International Women's Day

Today I have posted a barrage of amazing and wonderful posts and tweets and messages about some brilliant people and ideas that have helped emancipate women, inspire all and encourage change. In no specific order.


Andrew Gibson; swingset. Via my friend Nick.





Angela Davis and Yuri Kochiyama: Mountains that take wing. Via my friend Gav.





Feminists. Everywhere. Past and present. Via UK Feminista and London Feminist Network

Robin Hood Tax's wonderful posts on women in the financial sector.

"Happy International Women's Day. Marion is leading celebrations here in Sherwood. And a fact for the day: In the final report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission of the US Treasury the words "she", "woman" or "her" do not appear once in its 662 pages. It is a book, like most historical tragedies, written about the follies and hubris of men."

Girls on bikes; How the Bicycle empowered Women. By Maria Popover @brainpicker

Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel.” ~ Susan B. Anthony, 1896

Nina Simone: I've Got Life

There is something i've got, nobody can take it away...

Ani Difranco: Fuel

Beneath the good and the kind and the stupid and the cruelThere's a fire that's just waiting for fuel 

 

Utopian pathways

Paths Through Utopias from Ed Murphy on Vimeo.

 I encountered upon this documentary when I was looking through the listings of my favourite independent cinema in the world, in my hometown of Bristol; the cube.  


 It seemed like the embodiment of some conversations that gt and I have been having of late, concerning the relationship between activism and living life the way in which you believe; how you hold your values. 


Turns out it is much more than that. It is beautiful, sentimental, critical and inspiring. 
But I won't say any more, because you might not want what I want. But then again- you might. 


Highly recommended. 

mind the gap

Hans Rosling. Here is his TED lecture. and here is his website. Go listen and play.

never sorry

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry TEASER from Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry on Vimeo.

pale and blue sagan

by Torrey Meeks


found at Political Remix Video

more occupy

For a look at the financial crisis in 2008 in the USA, 
watch this.
 (shared by @gavinthomson)



Inside Job / Trabalho Interno (2010) Legendado PT from MDDVTM TV12 on Vimeo.




For a look at how many economists feel now about the occupy movement, 
watch this.
 (shared by @caspertk)



Occupy Economics from Softbox on Vimeo.

ai wei wei

I have just finished a great little book: Ai Weiwei Speaks with Hans Ulrich Obrist. 


I want to write about it, but there is a milieu of things I could say about Ai weiwei. 
Mostly in regards to how the Chinese government have treated this 'dissident' earlier this year. But I will focus on this book as a window into the artist's mind. 


This little snippet of weiwei is fascinating. His personality is huge, the way he sees life is fluid and unique and he speaks with stark honesty. Especially in regards to China. 


weiwei's sunflower seeds was showing in the turbine hall of the Tate Modern when I started working there earlier this year. It is breathtaking. And the film that accompanies the installation is a beautiful story of how and why this piece came about. In fact, I almost liked it more than the tiny hand painted seeds themselves. 


I think the thing that makes weiwei so incredible is the way in which he sees the world. Art is an attitude, a way of thinking, or a way of life. His insights into the impact of the Chinese cultural revolution, his fathers experiences, his relationship with books and architecture and blogging are completely fascinating. 


"On the one hand I take art very seriously, but the production has never been so serious, and most of it is an ironic act. But anyhow, you need traces, you need people to be able to locate you, you have a responsibility to say what you have to say and to be wherever you should be. You're part of the misery and you can't make it more or less. You're still part of the whole fascinating condition here."


"And I have one regret: I feel sorry that I can't write well. That's the skill that I value the most. I think that, if I could write well, I'd give up my art for writing. For me, it is the most beautiful and effective way to illustrate my thinking"


Definitely worth a read. 

infographical

oh hello good looking social media debate. hello indeed. 

tumblr

Article 27 have a great tumblr.
take a wee look right here.

the human library

Last month a couple of friends and myself made a human library.

We were inspired by some discussion groups we had been holding for those on our MA and on our Indigenous Studies course. It was the most incredible experience to hear about some of my friends stories. Stories of difficult childhoods, indigenous struggles, living through war, having children, fighting against corrupt or oppressive regimes. Stories that could have gone untold, and many stories that needed to be shared.
It was an incredible experience for which I am hugely thankful. 


So we recruited some books from our group (and a few more from elsewhere), trained them, helped them identify their book titles and contents page and then put them on a shelf for others to browse and select.


 It was a great success by all means. 
 Some books were read 9 times in the 4 hours our library was open, over 50 people attended and all of the books (more or less) were returned in a healthy condition, buzzing from the experience of sharing their stories.


Here is a little video we put together for the event:





Many thanks out to everyone who took part in the event and all of the student groups and individuals that supported us. 
Not bad for two weeks notice. not bad at all. Well done team library!




Remember, don't judge a book by its cover... especially if it isn't a book. 

dark side of the lens

this.
 is beautiful.


Hear more about why and how and who made this little piece of magic here at the most excellent 
do lectures.

 

confiscated life

Extract by Don Delillo on Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo


What happens to the writer caught in the tide of round-the-clock surveillance, enforced isolation, detention without trial?


Think of a man alone in a room. This is the writer's classic condition, cruelly extended when the state locks the door to the room. Think of the writer in opposition, the man who writes against power, who writes against the coiled mechanism of the state and the entire apparatus of total assimilation.


It's the nature of language to pitch itself against the smothering oneness of the state. Words want to be free. Lui Xiaobo's crime is called "an incitement to subvert state power." This is an administrative term for the exercise of free speech - the very activity, Lui writes, that is the mother of truth.


Writers everywhere tend to feel a natural kinship, country to country, language to language. We write to be true to some urgency of self. We find identity in the lines of poetry we write, in the sentences and paragraphs of our novels and essays. We write to think ourselves into existence.








Sign the petition to free Lui Xiaobo here

bon iver

This was my other reason for being in Oslo. Bon Iver magic. 
As I said on the night... I want to live inside their music forever. 
And that is not an exaggeration.
I heart crescendos. 
 

transit

This past weekend I went for a little trip down the entire breadth of this huge country to Oslo. It was my birthday, and my birthday plan entailed two things. The second being the Nobel Peace Center (the first to follow shortly).

The Peace centre is hands-down the best museum I have ever been to. The interactive Nobel peace prize winners room glowed brightly with numerous kindles detailing those awarded, their exploits and the reasons behind their importance. There was an interactive story book, an interactive children's room and the most fantastic interactive time line with quotes, videos, articles, pictures and a room full of enamoured american schoolchildren asking "But Liu Xiaobo is a criminal in China?".

It. was. great. 

The first part of the museum was an exhibition of photography works by Espen Rasmussen a Norwegian photographer focusing on the plight of refugees, including a close up portrait of a young refugee living in Norway; Rahman. The pictures were fantastic, the captions honestly interesting and the portrayal of refugees was, for a change, not entirely grim and negative. It gave a slightly positive humanistic dimension to the experience of being a refugee showing a glimpse of family life in amongst the harrowing and shocking majority of the photographs. 

Highly recommended. 

Oo, there is also a great looking website for the Transit exhibition here. 

sheikh jarrah

"Once you no longer have the luxury of ignorance,
 the feeling is that you have to take a stand"


- An Israeli mother who protests in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Jeruslaem, Sheikh Jarrah


If you make sure you do one thing today, you should watch these films. Incredible. 

consensus

So. #occupywallstreet and #occupydc and #occupyseattle and all of the other beautiful, unique and wonderful occupations that are going on out there in the world right now are making my skin tingle.  It has spread so thick and so fast all over the United States of America and now Europe (although I recognise that many peoples are amidst their own struggles which far precede this phenomenon) that today, suddenly, I realised that this could be the big eye opener that our world needs.


And then I watched this video on consensus.
And It made my smile so much more bigger.





I have seen a lot of videos and photos and tweets and blogs around these occupations. And just like a lot of other protests and occupations of the past I have seen things that have made me angry. The authoritarian and brutal actions of the police. The manipulation of private enterprises into stereotyping and condemning the people standing up for their rights. The consistent untruths spewed out by the media day by day. But this video made me feel blessed to have a voice and to be able to use it. It made me feel like I am doing the right thing by working in human rights and vying for change each day, however far away it may seem on those dark days that we all have.  


Good luck occupiers.




Occupy everything

sound of rum

banger of a song from kate tempest and the sound of rum

"because when the whole thing shatters it always starts with a little crack"

article 27

I am now a blogger for the wonderful Article 27.


 In Article 27's own words: 

Article 27 believes human rights issues and stories are often best told through creative means. We research and write on a variety of finds- old and new- that shed light on human rights issues in a unique way.

We want Article 27 to be a hub of inspiration for human rights activists, artists, technology enthusiasts, and anyone who believes in the power of creativity.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 27: 

•  Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
•  Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

You can find my first blog on institutionalised racism represented by a collaborative artwork in the United States of America here: The House That Herman Built


You can also find a rather brilliant piece by the lovely Sushi on the french artist JR here: Women are Heroes


And a very touching photo tribute to Troy Davis, who unfortunately was executed amid national and international outcry last week: The execution of Troy Davis


As my friend Dilhayat told me this week:
 earth without art is 'eh'...


I definitely concur. 

my talented friends

Please let me show you miss aurelia lange (she has already featured on this blog: here, as the artwork for emily teague's album, and here, as a good luck card for my trip to Sweden to embark upon my current adventure. 


Just look at her lovely thoughts and website and blog and enjoy her beauteous imagery. It is just yummy. 

I am living her klubb based dream right now by being in the 'filmklubb' of Tromso Kino. She is one of the greatest and I hope you enjoy her talented talents. 


All images copyrighted to aurelia lange. 

chaplin