The World by Us

Politics. They are necessary….but MY OH MY it is incredible how they divide us.

We don’t intend to get into a major political discourse or incite any more division today, but we do want to share a little something that inspired us and we hope will inspire you.

In our eyes, it is raw, honest, emotion coming from a politician… something that is rather hard to come by these days. It confirms for us the reason we made that mark in our ballot just a few days ago, and the reason we have so much hope for the next four years.

We find it hard to believe that this man does not have our best interests at heart, that he will not fight for equality and peace and love, that he will not make the world (as well as the country) a better place.

Her motto was sans limites. She has been called mad, inspired, a genius and an eccentric. She lived and loved freely, deliberately, and on her own terms.

Born in San Francisco in 1877, Isadora Duncan has become known as the mother of modern dance, but perhaps more importantly she stands as a brilliant example of a woman with an incredible self-belief and a determination to offer the world the art she loved.

She certainly didn’t waste any time. By the age of 6, she was already holding dance classes from her home for the girls in her neighborhood, showing them how to move like the ocean. She did this to help support the family but despite her efforts, money was scarce and the family of four children struggled to make ends meet.

Isadora and her mother moved from San Francisco to Chicago and then to New York, in pursuit of a successful career as a dancer. A rebel against the rigidity of traditional dance and ballet, Isadora’s individual style – inspired by nature, Grecian forms and the connection between emotions and movement – was not appreciated by many at the time. It wasn’t until her later years in London, Paris, and Russia that she found her success.

Isadora was an adventurer and a thinker, a defender of women’s rights, and a brave critic of the social norms of her time.  Unfortunately, her life was cut short by a tragic car accident in the South of France at the age of 50 but her memory lives on as a pioneer of modern dance and a revolutionary woman.

Her memoir, My Life, is a must-read for a beautifully written dose of inspiration!

Isadora in her own words:

 “Virtuous people are simply those who have. . . not been tempted sufficiently, because they live in a vegetative state, or because their purposes are so concentrated in one direction that they have not had the leisure to glance around them.’ - Isadora Duncan

“One cannot make plans for life, or rules for marriage. Life comes, and one lives, each day. I am opposed to marriages. I believe in the emancipation of women.” - Isadora Duncan

“While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered animals, how can we expect any ideal living conditions on this earth?” - Isadora Duncan

“Art is not necessary at all. All that is necessary to make this world a better place to live in is to love — to love as Christ loved, as Buddha loved.” - Isadora Duncan

 ”There are many who think, apparently, that life is a series of extremely boring habits which they call virtues. I do not believe in putting chains and a padlock on life. Life is an experience, an adventure. It is an expression. Most Americans are hypnotized by a wrong idea of life, brought to this country by the Puritans.” - Isadora Duncan

“Where are we to look for the great fountainhead of movement? Woman is not a thing apart and separate from all other life organic or inorganic. She is but a link in the chain, and her movement must be one with the great movement which runs through the universe; and therefore the fountainhead for the art of the dance will be the study of the movements of Nature.” – Isadora Duncan

 “It was never easy to coax Isadora Duncan into a photographer’s studio. Like a wild and wise animal, she fled from those who sought to capture the essence of her — which was motion — by making her stand still.” - Poet, Max Eastman

This year women from Brunei, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are participating in the olympics for the first time in history, making the London 2012 Olympics the first games to include women from every nation. Making another first for London 2012, the United States have more women (269) competing than men (261) – all a very long way from the Paris 1900 Games – when a mere 22 women (of 997 athletes) were the first EVER to compete.

While Afghanistan sent it’s first two women, Robina Muqim Yaar and Friba Razayee,to the Athens Games in 2004, it remains a controversial subject in the country.  Mehboba Ahdyar, the only Afghani woman scheduled to compete in the Beijing 2008 Games, received death threats from her compatriots for her participation. She later dissappeared from a training facility and fled to Norway to seek asylum.This year, Tahmina Kohistani followed in her footsteps as the only female competing for her country, and almost gave in to the pressure, criticism and discouraging facebook messages from men in her country.

A month ago, when men gathered outside the stadium where she trained in Kabul, telling her not to run… that she was a ‘bad muslim,’ she nearly gave up. 

But then something she changed her mind. “I will continue’ she decided.

“Someone should respond this way. And someone should take these problems and I am the one who is ready for the problem.”

And so, wearing the hijab, she ran a personal best in the preliminary 100 metre sprint, despite coming last in her heat.

 ”I knew I was not going to win a medal when I came here; I am here to begin a new era for the women of Afghanistan to show people that we can do the same things that people from other countries can do. There is no difference between us.”

A stockholm girl, Linnea Strid has been painting since she could hold a pencil in her hand. The subjects in her impressive photorealistic oil paintings are typically submerged in or dripping with water.

Linnea first found her talent for painting water in 2007 by experimenting with how she would look underwater, as if she had drowned. She fell in love with the concept and it has remained a primary focus of her work.

 ”Most of my pieces are like snap shots of my (or someone else’s) every day life, and most likely there’s a small twist added to it, in the painting itself or in the title. Like some sort of underlying irony, a more serious or political touch, contradictory feelings, or something else. ” (via My Modern Met)

Gasp

Solutions and Decisions

Deformed

In the end, there’s only persistence left

Tear me apart

Daily routines

Cry you a river

A few weeks ago we reflected on the importance of our stories…and then we stumbled upon this one.

This little guy’s got a lot of wisdom for a 10 year old…

“Money is important, but not as important as love”

We’ve come across some uber-talented ladies lately. Ladies like the eccentric Claire Boucher (or Grimes as most know her). The 23 year old, Canadian born singer and producer has been making big waves in the indie music scene with her ethereal & infectious album Visions.

A darling of the ‘bedroom pop’ movement and in the company of artists like Washed Out, Active Child and How to Dress Well, Grimes is a one-woman show who prefers to think of herself as more of a ‘curator of stuff’ than a musician. While it was her album that first impressed us, it is her authenticity that has won us over.

With a slight lisp, an alternative personal style, and a penchant for Marilyn Manson, Claire is clearly unconventional. Regardless, she exudes self-confidence and a refreshingly matter-of-fact demeanour. However, just 5 or 6 years ago, she was ‘actively hated…locked in lockers, and thrown in garbage cans’ – a pretty traumatic high school experience by anyone’s measure. Though fortunately those days are far behind her now and the tables have turned.

These days, as she told Pedestrian TV, the fashion crowd who ‘would have destroyed her in high school’ are the girls buying the tickets to her shows. Who’s laughing now?

Writer/author/performance & visual artist/filmmaker/director/actor Miranda July is the ultimate ‘slashie’ and an incredible inspiration for aspiring creatives. Though according to her twitter account, she spends her time ‘divining the future of every single person…including you.’

Back before the success of her two feature-length films, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) and The Future (2011), Miranda was lonely, eager to learn, and longing to connect with other women. So she began an online project called Joanie 4 Jackie (previously known as Big Miss Moviola) – a video chain letter for female filmmakers to share their work.

The project became a beautiful support network and as one of the filmmakers interviewed describes it, “it was something special and different and kind of sacred…It was a little pod of love and hope.” Or as Miranda says, “Joanie 4 Jackie saved me, because I felt like I was part of something. That was my film school.”

The project is now archived at Bard College in New York where it continues to inspire and encourage budding female filmmakers.

For more Miranda, be sure to watch her latest film, The Future, which she wrote, directed, and starred in. It is a quirky and heartening take on life, love, individuality and the creation of art.

“I guess my favorite thing in the world is when I look at a piece of art, or read a story, or watch a movie where I walk away feeling like “Oh my god — I have to do something, I have to make something or talk to someone — things are not the same anymore” — and so I try to make work where you come away with that feeling. It’s like, yeah, you’re thinking about what you just saw, but even more than that — you feel able, you feel like, kind of propelled.”

- Miranda July

When was the last time you got your hands dirty and did a little finger painting? Unless you’ve got small children at home, you probably left that hobby behind long ago… Not so for American artist Judith Ann Braun.

Using fingers dipped in charcoal, Braun creates impressive murals, often drawn directly onto the wall. Her pieces range from stunning and intricate landscapes, to abstract symmetrical formations. No doubt a believer in the potential for constraints to boost creativity, Braun has set herself four simple rules which she follows in creating the majority of her other work:

1. Graphite
2. Square paper
3. Abstraction
4.  Bilateral symmetry

Intrigued by Braun’s unique form of art? You can catch her quirky, self-told life story in video form here. Or check out more of her work here.

With the Marilyn flick finally making its way to Aussie shores…we thought it appropriate to share this little gem we  recently stumbled across - A fascinating peek into the ‘blonde all over’ bombshell’s fitness & food habits.

  Click on the photos below for the surprising secrets to that gorgeous hourglass figure – including ‘bust firming’ exercises, raw eggs for breakfast and regular hot fudge sundaes!

via Glamournet

Lars Von Trier darling & Balenciaga muse, Charlotte Gainsbourg, talks to Nowness about her latest live album - Stage Whisper (including 4 new Beck-produced tracks), fashion, and finding her unique artistic expression apart from her iconic parents – Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg.

Check out ‘Anna’ & ‘Paradisco,’ both off the new album:

You can also hear more from Charlotte on her new album & her recent role in Von Trier’s Melancholia at Interview Magazine