This morning there was a treat in my inbox: Architect's Brother by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison. This series portrays a desolate world, and one which seems devoid of life. But then he comes. Dressed in a suit and humming with determination, he sets about trying to restore natural life: re-anchoring the clouds, sowing seeds, and encouraging the rain to come again. Ridiculous yet poignant, his wordless toil and old-world techniques evoke a strange sense of hope for the future of this land.

 

 

 

 

 

The eerie surrealism of these pieces remind me of Shaun Tan's The Arrival.

 

Too awesome. They have lots of other great stuff on their website.

- Thanks David. You totally made my day.

Emory Douglas (the former Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party) gave a public lecture this evening. It was great. He was great. He took us on a journey through his work, regaling us with the events that inspired each piece. Our two hours with him passed in an instant.

His work is a shining example of the potential of art to change societal attitudes (and, ultimately, THE WORLD).

When animals are placed within 'human' contexts, their displacement creates a strange juxtoposition between what is considered ours and theirs. We cannot help but endow them with human experience (as well as emotion), and in doing so we challenge what we typically deign as acceptable or real.

Who am I kidding. I just like animals.

 

(Josh Keyes)

 

 

(Karen Knorr)

This polaroid is from http://jblyth.com/blog.html, which houses an amazing collection of visual inspiration. I love the mystery of this photo - it seems so neutral and devoid of emotion, yet you know it's there - you just can't see it.

After breakfast this morning, Ben and I walked to Lim Chhour to get some juice. I know what you're thinking: juice is delicious. I was thinking this also.

We stood at the fridge for some time, basking in the fluorescent wash of milk tea and isotonic drinks. I was perking up at the prospect of returning to bed, juice-box in hand, when Ben suddenly yelped "HOLY SHIT." I turned around to see him pointing excitedly at something around the corner.

This is the point in the story where I wish I hadn't been hungover. This is the point in the story where I skipped over to him, expecting something exciting like more juice options, or a discarded mountain of bubble wrap.

Instead, I saw this:

What the hell, Lim Chhour. What the hell.

Ben thinks it was waiting to be chopped up and sold, since the meat section is just behind. This is disgusting on so many levels. We could have done all sorts of unhygenic things to it, and thousands of unsuspecting people would have bought their meat chunks before dying of poison thirty hours later. I mean. Wait. What?

Kseniya recently won Ukraine's Got Talent with this sand animation detailing Germany's invasion of Ukraine during World War II .

Her movements are infused with emotion, pushing her performance beyond the realms of mere animation: We are witnesses not only to the narrative, but to the experience of her creating and reacting to it. Mesmerising.

Valentine and I recently made our way to Misery's studio for a wee chat over some cheap red wine. It was lovely. I took some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As too many of you know, I have an unholy obsession with animal fashion (evidenced in my collection of animal-human hybrids). Finding Nagi Noda's hair hats was therefore like being six years old again and realising that no, my parents hadn't thrown away all the Archie comics like they said they had. No, they'd hidden them under my bed and it'd taken me three months to realise they were there. My delighted exclamation upon discovering these precious comics alerted my dear mother, and they were quickly whisked away again.

That's what finding Nagi Noda is like.

 

 

 

 

 

In July, I interviewed and photographed the lovely Leda Petit for an article I was writing for Craccum.

 

 

You can read the article here.