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When I was offered this commission immediately I regretted that would be an opportunity just to make money, show some carving skills and assembling designs. Fortunately I was wrong. I hate making replicas, specially of my own stuff from my past life, but that sculpture work was not the case.
The "carnavalesco" (director of art for the parade) asked me to do something clearly inspired on the Pietá on Saint Peter's Basilica, to evoke that art work, but with differences. That was the nicest work situation for me: I was being asked to repeat my own work of the past with the freedom to propose new proportion relation between the mother and her son's dead body and to recreate lots of details. The only annoying limitation would be the cutting of the sculpture in parts for the assembling technique needed for the float.
The Pietá theme, which origin was from northern europe (german), has the well known knotty esthetic problem: "the awkward contrast between the ungainly male body and the smaller woman holding it". The solution that everyone can notice on the Saint Peter's Pietá is that the Virgin is bigger than his dead son's body surrounded by drapery cascading. This is known as pyramidal composition (I can't remember from where I took it but I assure you that I was used of that solution for Virgin's images). This Pietá for a carnival work was the opportunity to check out if the Virgin could follow at least the same proportion of Christ's dead body (or even be a little smaller).
Beyond the classic art challenge, this Pietá would be almost three times bigger than the original. That should be enough to defy anyone's sculpting capacity when you would be working in a so crowded and unhealthy place: thermal sensation about 60ºC (stated by experts), breathing resin and surrounded by woven fiberglass. Worst: with less than a month to do it, I was always being remembered by jealous people that my work would be compared with one of the most famous work of art on the planet. Well,… here is my response to them.
Português:
Quando me ofereceram essa Pietá para fazer, imediatamente lamentei porque seria apenas para ganhar dinheiro e mostrar algumas habilidades de escultura. Felizmente, eu estava errado. Odeio fazer réplicas, especialmente do que realizei na minha vida passada, mas este trabalho não era o caso.
O carnavalesco me pediu para fazer algo claramente inspirado na Pietá da Basílica de São Pedro, para evocar aquela obra de arte, mas com diferenças. Essa situação de trabalho era bem agradável: eu estava sendo convidado a repetir o meu próprio trabalho do passado mas com a liberdade de propor uma nova relação de proporção entre a Virgem e o corpo morto do Cristo, e poder recriar muitos detalhes. A única limitação irritante seria ter que cortar a escultura em partes para a montagem necessária no carro alegórico.
O tema Pietá, com origem do Norte da Europa (alemão), tem um problema estético complicado: "o estranho contraste de tamanho entre o corpo masculino e o da mulher, menor, a segurá-lo". A solução na Pietá da Basílica de São Pedro é que a Virgem é maior do que o corpo de seu filho morto, emoldurado pelo tecido em cascata. Isto é conhecido como composição piramidal (não me lembro de onde eu tirei isso, mas garanto que estava acostumado a esta solução para as imagens da Virgem ). Esta Pietá em um trabalho de carnaval era a minha oportunidade para verificar se a Virgem poderia ter pelo menos a mesma proporção do corpo de Cristo (ou até ser um pouco menor).
Além do desafio de arte clássica, esta Pietá seria quase três vezes maior do que a original. Isso seria o suficiente para desafiar a capacidade de escultura de qualquer um quando você está trabalhando em um lugar cheio de gente e insalubre: sensação térmica de cerca de 60ºC (afirmado por especialista), respirando resina e cercado por tecido de fibra de vidro. Pior: com menos de um mês para fazer a obra, eu ainda sempre era lembrado por pessoas invejosas que o meu trabalho seria comparado com uma famosa obra de arte. Bem,... eis a minha resposta
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From 1954 Maserati offered the final edition of the A6G sports car. As with its predecessor, the sales designation 2000 GT was frequently used in brochures and advertisements. On the race tracks of the World Sports Car Championship, the corresponding offshoots were called A6GCS. By 1957, only 60 Maserati A6G/54 cars had been built, with the bodies being exclusively built by external coachbuilders such as Allemano, Zagato and Frua.
This dealer was also the one who started the ball rolling for the A6G/54 Frua Spider. After a Spider based on a A6GCS chassis with the engine of the A6G/54 was completed in Pietro Frua’s workshop in the spring of 1955, Mimmo Dei ordered a small series of ten vehicles. However, only the first one was given the same design as the original model. The other nine were given an extended front and other modifications in detail. Different bumpers and small fake air intakes on the rear fenders for example.
The two-tone car, painted in red with a wide white stripe, was used for a few photos that appeared in the car magazines Quattroruote and Motor Trend. In October 1956 the Parisian dealer Simone & Thépenier handed over this A6G/54 to its first owner, a Mr. Cavet from Venezuela. Until the car reappeared in the USA in the mid 1970s, not much is known about its whereabouts in the early years. In 1978 Louis Rader bought the car from Thomas Dailey in California. At that time the original drivetrain was missing and the car had been repainted dark blue. Under the hood a Ford 289 V8 was working. Mr. Rader painted the Maserati red, but otherwise left it in the condition it was bought and sold it to Dana Beall and Mick Brackett around 1990.
This Frua-bodied A6G/54 Maserati has been created for #mocaroundgang #mocaround66 to the theme of #convertible hosted by @spamala808
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Andalasia Fashions offers Seasons Greetings with our latest festive number, arriving just in time for the Holidays! The Cookie Carnival dress is a long sleeved shift dress, in a merry candy cane and gingerbread man design. You will find this retro dress can be zhuzhed up for the party season, or style it in a modern way as you sip a hot chocolate in front of the fire on a snowy evening.
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This is a special edition of the dress in Gold and is only available as a group gift at our main store:
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. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
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The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to
CHRISTIANITY
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
WIKIPEDIA
. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
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The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to
CHRISTIANITY
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
WIKIPEDIA
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Subway systems offer significant advantages in addressing urban transportation challenges, primarily by providing efficient and high-capacity mobility. By operating on dedicated underground or elevated tracks, subways are largely immune to surface traffic congestion, ensuring reliable and predictable travel times. This independence from road networks allows for rapid transit, making them ideal for commuting in densely populated areas where surface transport is often slow and unpredictable. Their ability to move large numbers of people simultaneously, often tens of thousands per hour per direction, significantly reduces the number of private vehicles on the road, thereby alleviating traffic jams, lowering fuel consumption, and reducing associated air pollution.
Furthermore, subway systems contribute to sustainable urban development and economic growth. The high passenger capacity and speed of subways can connect disparate parts of a city, fostering economic activity and making employment centers more accessible to a wider population. This improved connectivity can enhance property values around stations and encourage transit-oriented development, leading to more compact and livable cities. From an environmental perspective, by promoting public transport over private car use, subways help decrease a city's carbon footprint and improve air quality, contributing to a healthier urban environment for residents.
Om Shanti Om Yoga School offers residential 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training in India that is 25 days for 200 hours of certifications. Our courses are designed following the rules and regulations as outlined by Yoga Alliance USA. Yoga Teacher Training at Om Shanti Om Yoga School includes asanas, pranayama, chanting, mantra, meditation, and other traditional yoga techniques as well as a sound foundation in philosophy, anatomy, and physiology of yoga. We aim to release our students from our training with genuine knowledge for a better tomorrow.
Om Shanti Om Yoga School is a globally recognized yoga school. This is a premier destination for those who are interested in programs like Yoga Teacher Training India or Yoga Teacher Training Rishikesh. Yoga is an ancient art that helps in bringing perfect balance to life.
200 hr Yoga Teacher Training Course is designed according to 200 Hour YTTC requirements of Yoga Alliance. The objective of 200 hr yoga teacher training course is to provide you with a solid base of knowledge, practice, and self-confidence to begin to teach yoga and take your practice to the next level.
This course also gives an amazing opportunity to discover your true nature and learn how to live your life mindfully and also with more passion and joy. This is 15 days of the intensive program which necessitates completing the pre-preparation part at your home before arriving here.
We give a holistic understanding of yoga which is offering multi-style yoga practices combined with traditional yoga and a recent, modern understanding of the body. Our teachers are ready with all their heart and knowledge to guide you and support you to deepen your yoga practice and achieve your goals.
Join Om Shanti Om Yoga School Family and experience the memorable joy of discovering your true self and this life transformative journey!
ACCOMMODATION
We offer both shared and private rooms. For private rooms, you need to pay extra.
To make our students feel comfortable during their stay, we do our best to offer them this comfort. In the rooms, hot and cold water, and wifi facilities are available.
Extra Cost for Private Room: In addition to your course fee, you should pay 100 USD extra.
FOOD
We serve vegetarian food. According to the needs of our students, we also serve gluten-free and vegan food. However, if you have any specific conditions with the food such as food allergies, etc., we will be happy to prepare special food for you if you inform us in advance.
3 meals are served in a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The food menu is prepared by taking into consideration balanced nutrition needs.
COST AND PAYMENT
We kindly ask you to pay the deposit in advance so that we will make your registration and secure your place.
Quick Link
Yoga Teacher Traning Course in Rishikesh,India,
100 Hours Yoga Teacher Traning in Rishikesh,India,
200 Hours Yoga Teacher Traning in Rishikesh,India, 300 Hours Yoga Teacher Traning in Rishikesh,India,, 500 Hours Yoga Teacher Traning in Rishikesh,India,
Pranayama & Meditation Yoga Teacher Traning Course in Rishikesh,India 3 Days Yoga Retreats in Rishikesh, India, 5 Days Yoga Retreats in Rishikesh, India, 7 Days Yoga Retreats in Rishikesh, India, 10 Days Yoga Retreats in Rishikesh, India
LightTothebox Offer you the best cheap Wedding Gowns. All you need is selcting your favorite color and your size. Please have look Cheap Wedding Dresses
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We offer private tours in the city of Cusco and Sacred Valley. Cruise Cusco in a Vintage fun VW Bus Feel the Wanderlust!
Ofrecemos tours privados en la ciudad del Cuzco y el Valle Sagrado a bordo de nuestras VW Kombi T1. Nuestros tours son a tu medida. Tours privados para ti y tus compañeros de viaje. Queremos generar para vosotros los mejores recuerdos.
Jimmy Carter offers to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
www.biphoo.com/bipnews/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/carter....
#JimmyCarterOffersToMeetWithNorthKoreanLeaderKimJongUn
Jimmy Carter offers to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
Jimmy Carter offers to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un:- Former President Jimmy Carter (D) reportedly offered to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in an attempt at peace talks.
A University of Georgia professor detailed...
Monark Golf offers a complete line of steel golf shafts from the industry's top shaft manufacturers such as True Temper, Project X, Nippon steel shafts, KBS and FST steel iron shafts. We are carrying steel golf shafts in 0.370" parallel tip as well as 0.355" tapered tip to reshaft OEM iron heads.
Besides brand name steel shafts, we are also stocking up the entire line of Apollo steel golf shafts at lowest possible prices. Apollo steel shafts don't compromise on quality and offer a better value than OEM steel golf shafts. The Apollo Acculite 75 steel shaft is one of the lightest steel shafts on the market and offered below $10.00. the Apollo Acculite 75 is a super lightweight steel shaft and a great alternative to graphite iron shafts.
Matakanui, once a bustling mining locale, offers a special glimpse into how life must have been during the rush for Central Otago gold.
Matakanui lies nestled under the foothills of the Dunstan Mountains, less than 1hr's drive from Alexandra towards Ranfurly.
Gold was discovered here early 1863, and by December the same year the diggings contained 200 miners. However, by April the following year, only 60 remained. This number continued to decline until companies and more persistent parties established themselves, and mined the site across the 1880s and 1890s.
The name Matakanui refers to one of three high points along the Dunstan Range, but the town was originally known as "Tinkers": there are different theories for this. It may have come from the miners' camp resembling a tinkers' camp with all its pots and pans (tinsmiths were then called tinkers); or it may be based on a reply given by a miner when asked how/what he was doing – "just tinkering around".
At one stage, the town had a library, Catholic church, blacksmith, George Naylor's butchery, store, and a number of houses. Only a few of the original mud brick buildings can be seen. The old Duggan's mud-brick store began life as a goldfields dancehall and operated right into the 1980s. The former Newtown Hotel (opened by John Mellor in 1869) had "ten bedrooms, two sitting-rooms, a dining-room capable of seating twenty persons, and a large billiard-room. The stables have six stalls and three loose boxes" *...which indicates how popular the hotel was! It was rebuilt after being destroyed by fire, using the old stone walls of the original.
These buildings are now privately owned.
Near Matakanui/Tinkers, the (most DEFINITELY!) four-wheel-drive Thomson Gorge Road crosses the Dunstan Mountains to the upper Clutha Valley.
( * Extract from THE CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW ZEALAND, 1905)
Had to come back to be number one
Business not finished so I'm never done
Still, I got flow hotter than the sun yeah
I gotta offer that you can't refuse
I gotta offer that you can't refuse...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make him an offer he can't refuse and Carlos Gonzalez will more than likely fill in for your band if the congalero becomes ill or otherwise unable to lay it down...He shares his talents with many different groups throughout the Bay Area...He's also one of the best muralists around...
English:
When I was offered this commission immediately I regretted that would be an opportunity just to make money, show some carving skills and assembling designs. Fortunately I was wrong. I hate making replicas, specially of my own stuff from my past life, but that sculpture work was not the case.
The "carnavalesco" (director of art for the parade) asked me to do something clearly inspired on the Pietá on Saint Peter's Basilica, to evoke that art work, but with differences. That was the nicest work situation for me: I was being asked to repeat my own work of the past with the freedom to propose new proportion relation between the mother and her son's dead body and to recreate lots of details. The only annoying limitation would be the cutting of the sculpture in parts for the assembling technique needed for the float.
The Pietá theme, which origin was from northern europe (german), has the well known knotty esthetic problem: "the awkward contrast between the ungainly male body and the smaller woman holding it". The solution that everyone can notice on the Saint Peter's Pietá is that the Virgin is bigger than his dead son's body surrounded by drapery cascading. This is known as pyramidal composition (I can't remember from where I took it but I assure you that I was used of that solution for Virgin's images). This Pietá for a carnival work was the opportunity to check out if the Virgin could follow at least the same proportion of Christ's dead body (or even be a little smaller).
Beyond the classic art challenge, this Pietá would be almost three times bigger than the original. That should be enough to defy anyone's sculpting capacity when you would be working in a so crowded and unhealthy place: thermal sensation about 60ºC (stated by experts), breathing resin and surrounded by woven fiberglass. Worst: with less than a month to do it, I was always being remembered by jealous people that my work would be compared with one of the most famous work of art on the planet. Well,… here is my response to them.
Português:
Quando me ofereceram essa Pietá para fazer, imediatamente lamentei porque seria apenas para ganhar dinheiro e mostrar algumas habilidades de escultura. Felizmente, eu estava errado. Odeio fazer réplicas, especialmente do que realizei na minha vida passada, mas este trabalho não era o caso.
O carnavalesco me pediu para fazer algo claramente inspirado na Pietá da Basílica de São Pedro, para evocar aquela obra de arte, mas com diferenças. Essa situação de trabalho era bem agradável: eu estava sendo convidado a repetir o meu próprio trabalho do passado mas com a liberdade de propor uma nova relação de proporção entre a Virgem e o corpo morto do Cristo, e poder recriar muitos detalhes. A única limitação irritante seria ter que cortar a escultura em partes para a montagem necessária no carro alegórico.
O tema Pietá, com origem do Norte da Europa (alemão), tem um problema estético complicado: "o estranho contraste de tamanho entre o corpo masculino e o da mulher, menor, a segurá-lo". A solução na Pietá da Basílica de São Pedro é que a Virgem é maior do que o corpo de seu filho morto, emoldurado pelo tecido em cascata. Isto é conhecido como composição piramidal (não me lembro de onde eu tirei isso, mas garanto que estava acostumado a esta solução para as imagens da Virgem ). Esta Pietá em um trabalho de carnaval era a minha oportunidade para verificar se a Virgem poderia ter pelo menos a mesma proporção do corpo de Cristo (ou até ser um pouco menor).
Além do desafio de arte clássica, esta Pietá seria quase três vezes maior do que a original. Isso seria o suficiente para desafiar a capacidade de escultura de qualquer um quando você está trabalhando em um lugar cheio de gente e insalubre: sensação térmica de cerca de 60ºC (afirmado por especialista), respirando resina e cercado por tecido de fibra de vidro. Pior: com menos de um mês para fazer a obra, eu ainda sempre era lembrado por pessoas invejosas que o meu trabalho seria comparado com uma famosa obra de arte. Bem,... eis a minha resposta
Rsb offers the great look of the spill over hot tub. Create great look with elevation change, visual effects for the custom look of the spill over hot tub; great benefits you receive for the pain ful muscles and joints of everyday life.
Rsb offers the spas to meet every need so discuss with your Rsb sales person which would be the best for you.
Darlene Lane offers an escape to Provence, France on Salt Spring Island. She travels to the South of France to source the finest of French fabrics in the most current of contemporary designs. The result is a market booth that seems to glow with the bright colours of Mediterranean sunshine from bags, cushions and table linens. Her most popular items are table cloths with a protective "wipe clean" surface. Table cloths are available in a range of sizes for square, round or rectangular tables.
(If you'd like to use any of these photos for anything pls contact Kris Krüg first - kriskrug@gmail.com or 778. 898. 3076. Thank you! (c) (r) (tm) 2016)
We are proud to offer both in Stock Crystal Tattoos and Custom Sticker Tattoos design pieces, all made to the highest standards. Buzz Tattoos offers a variety of conventional and modern designs at really highly competitive prices. Each item we make is designed and produced by skilled craftsmen. We invite you to explore our site; you will find that it is our craftsmanship, materials, and quality that set us apart. They make a great set worn all together but you can easily use each piece alone to mix with any other outfit and make them more precious and stylish. They can be perfect complement to any another outfit but they can also look great as contemporary jewelry.
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This session offers an opportunity to discuss action taken by stakeholders in the UNESCO facilitated Action Lines C3, C7, C8 and C10 (see AL themes below). Three months ago, UNESCO hosted the multistakeholder WSIS+10 Review event, which offered 80 sessions on the WSIS follow-up and implementation. After this recent gathering, and the in-depth discussions, UNESCO decided to offer this forum dedicated e-learning and media sessions, plus this session, which combines the other four Action Lines UNESCO facilitates.
Day 2
14 May 2013
ITU/ Claudio Montesano Casillas
Jurong Bird Park, collection of more than 8,000 birds from 600 species, offers visitors an experience that is entertaining as well as educational. The whole family can enjoy the entertaining Birds n Buddies Show and be enthralled by the birds of prey in the King of the Skies show and in the Fuji World of Hawks. The bird shows at the Pools Amphitheatre featuring flamingoes, macaws, hornbills and cockatoos are both spectacular and funny, and recommended particularly for children. To watch magnificent birds of prey in action, catch the 'Fuji World of Hawks' show!
The Penguin Parade enclosure, in a re-created Antarctic setting, houses more than 200 penguins of five species. Within the Penguin Parade enclosure, there are some 50 other sea-birds such as the inca terns and puffins. Another highlight is the colorful Hornbills and Toucans exhibit, the world's largest collection of Southeast Asian Hornbills.Jurong Bird Park
The Southeast Asian Birds Aviary houses in its 24 individual aviaries and a main walk-in aviary, more than 100 species of birds from the equatorial jungles of Southeast Asia. The birds' natural equatorial habitat is re-created within this exhibit, including simulated tropical thunderstorms everyday at noon.
One of the newly opened areas of the park is the African Waterfall Aviary, home to more than 1,500 free-flying African birds. This is an enclosed sexton of the park with many small tropical birds and a beautiful man-made waterfall.
The Lory Loft showcases the Lory, a native bird of Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Visitors can enter, traverse and exit Lory Loft at treetop level, allowing for a bird eye’s view of the majestic panorama. From beginning to end, the Lory Loft provides visitors with a 360 degrees elevated view of the environs.
Jurong Bird Park presents “The Early Bird Breakfast Show”, featuring a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with some of its prized birds, which includes Big John, a 45-year-old Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Merlin-the Yellow-Naped Amazon, Eclectus Parrots and more. Visitors will get the chance to mingle with these birds while having breakfast amidst the lush surroundings of the Jurong Bird Park. The programme takes place at the Bongo Burgers Terrace daily, with breakfast starting at 8.30am and the show beginning at 9.15am. For reservations, call (65) 6661 7856.
The Bird Discovery Centre, a living classroom is where visitors will be able to find the answers to their questions on birds as well as see the different stages of a bird’s life from an embryo to an egg, come up close to the now-extinct Elephant bird, specimens of birds’ anatomies, and many more. The Bird Discovery Centre is open to visitors from 8.30am to 6.00pm daily.
The Bird Park added yet another feather to its cap with the addition of The Riverine - a simulated natural freshwater river habitat featuring over 20 species of ducks, fishes and turtles.
The best way to start a tour of the Bird Park is to board the modern, air-conditioned panorail system. Its route covers the entire Park, providing excellent elevated views of the various exhibits. A walking tour is then suggested, using the Park's footpaths and map.
Open: 8:30 am - 6 pm (daily) (Last ticket sale at 5.30pm)
Admission: SGD 18 adults, SGD 12 children (3-12 years)
As introduction, let me offer words from the essay, “Better Speak,” by Hank Willis Thomas:
… I encountered Audre Lorde’s “Litany for Survival.” The last few lines are emblazoned on my soul:
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid
So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.
“Better to speak!” echoes in my mind whenever I feel like shriveling up and hiding in the corner rather than being exposed or critiqued. There is sheer audacity required to write words for a broader audience, even more to get up and read those words aloud. I feel the same is true for contemporary visual artists. To speak is almost to say “I know,” but in most cases artists are speaking about things they don’t know, or are still in the process of knowing. I feel like poetry is at its best when it speaks to the process of knowing, dangling on your heart right before it gets to your mind.
There is sheer audacity required to put one’s work—words or marks—out for view and review. What the artist makes reveals that very process of unearthing some glimmer of knowledge or understanding. Sometimes that view appears sublime. Other times it reveals a raw wound.
Rooted and Unmoored presents a range of views in the consideration of place. The process began during a residency at
Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, near Otis on the Oregon Coast. While there I immersed myself in that physical place, a landscape
not dissimilar to Grays Harbor, which is the place that I call home. For six weeks I found myself uprooted yet grounded, and shaped ideas that reflected the view around me—from the cathedral of spruce forest to the dappled greens of an alder grove to the infinite shades of blue and gray reflected by river and ocean.
After returning home I continued to look with fresh eyes, in order to translate the familiar into visual language. A favorite walk takes me to the confluence of the Hoquiam River and the Chehalis, and turning west reveals the Harbor’s wide mouth, attuned to the sky. This horizon line, and the space above and below, with its shapes, colors, and textures, provides ample inspiration.
For me, looking outward required the balance of looking within, to reflect upon one’s internal “place.” This process mined memories, observations, and imaginings that I’d been recording in written form over the years. It also took into consideration the deep influence that reading holds over me. The Box Poem series develops such narratives.
While I still shy away from the sheer audacity required to speak, I remain compelled to do so. I hope that these works will—
like well-crafted poems—dangle upon your heart, and linger on your mind.
C. Larson
September, 2013
_______________________________________________________________
artist statement
In my art-making as a whole—even in its most abstracted forms—a sense of place is often at the root of the work. Perhaps a particular piece evokes the natural beauty of the physical landscape. Perhaps it reflects on the emotional landscape of literature. Or it may speak to a mental place, a state of mind.
I look for form to follow concept. I strive to shape a meaningful experience for the viewer. And my love for the written word means that the textual elements in my work are not secondary. I am drawn to processes and materials that invite touch, that celebrate the tactile qualities that encourage us to connect with one another. This seems a lovely counterweight to our rushed, mass-produced, twittering world.
_______________________________________________________________
artist biography
Carrie L. Larson, born in Bellingham, Washington, moved throughout the Northwest during her childhood, until settling in Aberdeen with her family. There she graduated from JM Weatherwax High School, then moved to Walla Walla, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993 from Whitman College, where she was privileged to study art under Keiko Hara.
Since then she has practiced her calling—most recently in a chaotic home studio—sending her artwork out to juried shows throughout the region, including venues as far away as Chicago and Denver. One of her artist’s books, Red, Revisited, was included in Lark Crafts recent publication, 500 Handmade Books, Volume 2, juried by Julie Chen.
Carrie, along with husband John, currently calls Hoquiam home. There she is quietly active in her community, does freelance work as a color consultant and occasional floral designer, and operates a 5x8 Craftsmen letterpress under the concinnity press imprint. She is also responsible for a well-worn library card and a garden filled mostly with weeds and good intentions.
_______________________________________________________________
I am deeply indebted to so many who have supported my path—
To list everyone by name might require several volumes.
For now, let me offer deep gratitude to a handful:
to the college library crew, particularly Valerie, Sarah & Stan;
to Miss Swartz, 3rd grade teacher at Selah Elementary in 1979,
who set the foundation;
to my mentor, Keiko Hara, who challenged her students
while modeling artistic discipline and dedication;
to Ron Westman, gentle critic and epic storyteller;
to Paul Hunter, for graciously allowing me to borrow
his beautiful words for my own ends;
to Artist Trust for resources, and the skills that led to courage;
to the folks of Sitka Center, whose generosity renewed my spirit;
and to those grounding me at home—
my rock, John, and the gray cats, who like to investigate
works in progress.
Thank you.
This is a photograph from the second annual running of The Lough Lene Gaels Hurling and Camogie Clubs "New Year's Resolution Run" which was held in Collinstown, Co. Westmeath, Ireland on Sunday 12th January 2014 at 13:00. There were two races on offer today - a 10KM road race and a 5KM road race, fun run, and walk. This is one of the first road races in the midlands of the New Year. As this was a community orientated event families were especially welcome in the 5KM race. The race was organised to raise funding for the development of the GAA pitches for the Lough Lene Gaels Hurling and Camogie Clubs. Overall this was a very successful event with a very large field of well over 300 participants in both races combined. The great local effort was exemplified by a very big local contingent from Collinstown and neighbouring areas.
The 5KM race was an out and back course on the Collinstown to Fore Road. The 10KM was also on an out and back course with a deviation between 2KM and 7KM for the longer race. There were several tough hills but an equal amount of down-hill. The turn around on the course for the 10KM came at Doyle's Pub [goo.gl/maps/WxPSy - Google Streetview] at Glenidan.
Refreshments were served afterwards in the Lough Lene Inn where the prize ceremony was also held.
Note: Due to the inclement weather and poor lighting we had to, unfortunately, delete a lot of our photographs as there were very many blurs and fuzzy pictures. You will find lots more photographs and race results on the Facebook pages outlined below.
However, we have an extensive set of photographs from today's event on the following Flickr Photoset Page: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157639654608496/
Viewing this on a smartphone device?
If you are viewing this Flickr set on a smartphone and you want to see the larger version(s) of this photograph then: scroll down to the bottom of this description under the photograph and click the "View info about this photo..." link. You will be brought to a new page and you should click the link "View All Sizes".
Some useful Internet links
Lough Lene Inn Pub Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/loughleneinn.collinstown?ref=ts&fref=ts
Lough Lene Gaels GAA Club on Facebook: www.facebook.com/loughlene.gaels.1?ref=ts&fref=ts
Our Flickr Photographs from Lough Lene Gaels 5KM New Year's Resolution Run 2013: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157632508354317/
Our Flickr Photographs from the Lough Lene Gaels 5KM Road Challenge - July 2012: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157630562888662/
Lough Lene Gaels GAA Club on Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lough_Lene_Gaels_GAA
Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account?
Yes - of course you can. Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.
How can I get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?
All of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution. We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us.
This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.
Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.
In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc.
I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?
Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.
I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?
As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:
►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera
►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set
►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone
►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!
You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.
Don't like your photograph here?
That's OK! We understand!
If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.
I want to tell people about these great photographs!
Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets
DISH Network offers great deals on HD satellite tv packages. Come see our best specials available now from DISH Network.
I offer my work for sale if you are interested in any of my photographs. To inquire about purchasing a picture, please send me an email at baotruongquyquoc@gmail.com
Alternatively, buy me a cup of coffee through PayPal: paypal.me/baobeo93
Cheers!
All rights reserved.
ENAI SWIM offers swimming and survival skills lessons for babies and young children with real results in as little as 4 weeks. Lessonsn offered in Thibodaux and Houma, Louisiana.
ENAI ofrece clases de natacion y sobrevivencia en el agua a bebes y niños con resultados reales en tan poco como 4 semanas. Las clases las damos en Monterrey, NL, Mexico.
Sir Ove Nyquist Arup, CBE, MICE, MIStructE, FCIOB (16 April 1895 – 5 February 1988) was an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited, a multinational corporation that offers engineering, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for building systems. Ove Arup is considered to be among the foremost architectural structural engineers of his time.
Personal life and education
Arup was born in Newcastle, England, in 1895, to the Danish veterinary surgeon Jens Simon Johannes Arup and his Norwegian wife, Mathilde Bolette Nyquist.
Arup attended the Sorø Academy in Denmark, a boarding school with many influences from Thomas Arnold of the Rugby School in the United Kingdom.
In 1913, he began studying philosophy at University of Copenhagen and in 1918 enrolled for an engineering degree at the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, specialising in reinforced concrete. He completed his studies in 1922. At this time Ove Arup was influenced by Le Corbusier and his publication Vers une architecture, published that year; and also by Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus movement.[citation needed]
Arup married Ruth Sørensen, known as Li, on 13 August 1925.
Working life
Before WWII
In 1922, Ove Arup began work with a Danish firm in Hamburg called Christiani & Nielsen, and in December 1923 he moved to their London office as chief engineer.
He designed the Labworth Café—a café with two integrated shelters set on the promenade of the neighbouring Essex seaside resort of Canvey Island. The café exists as the only building solely designed by Arup.
He then worked as a structural consultant to the Tecton partnership, notably on the Penguin Pool at London's Regent's Park Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo, Dudley Zoo, as a construction supervisor for a villa in Heath Drive, Romford, Essex and on Highpoint I, Highgate (a building he was later highly critical of). The close working relationship that Arup developed with Tecton's senior partner Berthold Lubetkin, proved to be highly important in the development of both men's careers.
He moved next to a London construction company, J. L. Kier & Co. in London, as director and chief designer from 1934 to 1938, and during the 1930s he also worked with Ernő Goldfinger, Wells Coates, Maxwell Fry, Yorke, Rosenberg & Mardall and Marcel Breuer.
He became a member of the executive committee of the MARS Group in 1935. In 1938, he and his cousin Arne founded Arup & Arup Limited, a firm of engineers and contractors.
World War II
Before the war, Ove Arup was on the Air Raid Precautions organising committee and he advised Finsbury Council on the provision of bomb shelters. During the war he published a number of papers on shelter policy and designs, mainly advocating reinforced concrete mass shelters, rather than the government policy of dispersing the population in small domestic shelters. Largely for political reasons most of his recommendations were never adopted, although some wealthy Londoners were able to build concrete shelters according to his design.
Arup played a significant part in the design of the Mulberry temporary harbours used during the D-Day landings. The Mulberry Harbour was a type of temporary harbour developed to offload cargo on the beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy. The sections for two prefabricated or artificial military harbours were taken with the invading army from Britain across the English Channel and assembled off the coast of Normandy as part of the D-Day invasion of France in 1944.
Arup & Partners
In 1946, after dissolving Arup & Arup Ltd, he created a team of Civil and Structural Engineering consultants. In the same year, he formed his first partnership with Ronald Jenkins, Geoffrey Wood and Andrew Young called Arup and Partners.
A further company, Arup Associates, was formed in 1963 as a new partnership, a body of Architects and Engineers working on an equal basis as Building Designers: the engineer Ove Arup, the architects Francis Pym and Philip Dowson, and the former partners of Arup and Partners. It was a multi-disciplinary company providing engineering, architectural, and other services for the built environment. Arup said himself that ultimately, all of the Arup names resulted in a firm called simply Arup.
Notable projects
Highpoint I, built in 1935, was an important experiment in high-rise residential design, and was one of Arup's most significant collaborations with Lubetkin. Arup later criticised the project as having significant flaws.
Kingsgate Bridge
Ove Arup personally supervised the design and construction of Durham's Kingsgate Bridge in 1963. The firm's first bridge, Arup was particularly attached to the project and had his ashes scattered from it following his death. A bust of Arup that was placed at one end of the Bridge was stolen in the summer of 2006 but has since been replaced. Kingsgate Bridge was the last structure designed by Arup.
Van Ginkel Footbridge
The mid-century Van Ginkel Footbridge is in Bowring Park, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is a cantilever bridge, meaning it is anchored to the ground on only one end while the other side hovers. The bridge received heritage designation in 2020. The architect of the bridge was Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, who received the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's gold medal for lifetime achievement.
Sydney Opera House
Arup was the design engineer for the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia from the project's start in 1957 to its completion in 1973 An iconic building making groundbreaking use of precast concrete, structural glue and computer analysis, this made Arup's reputation, and that of his firm, despite the extremely difficult working relationship with the architect, Jørn Utzon.
Honours
1953 Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
1965 Knight First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog
1966 Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects
1971 Knight Bachelor (United Kingdom)
1973 Gold Medal of the Institution of Structural Engineers
1975 Knight Commander First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog
1976 Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University
1987 Royal Academician
Durham is a cathedral city and civil parish in the county of Durham, England. It is the county town and contains the headquarters of Durham County Council, the unitary authority which governs the district of County Durham. It had a population of 48,069 at the 2011 Census.
The city was built on a meander of the River Wear, which surrounds the centre on three sides and creates a narrow neck on the fourth. The surrounding land is hilly, except along the Wear's floodplain to the north and southeast.
Durham was founded in 995 by Anglo-Saxon monks seeking a place safe from Viking raids to house the relics of St Cuthbert. The church the monks built lasted only a century, as it was replaced by the present Durham Cathedral after the Norman Conquest; together with Durham Castle it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From the 1070s until 1836 the city was part of the County Palatine of Durham, a semi-independent jurisdiction ruled by the prince bishops of Durham which acted as a geopolitical buffer between the kingdoms of England and Scotland. In 1346, the Battle of Neville's Cross was fought half a mile west of the city, resulting in an English victory. In 1650, the cathedral was used to house Scottish prisoners after their defeat at the Battle of Dunbar. During the Industrial Revolution, the Durham coalfield was heavily exploited, with dozens of collieries operating around the city and in nearby villages. Although these coal pits have now closed, the annual Durham Miners' Gala continues and is a major event for the city and region. Historically, Durham was also known for the manufacture of hosiery, carpets, and mustard.
The city is the home of Durham University, which was founded in 1832 and therefore has a claim to be the third-oldest university in England. The university is a significant employer in the region, alongside the local council and national government at the land registry and passport office. The University Hospital of North Durham and HM Prison Durham are also located close to the city centre. The city also has significant tourism and hospitality sectors.
Toponymy
The name "Durham" comes from the Brythonic element dun, signifying a hill fort and related to -ton, and the Old Norse holme, which translates to island. The Lord Bishop of Durham takes a Latin variation of the city's name in his official signature, which is signed "N. Dunelm". Some attribute the city's name to the legend of the Dun Cow and the milkmaid who in legend guided the monks of Lindisfarne carrying the body of Saint Cuthbert to the site of the present city in 995 AD. Dun Cow Lane is said to be one of the first streets in Durham, being directly to the east of Durham Cathedral and taking its name from a depiction of the city's founding etched in masonry on the south side of the cathedral. The city has been known by a number of names throughout history. The original Nordic Dun Holm was changed to Duresme by the Normans and was known in Latin as Dunelm. The modern form Durham came into use later in the city's history. The north-eastern historian Robert Surtees chronicled the name changes in his History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham but states that it is an "impossibility" to tell when the city's modern name came into being.
Durham is likely to be Gaer Weir in Armes Prydein, derived from Brittonic cajr meaning "an enclosed, defensible site" (cf. Carlisle; Welsh caer) and the river-name Wear.
History
Early history
Archeological evidence suggests a history of settlement in the area since roughly 2000 BC. The present city can clearly be traced back to AD 995, when a group of monks from Lindisfarne chose the strategic high peninsula as a place to settle with the body of Saint Cuthbert, that had previously lain in Chester-le-Street, founding a church there.
City origins, the Dun Cow story
Local legend states that the city was founded in A.D. 995 by divine intervention. The 12th-century chronicler Symeon of Durham recounts that after wandering in the north, Saint Cuthbert's bier miraculously came to a halt at the hill of Warden Law and, despite the effort of the congregation, would not move. Aldhun, Bishop of Chester-le-Street and leader of the order, decreed a holy fast of three days, accompanied by prayers to the saint. During the fast, Saint Cuthbert appeared to a certain monk named Eadmer, with instructions that the coffin should be taken to Dun Holm. After Eadmer's revelation, Aldhun found that he was able to move the bier, but did not know where Dun Holm was.
The legend of the Dun Cow, which is first documented in The Rites of Durham, an anonymous account about Durham Cathedral, published in 1593, builds on Symeon's account. According to this legend, by chance later that day, the monks came across a milkmaid at Mount Joy (southeast of present-day Durham). She stated that she was seeking her lost dun cow, which she had last seen at Dun Holm. The monks, realising that this was a sign from the saint, followed her. They settled at a wooded "hill-island" – a high wooded rock surrounded on three sides by the River Wear. There they erected a shelter for the relics, on the spot where Durham Cathedral would later stand. Symeon states that a modest wooden building erected there shortly thereafter was the first building in the city. Bishop Aldhun subsequently had a stone church built, which was dedicated in September 998. This no longer remains, having been supplanted by the Norman structure.
The legend is interpreted by a Victorian relief stone carving on the north face of the cathedral and, more recently, by the bronze sculpture 'Durham Cow' (1997, Andrew Burton), which reclines by the River Wear in view of the cathedral.
Medieval era
During the medieval period the city gained spiritual prominence as the final resting place of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Bede the Venerable. The shrine of Saint Cuthbert, situated behind the High Altar of Durham Cathedral, was the most important religious site in England until the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury in 1170.
Saint Cuthbert became famous for two reasons. Firstly, the miraculous healing powers he had displayed in life continued after his death, with many stories of those visiting the saint's shrine being cured of all manner of diseases. This led to him being known as the "wonder worker of England". Secondly, after the first translation of his relics in 698 AD, his body was found to be incorruptible. Apart from a brief translation back to Holy Island during the Norman Invasion the saint's relics have remained enshrined to the present day. Saint Bede's bones are also entombed in the cathedral, and these also drew medieval pilgrims to the city.
Durham's geographical position has always given it an important place in the defence of England against the Scots. The city played an important part in the defence of the north, and Durham Castle is the only Norman castle keep never to have suffered a breach. In 1314, the Bishopric of Durham paid the Scots a 'large sum of money' not to burn Durham. The Battle of Neville's Cross took place around half a mile west of the city on 17 October 1346 between the English and Scots and was a disastrous loss for the Scots.
The city suffered from plague outbreaks in 1544, 1589 and 1598.
Bishops of Durham
Owing to the divine providence evidenced in the city's legendary founding, the Bishop of Durham has always enjoyed the formal title "Bishop by Divine Providence" as opposed to other bishops, who are "Bishop by Divine Permission". However, as the north-east of England lay so far from Westminster, the bishops of Durham enjoyed extraordinary powers such as the ability to hold their own parliament, raise their own armies, appoint their own sheriffs and Justices, administer their own laws, levy taxes and customs duties, create fairs and markets, issue charters, salvage shipwrecks, collect revenue from mines, administer the forests and mint their own coins. So far-reaching were the bishop's powers that the steward of Bishop Antony Bek commented in 1299 AD: "There are two kings in England, namely the Lord King of England, wearing a crown in sign of his regality and the Lord Bishop of Durham wearing a mitre in place of a crown, in sign of his regality in the diocese of Durham". All this activity was administered from the castle and buildings surrounding the Palace Green. Many of the original buildings associated with these functions of the county palatine survive on the peninsula that constitutes the ancient city.
From 1071 to 1836 the bishops of Durham ruled the county palatine of Durham. Although the term "prince bishop" has been used as a helpful tool in the understanding the functions of the bishops of Durham in this era, it is not a title they would have recognised. The last bishop to rule the palatinate, Bishop William Van Mildert, is credited with the foundation of Durham University in 1832. Henry VIII curtailed some of the bishop's powers and, in 1538, ordered the destruction of the shrine of Saint Cuthbert.
A UNESCO site describes the role of the bishops in the "buffer state between England and Scotland":
From 1075, the Bishop of Durham became a Prince-Bishop, with the right to raise an army, mint his own coins, and levy taxes. As long as he remained loyal to the king of England, he could govern as a virtually autonomous ruler, reaping the revenue from his territory, but also remaining mindful of his role of protecting England’s northern frontier.
Legal system
The bishops had their own court system, including most notably the Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge. The county also had its own attorney general, whose authority to bring an indictment for criminal matters was tested by central government in the case of R v Mary Ann Cotton (1873). Certain courts and judicial posts for the county were abolished by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873. Section 2 of the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 and section 41 of the Courts Act 1971 abolished others.
Civil War and Cromwell (1640 to 1660)
The city remained loyal to King Charles I in the English Civil War – from 1642 to the execution of the king in 1649. Charles I came to Durham three times during his reign of 1625–1649. Firstly, he came in 1633 to the cathedral for a majestic service in which he was entertained by the Chapter and Bishop at great expense. He returned during preparations for the First Bishops' War (1639). His final visit to the city came towards the end of the civil war; he escaped from the city as Oliver Cromwell's forces got closer. Local legend stated that he escaped down the Bailey and through Old Elvet. Another local legend has it that Cromwell stayed in a room in the present Royal County Hotel on Old Elvet during the civil war. The room is reputed to be haunted by his ghost. Durham suffered greatly during the civil war (1642–1651) and Commonwealth (1649–1660). This was not due to direct assault by Cromwell or his allies, but to the abolition of the Church of England and the closure of religious institutions pertaining to it. The city has always relied upon the Dean and Chapter and cathedral as an economic force.
The castle suffered considerable damage and dilapidation during the Commonwealth due to the abolition of the office of bishop (whose residence it was). Cromwell confiscated the castle and sold it to the Lord Mayor of London shortly after taking it from the bishop. A similar fate befell the cathedral, it being closed in 1650 and used to incarcerate 3,000 Scottish prisoners, who were marched south after the Battle of Dunbar. Graffiti left by them can still be seen today etched into the interior stone.
At the Restoration in 1660, John Cosin (a former canon) was appointed bishop (in office: 1660–1672) and set about a major restoration project. This included the commissioning of the famous elaborate woodwork in the cathedral choir, the font cover and the Black Staircase in the castle. Bishop Cosin's successor Bishop Lord Nathaniel Crewe (in office: 1674–1721) carried out other renovations both to the city and to the cathedral.
18th century
In the 18th century a plan to turn Durham into a seaport through the digging of a canal north to join the River Team, a tributary of the River Tyne near Gateshead, was proposed by John Smeaton. Nothing came of the plan, but the statue of Neptune in the Market Place was a constant reminder of Durham's maritime possibilities.
The thought of ships docking at the Sands or Millburngate remained fresh in the minds of Durham merchants. In 1758, a new proposal hoped to make the Wear navigable from Durham to Sunderland by altering the river's course, but the increasing size of ships made this impractical. Moreover, Sunderland had grown as the north east's main port and centre for shipping.
In 1787 Durham infirmary was founded.
The 18th century also saw the rise of the trade-union movement in the city.
19th century
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 gave governing power of the town to an elected body. All other aspects of the Bishop's temporal powers were abolished by the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 and returned to the Crown.
The Representation of the People Act 2000 and is regarded as the second most senior bishop and fourth most senior clergyman in the Church of England. The Court of Claims of 1953 granted the traditional right of the bishop to accompany the sovereign at the coronation, reflecting his seniority.
The first census, conducted in 1801, states that Durham City had a population of 7,100. The Industrial Revolution mostly passed the city by. However, the city was well known for carpet making and weaving. Although most of the mediaeval weavers who thrived in the city had left by the 19th century, the city was the home of Hugh MacKay Carpets’ factory, which produced the famous brands of axminster and tufted carpets until the factory went into administration in April 2005. Other important industries were the manufacture of mustard and coal extraction.
The Industrial Revolution also placed the city at the heart of the coalfields, the county's main industry until the 1970s. Practically every village around the city had a coal mine and, although these have since disappeared as part of the regional decline in heavy industry, the traditions, heritage and community spirit are still evident.
The 19th century also saw the founding of Durham University thanks to the benevolence of Bishop William Van Mildert and the Chapter in 1832. Durham Castle became the first college (University College, Durham) and the bishop moved to Auckland Castle as his only residence in the county. Bishop Hatfield's Hall (later Hatfield College, Durham) was added in 1846 specifically for the sons of poorer families, the Principal inaugurating a system new to English university life of advance fees to cover accommodation and communal dining.
The first Durham Miners' Gala was attended by 5,000 miners in 1871 in Wharton Park, and remains the largest socialist trade union event in the world.
20th century
Early in the 20th century coal became depleted, with a particularly important seam worked out in 1927, and in the following Great Depression Durham was among those towns that suffered exceptionally severe hardship. However, the university expanded greatly. St John's College and St Cuthbert's Society were founded on the Bailey, completing the series of colleges in that area of the city. From the early 1950s to early 1970s the university expanded to the south of the city centre. Trevelyan, Van Mildert, Collingwood, and Grey colleges were established, and new buildings for St Aidan's and St Mary's colleges for women, formerly housed on the Bailey, were created. The final 20th century collegiate addition came from the merger of the independent nineteenth-century colleges of the Venerable Bede and St Hild, which joined the university in 1979 as the College of St Hild and St Bede. The 1960s and 70s also saw building on New Elvet. Dunelm House for the use of the students' union was built first, followed by Elvet Riverside, containing lecture theatres and staff offices. To the southeast of the city centre sports facilities were built at Maiden Castle, adjacent to the Iron Age fort of the same name, and the Mountjoy site was developed, starting in 1924, eventually containing the university library, administrative buildings, and facilities for the Faculty of Science.
Durham was not bombed during World War II, though one raid on the night of 30 May 1942 did give rise to the local legend of 'St Cuthbert's Mist'. This states that the Luftwaffe attempted to target Durham, but was thwarted when Cuthbert created a mist that covered both the castle and cathedral, sparing them from bombing. The exact events of the night are disputed by contemporary eyewitnesses. The event continues to be referenced within the city, including inspiring the artwork 'Fogscape #03238' at Durham Lumiere 2015.
'Durham Castle and Cathedral' was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. Among the reasons given for the decision were 'Durham Cathedral [being] the largest and most perfect monument of "Norman" style architecture in England', and the cathedral's vaulting being an early and experimental model of the gothic style. Other important UNESCO sites near Durham include Auckland Castle, North of England Lead Mining Museum and Beamish Museum.
Historical
The historic city centre of Durham has changed little over 200 years. It is made up of the peninsula containing the cathedral, palace green, former administrative buildings for the palatine and Durham Castle. This was a strategic defensive decision by the city's founders and gives the cathedral a striking position. So much so that Symeon of Durham stated:
To see Durham is to see the English Sion and by doing so one may save oneself a trip to Jerusalem.
Sir Walter Scott was so inspired by the view of the cathedral from South Street that he wrote "Harold the Dauntless", a poem about Saxons and Vikings set in County Durham and published on 30 January 1817. The following lines from the poem are carved into a stone tablet on Prebends Bridge:
Grey towers of Durham
Yet well I love thy mixed and massive piles
Half church of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot
And long to roam those venerable aisles
With records stored of deeds long since forgot.
The old commercial section of the city encompasses the peninsula on three sides, following the River Wear. The peninsula was historically surrounded by the castle wall extending from the castle keep and broken by two gatehouses to the north and west of the enclosure. After extensive remodelling and "much beautification" by the Victorians the walls were removed with the exception of the gatehouse which is still standing on the Bailey.
The medieval city was made up of the cathedral, castle and administrative buildings on the peninsula. The outlying areas were known as the townships and owned by the bishop, the most famous of these being Gilesgate (which still contains the mediaeval St Giles Church), Claypath and Elvet.
The outlying commercial section of the city, especially around the North Road area, saw much change in the 1960s during a redevelopment spearheaded by Durham City Council; however, much of the original mediaeval street plan remains intact in the area close to the cathedral and market place. Most of the mediaeval buildings in the commercial area of the city have disappeared apart from the House of Correction and the Chapel of Saint Andrew, both under Elvet Bridge. Georgian buildings can still be found on the Bailey and Old Elvet most of which make up the colleges of Durham University.
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English:
When I was offered this commission immediately I regretted that would be an opportunity just to make money, show some carving skills and assembling designs. Fortunately I was wrong. I hate making replicas, specially of my own stuff from my past life, but that sculpture work was not the case.
The "carnavalesco" (director of art for the parade) asked me to do something clearly inspired on the Pietá on Saint Peter's Basilica, to evoke that art work, but with differences. That was the nicest work situation for me: I was being asked to repeat my own work of the past with the freedom to propose new proportion relation between the mother and her son's dead body and to recreate lots of details. The only annoying limitation would be the cutting of the sculpture in parts for the assembling technique needed for the float.
The Pietá theme, which origin was from northern europe (german), has the well known knotty esthetic problem: "the awkward contrast between the ungainly male body and the smaller woman holding it". The solution that everyone can notice on the Saint Peter's Pietá is that the Virgin is bigger than his dead son's body surrounded by drapery cascading. This is known as pyramidal composition (I can't remember from where I took it but I assure you that I was used of that solution for Virgin's images). This Pietá for a carnival work was the opportunity to check out if the Virgin could follow at least the same proportion of Christ's dead body (or even be a little smaller).
Beyond the classic art challenge, this Pietá would be almost three times bigger than the original. That should be enough to defy anyone's sculpting capacity when you would be working in a so crowded and unhealthy place: thermal sensation about 60ºC (stated by experts), breathing resin and surrounded by woven fiberglass. Worst: with less than a month to do it, I was always being remembered by jealous people that my work would be compared with one of the most famous work of art on the planet. Well,… here is my response to them.
Português:
Quando me ofereceram essa Pietá para fazer, imediatamente lamentei porque seria apenas para ganhar dinheiro e mostrar algumas habilidades de escultura. Felizmente, eu estava errado. Odeio fazer réplicas, especialmente do que realizei na minha vida passada, mas este trabalho não era o caso.
O carnavalesco me pediu para fazer algo claramente inspirado na Pietá da Basílica de São Pedro, para evocar aquela obra de arte, mas com diferenças. Essa situação de trabalho era bem agradável: eu estava sendo convidado a repetir o meu próprio trabalho do passado mas com a liberdade de propor uma nova relação de proporção entre a Virgem e o corpo morto do Cristo, e poder recriar muitos detalhes. A única limitação irritante seria ter que cortar a escultura em partes para a montagem necessária no carro alegórico.
O tema Pietá, com origem do Norte da Europa (alemão), tem um problema estético complicado: "o estranho contraste de tamanho entre o corpo masculino e o da mulher, menor, a segurá-lo". A solução na Pietá da Basílica de São Pedro é que a Virgem é maior do que o corpo de seu filho morto, emoldurado pelo tecido em cascata. Isto é conhecido como composição piramidal (não me lembro de onde eu tirei isso, mas garanto que estava acostumado a esta solução para as imagens da Virgem ). Esta Pietá em um trabalho de carnaval era a minha oportunidade para verificar se a Virgem poderia ter pelo menos a mesma proporção do corpo de Cristo (ou até ser um pouco menor).
Além do desafio de arte clássica, esta Pietá seria quase três vezes maior do que a original. Isso seria o suficiente para desafiar a capacidade de escultura de qualquer um quando você está trabalhando em um lugar cheio de gente e insalubre: sensação térmica de cerca de 60ºC (afirmado por especialista), respirando resina e cercado por tecido de fibra de vidro. Pior: com menos de um mês para fazer a obra, eu ainda sempre era lembrado por pessoas invejosas que o meu trabalho seria comparado com uma famosa obra de arte. Bem,... eis a minha resposta