the rich and wonderful fashion of the women of Herero

Namibia is located in the south- west corner of Africa. It has a rich history and heritage, but I will get into that another day. Fun fact of the day though, it is actually were Mad Max: fury road was filmed. Cool hey?

Today is about dress styles and fashion identity.  In particular, the ladies of Herero awesome fashion style. The women of Herero have drawn inspiration and influence of their style from the Victorian period, but with a twist. A twist of colour.  The wonderful style  is way to express their talents and showcase their impressive designs. Some women even craft and sell miniature dolls of themselves.

The style stems from a dark colonial history, but they have reclaimed it (with a vengeance)!

It is known as the ‘proper dress’ for traditional married women. The dress consists of enormous crinoline worn over layers of petticoats, a horn shaped hat to supposedly represent and are all made from the same material- all bright and colourful! Each outfit is different to show personal flair. The Herero women have become a symbol of Herero tradition.

When I was in Namibia a few years ago, I loved the Herero women. I even have one of their dolls sitting on my bookshelf to this day. I love the fact that they are drawing from the dark colonial past to reclaim and form new cultural traditions. They are claiming ownership back of their culture, history and identity through fashion!

Enjoy these images from Jim Naughten.

Herero Woman in Patchwork Dress (2012 ) 50″ × 41″; C type

Herero Woman in Yellow Dress (2012) 50″ × 41″; C type

Herero Woman in Blue Dress (2012) 50″ × 41″; C type

Herero Woman in Patchwork Dress, 2 (2012) 50″ × 41″; C type

Herero Woman in Pink and Pattern Dress (2012) 50″ × 41″; C type

Herero Woman in Pink Dress (2012) 50″ × 41″; C type

 

further readings:

http://www.jimnaughten.com/project/hereros/

http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/07/23/the-african-women-who-dress-like-victorians/

http://saharanvibe.blogspot.com/2011/09/herero-ladies-of-namibia-africas.html

 

colour in film

happy weekend everyone.

Check out the twitter account, cinema palettes! it is worth it i promise. they take screenshots from some great classic films and translate it into a ten part colour palettes.

If you have ever been to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne (ACMI), well, it is similar to their Colour Wheel Game.

Colour Palettes and the Colour Wheel Game attempt to capture the overall mood of a film’s scene.  For example, the somber blue hues of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, or the harsh umbers of Mad Max: Fury Road.

It shows how colour is vital “in terms of on-screen aesthetics and symbolism” and more so it is just fun.

enjoy looking at colour palettes images, but if you find yourself in melbourne, australia go check out ACMI because believe me it will blow your mind.

Peter Pan

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Funny Face

American Psycho

Mary Poppins

Mad Max: Fury Road

American Beauty

Blue is the Warmest Colour

Little Shop of Horrors

Edward Scissorhand

The Shining

Annie Hall

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Alice through the Looking Glass

The Bug’s Life

Lost in Translation

Spirited Away

Atonement

Moonrise Kingdom

further readings:

https://mymodernmet.com/cinema-palettes/

https://www.acmi.net.au/collection/works/colour-wheel-game/

Tweets by CINEMAPALETTES

 

 

happy international museum day

happy international museum day!

to celebrate i am sharing photographs from the tumblr people sleeping in museums. 

who hasn’t had a sneaky nap in a museum? they are the perfect place to rest your weary eyes and legs.

anyway happy international museum day and enjoy!

 

further readings:

https://peoplesleepinginmuseums.tumblr.com/

people matching artworks

 

This is just so genius.

I adore these photographs.  They are from the French photographer, Stefan Draschan.

These photographs are beautiful, funny and unique. They make a beautiful harmony between the work of art itself and the visitor. Take a look yourself. Enjoy scrolling and finding the matches.

further reading:

https://www.boredpanda.com/people-matching-artworks-stefan-draschan/

https://stefandraschan.com/

oh such beauty

As you all are aware, I am a serial procrastinator and avoider. I am one of those people that don’t open up my messages because if i haven’t opened it yet I haven’t seen it. For instance, I have avoided calling my gym trainer for the past two weeks because I am not ready to deal with what she is going to say to me.  I should probably call her. Anyway, the important thing is that me avoiding and procrastinating my real life has gotten me back into posting so yippee.

So, what is this post going to be about?  it is about the opulent architecture of italy.

These photos are amazing and seeing as I just came back from a little trip to the beautiful land of italy, i thought it appropriate. The photographer is David Burdeny and he is an architect turned photographer.  He has now moved his attention toward the opulent architecture of Italy.

Burdeny takes the viewer into these spaces, some still private homes, others transformed into museums, others shuttered permanently and falling into decay is just wonderful.

They are wonderful and gorgeous. Have a look below:

further readings:

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/david-burdeny-italy-architecture

http://www.davidburdeny.com/

 

 

city museum: a massive playground

Now I don’t know if this is a museum or a playground but regardless it is amazing.

The space used to be a 10-story International Show company, it is called the City Museum and is located in St Louis.  It  is the brainchild of artist Bob Cassilly, who opened the museum/urban playground in 1997 after many years of renovation and construction.

While, Cassilly passed away in 2011, the museum is constantly under construction and new features are being added or improved by the a group of artists called the Cassilly Crew.

So what do you find at the city museum? a sky-high jungle gym? two towering 10-story slides and numerous multi floor slides? A rooftop ferris wheel? a circus arts facility? it is all there. Everything in the museum is sourced locally. That is super cool and sustainable!

It is like the hip arty version of Disneyland. it is worth visiting if you are in St Louis!!!!

 

further readings:

City Museum: A 10-Story Former Shoe Factory Transformed into the Ultimate Urban Playground

http://www.citymuseum.org/

 

 

Dedicated to Prince

This blog-post is dedicated to Prince.

I want to discuss and look at the community that has been drawn together by the passing of this star musician. In addition, I want to look specifically at how museums, specifically LACMA are creating a space for this community.

Sadly, on April 21^st 2016, we lost one of the great musicians, Prince. There is an ongoing investigation to how he passed away and already rumours of pill-addiction and suicide is coming out in the media. Now, Prince fans around the world have united together, like they did when David Bowie died in January. ‘Pop up memorials’ are being erected all over the world, for instance, in Sydney’s South-West a mural has been painted of the artist, similarly in Melbourne. These memorials are used as ways for fans and community members to gather and unify over the passing. People post photographs of the artist on their Instagram or Facebook. They write status updates and use hashtags to group these individual postings together.

What makes someone a Prince fan? What makes you part of this community? Do you have to love purple? Do you have to love funk? Whilst, the being part of this community itself is quite broad, it still has some key features. One specifically is that you like Prince’s music. Similarly to David Bowie, Prince represented the outsider, the artist, someone who has artistic integrity. He is suave and represents the marginalised within society. He challenged ideas of sexuality, race and gender. His music, his charisma and his beauty drew his fans; his ability to be sure of himself drew people together. As one fan has stated “ he did things that others were afraid to do, be it clothes he wore or things he sung about, he was a prolific, self taught one of a kind, true artist…” This ability to be a true artist, and speak for the voiceless made him a leader, his death echoed similarities to David Bowie’s death. Fan groups unified by the death of their idol.

It be interesting to see what happens over the cause of the investigation into his death, how the community reacts and connects, but that is for a latter discussion.

Personally though, I have been drawn to LACMA’s remembrance to the artist. Not only, does it unify and give a voice to Prince fans but it also draws and engages with the museum audience. LACMA’s Rain Room, was lit purple after the announcement of Prince’s death. It not only provided a specific space for fans, but a way to inform and create a larger museum community. It addresses both, LACMA’s art community and Prince’s fan group. It brings to groups together (whilst, they may not be so different from one another), it allows them to intersect together within the artworks space.

Images are below:

further readings:

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/in_lacmas_rain_room_theres_purple_rain_falling_for_prince

http://www.lacma.org/

LACMA pays tribute to Prince with Purple Rain Room

 

opening up the museum.

A great talk to listen to on a saturday night.

(in)significance: a discussion about values and valuing in heritage

If anyone feels like they want to stop by canberra. I believe this will be a worthy thing to go and listen to for all you museum and heritage nerds out there.

What is it about you may ask? Well…it is looking at the concept of significance in relation to heritage conservation.  What is significant?  What does ascribing values on a heritage object, place or landscape do?

At the symposium they explore the history, theory and practical application of the concept of significance and broach the idea of insignificance.

http://www.canberra.edu.au/research/faculty-research-centres/cccr/events/insignificance

people looking at art part four

People and Art. People and Art and Looking.

Part four