DOGDAYS- POLAIRE

Polaire might have been the only girl that truly and openly had Constantin Brâncuși’s heart.
She was a beautiful Samoyed bitch, as white as his famous whitewashed studio in Montparnasse, Paris.
Polaire served as a guard, a living extension to Brâncuși’s artistic vision and most of all, as a loyal friend that accompanied him everywhere from cafés to movie theaters.

According to British Artist and historian John Golding (in “Vision of the Modern”,1994), Polaire “would accept food from no one but himself and menaced female visitors to the studio” he said that “She became, in her own way, a celebrated Parisian beauty and friends would ask after her in their letters”.

During her lifetime, Polaire was photographed by none other than Man Ray and captured in many a selfie by Brâncuși himself- always with her close to him and sometimes even placing her on a pedestal like one of his sculptures.

Sadly, Polaire passed away too soon, after tragically being hit by a car in 1925.
Golding writes that “Brancusi was desolated, although characteristically, he also remarked that her disappearance would enable him to concentrate harder on his sculpture.” 
He buried her in a dog cemetery at Asnières-sur-Seine, just outside of Paris…and returned to his work.
Work in which, Golding notes, for the latter part of Brâncuși’s career,  “depictions of animals far outnumber those of people.”

Brâncuși never replaced Polaire with another companion, whether dog or human and became increasingly reclusive.

You were a good dog, Polaire.
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Songs to start the day - 'Like a Chicken' by WITCH

I’ve been listening to WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc) quite a lot lately and highly recommend kicking your day off with their fantastic Zamrock grooves.

WITCH were the biggest rock band in Zambia in the 1970’s, headed by lead vocalist Emanuel "Jagari" Chanda - whose name is an Africanisation of Mick Jagger’s.
Zambia's post-independence days were golden and WITCH’s shows were WILD….but sadly, with the economy collapsing in the late 1970s, government authoritarianism and strict curfews increased.
WITCH, like most Zamrock bands, were reduced to playing daytime shows and faded away.

There was a comeback for WITCH’s music in 2012, when their previous records were reissued.
Then in 2016, Dutch musicians Jacco Gardner and Nic Mauskovic travelled to Zambia to join a documentary crew who were making a film about WITCH .
They tracked down Jagari, and brought him out of retirement for a gig.
Since then, “New WITCH” have toured Europe and the U.S since, and I’m really hoping that the documentary by Gio Arlotta will be screened somewhere near me anytime soon.

Check out info about the latter here:
https://www.pantheonpictures.org/en/successful-wrap-of-our-new-documentary-about-the-witch-in-zambia/

But make sure to listen first, here:

Thumbnail Photograph: WITCH’s first show in Lusaka at a music festival in Matero Stadium, April 1974.
Left to right: Chir ‘Kims’ Mbewe, Paul 'Jones’ Mumba and Emmanuel Kanga 'Jagari’ on the right
Courtesy of Now-Again Records

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Songs to start the day - 'Debaser' by Pixies

I have adored Pixies for a long time now and on some mornings, you just feel like you want to take the world apart a bit.
Those are the mornings that scream for ‘Debaser’!

The lyrics were inspired by the 1929 surrealist Salvador Dalí / Luis Buñuel.l film “Un Chien Andalou”, in which a lot of very disturbing shit happens and the whole silent journey starts off with, well…a woman’s eyeball that is sliced open by a razor.
My advice is to not have a look at that, as you won’t be able to forget about it EVER…
Instead, have a listen to the mindblowing Kim Deal opening with a throbbing bass solo, loud/soft dynamics that provide wicked goosebumps, Frank Black howling like crazy to perfectly noisy guitar sound and start your day off just RIGHT.
What a rush…click to listen here:

Thumbnail Photograph: Pixies photographed at Pinkpop Festival on May 15, 1989, by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images

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Edges

“Our hope is in the dark around the edges, not in the limelight of center stage. 
Our hope and often our power.”
-
from ‘Hope in the Dark’ by Rebecca Solnit

They say that the origin of the name “Ukraine” is derived from the Proto-Slavic word for “Edge”. 
While looking at Christopher Nunn’s work, it feels to me as if the journey around the edge is an important element to his ongoing photography project in Ukraine.

Christopher’s grandmother was born in Ukraine, displaced by World War II to Germany and eventually England, and began to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease in 2013. As the edges of her memory started to fray, weakening the thread that is supposed to hold everything together, Christopher tried to find a way to remain connected to her by learning more about the place she was born in. 
He traveled to her birthplace Kalush and from there, started exploring regions across west and east Ukraine over repeated trips- forming important relationships and connections along the way.

What started as a personal journey to the edges of his own family history, developed into an ongoing series about the people and places in Ukraine’s fragile east. When political chaos, revolution and war started to unfold in 2014, the global media machine and photojournalism industry focused solely on the conflict. It became increasingly important for Christopher to also show a more subtle, domestic and human side and he took a quieter look at the periphery of these events.

Nunn’s images are often framed by themes of friendship, escapism, unity, alcohol and faith- they are small stories that are part of a larger picture, they are stories about being human.
In an interview with Michael Segalov from Huck magazine, Christopher Nunn said:
“You have to take time to understand where you are, and the context of what’s going on.
I think ultimately what I was doing subconsciously, was trying to show a more human side of a place that I felt really connected to, 
despite it being in our consciousness because of war.”

Ukraine is the largest country in Europe and will have elections again tomorrow.
The people of Ukraine are neither defined by borders nor by conflict.
Maybe they are better defined by the stories that are born on the edges, small stories and unexpected moments of connection- like the ones that Christopher Nunn captures so poignantly in his photography.
May these stories glisten as hopeful as the beautiful boys from Kurakhovo, Donetsk in the summer of 2015.

Thank you for sharing them, Christopher Nunn.

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* all photographs copyright ©Christopher Nunn, click to enlarge.
Follow Chris on Instagram @chrisnunnphoto and visit his website at http://www.christophernunn.co.uk/ to see more of his striking work. 

The sea above

Photographer, filmmaker and stormchaser Mike Olbinski has been obsessed with weather since he was a little kid, growing up in Arizona.
When Mike was taking pictures of a fading storm in North Dakota two years ago, the clouds suddenly started to take on a very different and curvy appearance.
These formations in the sky that resemble rippling waves, are so called Asperitas (or undulatus asperatus ) Clouds, which are not only rare, but also the newest addition to the International Cloud Atlas (which has been around since 1896).

“ We had a storm with hail in front of us and flashing lightning which was fantastic.
But then we had this layer of undulatus clouds flowing across our view. Watching them was amazing already, but then the sun slowly appeared from behind some clouds to the west and lit up our storm like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
We were like kids in a candy store. […]
The colors here are real. I only increased the contrast. In fact, I was thinking of actually REDUCING the saturation because of how intense the colors looked with the contrast added. But that's how it was and I left it that way.
Six of us were there and all our photo and videos look the same.
This was undoubtedly one of the most incredible scenes I've witnessed chasing storms for the past 8 years. “
- Mike Oblinski

SIt back and have a look at this mesmerising footage, it’s like watching the sea surface from below…in Cotton Candy Land.

Check out more of Mike’s magical time-lapse footage on his website:
http://www.mikeolbinski.com/storms/
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Noguchi’s gifts

In the introduction to his series ‘One Two Three’, Japanese photographer Shin Noguchi shares a quote by the late Jazz Saxophonist Eric Dolphy:
“When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air. You can never capture it again."

After his father passed away and long forgotten photos from his own childhood reappeared, Noguchi began photographing his three young daughters Yumeji, Kotoyo and Hikono.
The ongoing project started as a careful attempt to ease his mother’s loneliness and to spend more time communicating with his children, while strengthening their self esteem in the process.

‘One Two Three’ shows us intimate, funny and touchingly tender moments. Brief moments, that Noguchi himself describes as gifts his daughters show to him. Gifts which he can’t help but “catch” once they appear. And to intuitively click the shutter at the exáct right moment..well, this feels to him like hearing the magical but fleeting Jazz improvisations Dolphy was talking about.

Earlier today, as I looked up Eric Dolphy’s original quote, I found it to be just a little longer. It turns out that Dolphy had spoken additional words: 
“...But if you listen closely, you can still hear the echoes.”
To me, it’s in these hidden words that lies the core of Noguchi’s work.
He enables us to perceive the rare echo of truly beautiful and ephemeral moments.
They are the echoes of a feeling.
And this is a feeling that Shin Noguchi might have very well described when he said:
“I never called my photography ‘art’, but definitely, my daughters show me what I feel art to be.”

Thank you Mister Noguchi!

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* all photographs copyright ©Shin Noguchi, click to enlarge.
Please have a look at Shin Noguchi’s impressive and moving body of work here:
https://www.instagram.com/shinnoguchiphotos/
https://shinnoguchiphotography.com/photo/one_two_three/

Wandering, Wondering

Jonathan Bensimon is a Director and Cinematographer, that decided to go back to his old twin-lens Rolleiflex in 2015.
As a framework for himself, he made up a small set of rules and started the Chromasketch Project.

Always bring the Rolleiflex.
Shoot one roll of slide film, each week.
This means 12 images and hardly to no post production.
At the end of each year, share the giant contact sheet, to expose all photographs next to each other.

What I love and respect about Jonathan Bensimon’s filmmaking background, is that it made him a true storyteller. By showing us just one still image, he invites us on a much longer imaginary journey.

This first photograph is my favourite from the series and today, it made my thoughts wander...Looking at this lady with the dark hair and flowery dress, at the softness of her exposed back and that tiny rose- I’m curious where she is going, in that big city. Is she on a mission to give or to forgive, to celebrate or to create?

Thank you for making me wonder, Jonathan.

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* all photographs copyright ©Jonathan Bensimon, click to enlarge.
Follow Jonathan on Instagram here @jonathan.bensimon or please have a look at more of his work here:
http://www.jonathanbensimon.com/photography/

INTERVIEW WITH JESSICA GOLDFOND FROM THE SHINY SQUIRREL

Tell us who you are and what you do?
Heyhey! My name is Esther and I create companions from precious metals, sometimes with a gemstone or two.
I love making friends for your hands and seeing how their characters form as they leave my fingers.
Sometimes my pieces speak to others, who want to give them a new home and make them a longer story.
This to me, feels like magic.
I make and live in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

What are some of your major goals for 2019?
Both personally and professionally? 
2018 felt like a very transformative year, in which I had to let go of a few dreams and break my heart open to others.
Curiosity turned out to be my best guide through this process and my goal is to remain curious- as I found that it often leads me to inspiration and joy.
Also, we have to leave our beautiful studio in the historical centre of Utrecht this year. I’m very attached to the space..so another aim is for me to try and let go gracefully while also opening up to the new.
On a lighter note- I definitely want to dance more this year!

How do you plan to accomplish them? Do you have any methods / techniques? 
In regards to the dancing- I make seasonal playlists of songs that mean something to me. These lists become little timecapsules that can spark unexpected memories when revisited.
Bed Early- a real challenge, but if I manage to put my inner night owl underneath blankets before 10.30PM, fog clears from my mind.
Keep my eyes peeled and listen closely for whispers- as the muse rarely speaks loudly.
More breathing, less judging.

What is in your Spiritual Toolkit? 
Palo Santo- a scent I connect with safety, space, creativity and reverence 
Journaling- reserving a daily moment to pay attention (and say thanks) to what inspired, moved or made me wonder me that day.
Sistermuses- there are a few special women in my life that are full of wisdom, honesty and humour. They shimmer with a light that warms, guides and reveals.
A notebook and my favourite fineliner: somehow my first ideas flow best in black ink. I tend to capture on paper quickly, to later sculpt and carve in jewellers wax slowly.

If you believed in past lives what do you think you were or who? 
My instincts on this are fuzzy. 
Instead, I’d like to share part of a poem from “The great Enigma” by Tomas Tranströmer that resonates with me:

“Sometimes an abyss opens between Tuesday and Wednesday but twenty-six years could pass in a moment. 
Time is not a straight line, it’s more of a labyrinth, and if you press close to the wall at the right place you can hear the hurrying steps and the voices, you can hear yourself walking past on the other side.“

It calms me to consider perceiving the dimension of time not as a series of beginnings and endings, but as an ever ongoing middle. 

How do you recommend people breaking into the media industry these days? 
I don’t know much about these things unfortunately, but did enjoy reading the “Rules for Online Sanity” by Kai Brach and the following advice:
Create the kind of communities and ideas you want people to talk about.

What I enjoy most about (social) media, are the moments of authentic connection. I like to get personal and appreciate others being personal as well. It’s hard to find nuance online, but I think the aim can be to remain kind and honest.

Is their anything you are currently obsessed with? 
I have a growing obsession with the colour Blue-
the colour of distance and depth
the colour of longing and melancholy
the colour of calm and clarity
My love for Blue is growing deeper the older I get and gets strengthened by the wisdom of sublime writers like Rebecca Solnit and Maggie Nelson.
If you are open to some azure amour, I really encourage you to read
“A field guide to getting lost” or “Bluets”

Other current obsessions, infatuations and inspirations: 
The intimate wisdom and brutal tenderness of how Nick Cave shares and answers in His Red Hand Files
https://www.theredhandfiles.com/

The mind-boggling beautiful and extraordinary art that Paolo del Toro creates: 
https://paolopuck.com/

Last year, I discovered Joanna Macy’s translations of Rainer Maria Rilke’s work. It was exciting, healing and deeply hopeful and I've been sharing her interview with Krista Tippett wildly, ever since:
https://onbeing.org/programs/joanna-macy-a-wild-love-for-the-world/

Poetry.
I find daily inspiration through the amazing curators at:
http://whiskeyriver.blogspot.com/
https://riskywiver.blogspot.com/
Also- please come back, POME (thank you Matthew Ogle!)

The Van Gogh Museum made a Podcast, where fragments of Vincent’s letters are shared and mused on by Dutch makers. I loved this series and am still hoping for many more:
https://itunes.apple.com/nl/podcast/van-gogh-belicht-de-brieven/id1441129551?l=en&mt=2
Sadly, the recordings are in Dutch only, but van Gogh's letters can also be found here:
http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters.html

I’m still so sad that Mary Oliver passed away.
Rereading many of her sensitive writings that touch on connectivity however, filled me with inspiration for the new year and how I would like to keep approaching my work. 
Through the soft animal of my body.

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Friends for your Hands

Friends for your Hands

Utrecht Studio

Utrecht Studio

Spiritual Toolkit

Spiritual Toolkit

Blue

Blue

Paolo del Toro

Paolo del Toro

Mary Oliver_Wild Geese

Mommie

“When my mother and my grandmother would be parting at the end of the day, they always kissed. And they kissed on the lips, so that was very outstanding to me- something significant. I remember once, my mother was yelling my name...I was somewhere else, down the hall and they were about to say goodbye with a kiss and she knew I liked to photograph that, so she was calling me!”
- Arlene Gottfried


Mommie Kissing Bubbie, from the book Sometimes Overwhelming.

Mommie Kissing Bubbie, from the book Sometimes Overwhelming.

The way in which Arlene Gottfried has captured so many beautiful strangers on the streets, shows how bright and curious her eyes, and how open and warm her heart must have been.
But those pictures are for another day.

Today is for the intensely intimate photographs she made of the strongest and most important women in her life; her grandmother, mother and sister. “Mommie” is a portrait of these three generations of inseparable women, taken over the stunning course of 35 years and through the eyes of a daughter that loves them unconditionally. The pictures are so honest, pure and tender, that we can almost feel the strength of their bond.
Although life isn’t gentle to these ladies, they sure are gentle and loving to each other.

In Arlene’s own words about the series, “Part of it was trying to stop time...which of course, I couldn’t do.
With “Mommie” she does however show us beauty in the ordinary, offers comfort through the pain and vulnerability of illness and ageing, and leaves us with hope for the future.

On this loving journey through time, we meet Arlene’s breathtaking grandmother- Minnie "Bubbie" Zimmerman, who was born in Odessa in 1897, came to the US all by herself at 14 years of age and lived to be 104 years old. She looks so lively, sweet and cheeky and it moves me to slowly notice her posture change, the frailty of her naked knees and her thinning arms.
Mommie Lilian has such a beautiful and strong sparkle in her younger eyes, but also has a fragile health and as she gets older, her suffering from diabetes deepens. The photographs show the ever increasing pain in her face, as well as the compassion and care in the expressions of those that surround her.
And sister Karen, is so obviously adored by young Arlene that it’s simply heartwarming. Over and again she catches her when looking her best, happiest and prettiest. As time passes, Karen even seems less reluctant to be photographed, while she now grows older and becomes a loving caregiver.
We follow the women through their lives together and ultimately through their separation by illness and death.
Bubbie and Mommie pass away close in time, leaving an empty house behind.
…We pause.
Then, although Karen doesn’t seem to be quite that young anymore, she gives birth to little baby Graham.
And while her eyes still show traces of grief, new life will gently ease the pain of loss.
A new generation has begun.

What touches me, is that the technical perfection of the photo’s always takes the backseat and intimacy comes first.
Because the pictures might not be technically perfect, but life isn't either.
Sometimes life shakes, blurs of blind us and we just don’t always remain well composed or have enough time to quickly adjust our focus.
Perhaps “Mommie” shows us, that in a way the best we can do, is to keep looking with a curious eye and a tender heart and to lovingly bear witness to one another.
We can’t stop time, but we can walk each other home.
And we can always, always leave with a kiss.

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* all photographs copyright ©Arlene Gottfried, click to enlarge
Visit the website http://www.arlenegottfried.com/ to see and read more about Arlene’s moving body of work.

The bees of Notre Dame

Around 180.00 bees have been living in three hives on the roof of Notre Dame, since 2013.
They are “Brother Adam” (Buckfast) Bees, a variety which is known for their hard work and for being very gentle, at any time of the day and in any weather.
These wee furry fellows have been pollinating all around Paris and produce around 25 kilos of honey each year!

When disaster struck this April, and the cathedral was in flames, it was feared that the colony couldn’t possibly survive.
But against all odds, the wax didn’t melt, which could have glued the little bees together and trapped them inside. The smoke didn’t impress them much, the bees have no lungs and the CO2 just makes them a bit tipsy and sleepy. And the water? It didn’t even touch them.

It’s a small miracle that these little creatures made it through the inferno and it’s one that makes me smile.
Keep on buzzing, little brothers!

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Pictures by:
Dmitry Kostyukov /The New York Times, Philippe Wojazer / Reuters, Virginie Clavieres / CNN and Philippe Wang/Getty Images

Telephone of the wind

Here’s a word. Bereavement. Or, Bereaved. Bereft. 
It’s from the Old English bereafian, meaning ‘to deprive of, take away, seize, rob’. 
Robbed. Seized. It happens to everyone.
But you feel it alone.
Shocking loss isn’t to be shared, no matter how hard you try.
- from ‘H is for Hawk’ by Helen Macdonald

Where do we go, to connect with those we have lost?

The Japanese Garden Designer Itaru Sasaki, lost his beloved cousin in 2010. Filled with longing for a way to remain connected to him in this time of deep grieving, he bought an old- fashioned, green- roofed, glass- paneled telephone booth and put it in his garden. While unable to figure out how to speak about his feelings, or to whom- he started sharing them through this telephone. As Mister Sasaki was hoping for the wind to somehow carry his words to his cousin, he named it “Kaze no Denwa”- Telephone of the Wind.

This Telephone of the Wind is situated in Otsuchi, northeastern Japan, on a small and beautiful grassy hilltop, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Inside, there is a little shelf with a notebook and pen, several small decorations and a black rotary telephone.
The phone has no electricity and it is connected to nowhere. 
It does not receive incoming calls. 
And it does not ring.
But just because it doesn’t ring, it does not mean that no one is listening…

Just one year after Kaze no Denwa found its’ new home, Japan was struck with threefold disaster: an earthquake, that created a tsunami, which then caused a nuclear meltdown. Approximately 20.000 Japanese people died.
The coastal town of Otsuchi was hit particularly hard, the lives of over 800 residents were lost in the horror of the floods and another 421 people remain missing to this day.
With so many people in the community being bereaved of the ones they loved, Mister Sasaki decided to open his Kaze no Denwa to all, “to offer something for people to connect with those they’ve lost”.

Word began to spread and soon, mourning people from all around the country began arriving at his quiet hilltop…with an estimated 25.000 visitors having found solace here since the disasters.

In 2016, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK created a deeply moving documentary, called “Phone of the Wind: Whispers to Lost Families”. In this film, we get to see and hear some of the people that visit Mister Sasaki’s garden.
Some of them are looking for answers, others just give a quick update on their lives (“Dad, I’ve really gotten into boybands on TV!”), they share their hopes, regrets, longing, concerns or simply their silence.
Some come alone, others with friends or an entire family.
And while some people simply pick up the receiver and begin speaking, others rotate the dial to choose a particular number. 
Anything is possible. Because anything works.
In the documentary, a lady who visits to call her lost son, shares:
“I’m so glad I came. Thanks to my friend..
I was able to talk to him a little
I can’t hear him.
It’s just me talking, but…
He heard me, so I can keep living.”

Mister Sasaki says “No matter how hard it is, hope makes life worth living” and he visits the phone booth every day, looking after it and keeping it clean like an altar. 
With the passage of time, he has noticed that the messages in the notebooks have changed.
People have slowly begun to accept the passing of their loved ones, now writing notes such as “Please watch over us from heaven.”

And so, as the people of Otsuchi slowly rebuild their town and try to make it more resilient, this little phone booth helps them, to gently heal their hearts as well.

windphone2.jpg

Notes:
The documentary “Phone of the Wind- Whispers to Lost Families” can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1OVPaGRszU or alternatively, the This American Life podcast did a wonderful segment called “Really long distance” about the booth: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/597/one-last-thing-before-i-go/act-one

Pictures by Alexander McBride Wilson and Kentaro Takahashi
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Tuned in the key of melancholy

‘When I first met Dave Heath in the ’70s he struck me as the only human being I’d ever met whose vocal cords were tuned in the key of melancholy.’ 
- Michael Torosian 

Philadelphia Born photographer Dave Heath, was abandoned by both of his parents at a very young age and spent his childhood in orphanages and foster homes. The emotional trauma of this loss, inspired in him what Heath himself called “a need of joining the community of mankind”- a yearning for human connection.

He looked at the people around him with extraordinary sensibility and attention, observing not voyeuristically but with deep empathy and respect, almost as if reaching out to them through the lens of his camera. Within the multitude of a crowd, Heath seemed to instinctively be able to spot and capture intimate, vulnerable moments of solitude. As there is rarely any contact between the photographer and subject, the connection remains forever one way- existing solely within the image, infusing it with a sense of longing and tenderness.
It is through this feeling, that we connect with these strangers and feel like we see our own deepest moments of isolation, uncertainty, beauty or hurt reflected in their faces and bodies.

Dave Heath’s incredibly sincere photographs remind us, that at a deeper level we are all connected.
Dave Heath reminds us, that we are resilient.

Heath's photographs are quietly beautiful and remarkably hopeful and I look at them while sitting in momentarily solitude too, with words by Cheryl Strayed on my mind:
“Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. 
Sometimes you’ll put up a good fight and lose. 
Sometimes you’ll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. 
Acceptance is a small, quiet room.”

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* all photographs copyright ©Dave Heath, click to enlarge

Light

Alice Roosevelt died on Valentine’s Day of 1884, just 36 hours after giving birth to a daughter.
She was just 22 years old and passed away in the arms of her loving husband, future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
On the same day, in the same house, Roosevelt had already said a final goodbye to his mother, Martha “Mittie”, who had died of typhoid fever.

Theodore's diary entry for that day read as follows:

32CEA7C6-EDDA-448F-8B55-3ADAC9F4E668-332-000000AC4BE3D22D.jpeg

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Anything but boring

Thomas Rousset grew up in a small mountain village near Grenoble in France, where he learned to entertain himself with very little but his imagination.

This hometown inspired his wonderful series “Prabérians”, in which Rousset takes us away to a fictional community in a dreamlike French countryside, a place where the everyday mixes with the surreal.

So, if the weather is as bad with you as it is over here, I encourage you to be inspired by Rousset’s world this weekend, create your own fairytale with what is available to you...use champagne bottle caps as jewellery, adorn your body with dog stickers, put a bucket on your head, carry the moon!

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* all photographs copyright ©Thomas Rousset, click to enlarge
Follow Thomas on Instagram @thomasroussset and visit his website at http://www.thomasrousset.com to see more of his brilliant work. 


Colour Stories

One of my favourite pictures by Belgian photographer Harry Gruyaert is a photograph of two young girls in Ireland. I probably love this photo most, because every element in it, reminds me of being that age myself. 
I remember how much I loved a green visor and seeing it’s translucent colour in my shadow.
I can almost taste how sweet a cold can of coke was on a hot day and how it’s bubbles hurt my nose and brought tears to my eyes.
I know how that handle on the radio feels and how it sounds to turn the cassette tape around, or look for a radio station.
I can see how the straps on my sandals looked, with one very large hole in the leather, where the buckle went through.
And I recall the feeling of a sticky watch band, socks that kept sliding down and my fingertips touching a car bonnet heated by the sun.

Each of Harry Gruyaert’s photographs feels like a movie still, in which the deep Kodachrome colour palette carries you away to a different place. Though people are often present, they are just part of the overall scene…and maybe that’s the magic of Gruyaert’s work- they’re a part of a bigger story and you can easily take their place for a short moment.
Then you become the story.

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* all photographs copyright ©Harry Gruyaert, click to enlarge.
Follow Harry Gruyaert’s fan page on Instagram @harrygruyaert and visit Magnum’s website with his work at https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/harry-gruyaert/ to see and read more.

Shocking pink

They say
that Napoleon
was colourblind
& blood for him
as green as
grass.
- from “Unrecounted” by W.G. Sebald

In 2011 and 2013, Richard Mosse travelled to Eastern Congo to document the hidden. 

He used a discontinued false colour infrared film, Kodak Aerochrome, which was originally developed for military surveillance. This film registers the infrared spectrum of light, which is invisible to the naked eye but reflects off chlorophyll in vegetation. As the earth and other contours (like human camouflage) absorb infrared instead of reflecting it, this film has the potential to make the invisible visible.

Aerochrome film produces a unique colour palette, turning the Congolese rainforest into a beautiful and surreal landscape of electric pinks and reds.

This shocking, slightly nauseous pink confuses, seduces, offends and urges thoughts about perception.
How much more constructed is a pink photograph than a black-and-white photograph?
Perhaps the otherworldly colours make the familiar seem strange and the real seem almost absurd.
But the unseeable is as real as what we perceive as reality.

The unseen, the hidden, the invisible, these are all integral aspects of Congo’s war and ongoing conflict. 
Yet sadly, they are very real.

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* all photographs copyright ©Richard Mosse, click to enlarge.
Follow Richard Mosse on Instagram @richard_mosse and visit his website at http://www.richardmosse.com/ to see and read more.