro evento che caratterizza fortemente questa tradizione, ha luogo “l’asta della Croce”, il poter portare in spalla la Croce, del peso di 70 kg, fino alla Chiesa del Calvario (un lungo percorso in salita a raggiungere la parte alta del paese), viene messo all’asta, il maggiore offerente si aggiudica questa possibilità, dopodiché avviene un fatto straordinario: il devoto che si è aggiudicato l’asta viene abbracciato da numerosissimi paesani, con grande trasporto ed affetto, questo perché chi partecipa all’asta lo fa certamente per devozione ma anche possibilmente perché in famiglia ha avuto qualcuno con problemi più o meno gravi di salute, ed è per questo che le persone lo abbracciano e lo incoraggiano mostrandogli la loro vicinanza. Nel pomeriggio riprende la processione, adesso il Cristo è morto, si trova nella vara con l’Urna, ed è chiamato “ ‘ u Signuri ‘ a cascia” (col quale termine si intende “il Signore nella cassa da morto”), le due vare (il Cristo morto e Sua Madre l’Addolorata) vengono portate in processione fin sopra la Chiesa del Calvario, dove la pesante ed antica Croce portata in spalla dal devoto è stata issata, qui, anche se il Cristo è morto, avviene la Crocifissione, il mistico momento è accompagnato da antichi canti-lamentazioni ad opera dei cantori dell’associazione SS. Crocifisso; successivamente il Cristo viene deposto dalla Croce nell’urna, e ridiscende nel centro del paese, ove nella chiesa dei Padri Cappuccini il popolo dei devoti “ fa ‘ a Paci co’ Signuri”, atto di riconciliazione e richiesta di perdono innanzi la figura del Cristo Morto. Successivamente, in tarda serata, il Cristo e Sua Madre vengono condotti nella Chiesa Madre.

 

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Venerdì Santo Mattina Licodia Eubea 2024

  

Venerdì Santo Pomeriggio Licodia Eubea 2024

 

A giunta-Venerdì Santo 28/03/2024 a Licodia Eubea...

  

"La crocifissione"-Venerdì Santo 2024 a Licodia Eubea

  

I riti della Settimana Santa 2024 a Licodia Eubea

  

Asta della Croce-Venerdì Santo 28/03/2024 a Licodia Eubea

 

Venerdì Santo 2024 a Licodia Eubea..."A naccata sulle note della Sollevazione di Cristo"

  

Canti devozionali della settimana santa a Licodia Eubea

  

Curunedda di Maria Addulurata - Li sette spati

  

I Canti devozionali della Settimana Santa a Licodia Eubea

 

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Su Re - trailer ufficiale HD

  

Su re - clip 3

 

Backstage del Film "Su Re" di Giovanni Columbu

  

Su re - clip 2

  

Su re - clip 1

  

Su re - clip 4

 

Su Re (2012) • Tornate a splendere!

  

GIOVANNI COLUMBU - SU RE

  

Incontro con Giovanni Columbu, regista di SU RE (Italia 2013)

  

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Unified entity distinct

Metaphysic dimensions

Existential attitude

 

Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for one the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us! What do you say? It is true that when with folded arms we weigh the pros and cons we are no less a credit to our species. The tiger bounds to the help of his congeners without the least reflexion, or else he slinks away into the depths of the thickets. But that is not the question. What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in the immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come --

Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

 

***I loved it! The play’s minimalistic style, light, shadows and the actors' dialogue were impressive. The music and voices were captivating and added to the overall mood. It perfectly reflected themes of waiting, existential crises, and relationships. The fact that the actors kept hugging suggests that maybe waiting together, forming strong bonds, could be the true meaning of life. That feeling of hugging someone you love or share a connection with is truly special.

 

Okay… Keanu Reeves…

 

In my mind, he's always that young guy from 1997 in Devil’s Advocate. I'm biased! I'm biased!!!! 1997!

 

BUT…

 

I believe that over the years, people become attractive in different ways through experiences and human qualities. Youth is beautiful, but age is attractive. Youth has a face, but age has a soul.

   

Existential tourists' question at the corner Naglergasse/Heidenschuss in the 1st district of Vienna

Straight out of the Camera. A camera is a receptacle of light. A photographer is a gatherer of light. A camera can capture infinite attributes and hues of light. Attributes and hues which can be manipulated but (perhaps) never enhanced by post processing on a computer. Personally I believe that a mild tweaking of exposure or white balance may be necessary at times but extensive processing sucks out the meditative and emotionally charged component of an image leaving behind something which is unreal and lifeless. To PP or not to PP? An existential dilemma which every photographer has to solve for him-her-self.

French Quarter

 

New Orleans, LA