Magical realism is brought to the cinema in this recently released, haunting and captivating movie that I watched earlier today. Much of the impact of the film is purely sensory. Cinematography that creates beauty out of misery; a 6 year old actress who is as captivating as the most accomplished Hollywood diva; enchanting music that [...]
Archive of posts tagged animals
Real and Surreal – The Landscapes of Joan Miro
I remember when, a few years ago, I visited the Joan Miro museum in Barcelona. There were two large, wall-sized paintings that each consisted just of one single curved line painted in black on white paper. I remember looking at these simple paintings and being overcome by a very strong emotional sense. For me [...]
There are chimeras – no more either/or. The work of Ellen Rogers
The work of Ellen Rogers brings focus to the question of whether the human is part of, or separate from, “Nature”. The giraffe sculpture above has the body of a giraffe, human front legs a mechanical replacement for its hind legs and is made of steel. It is an artistic chimera – an image of [...]
Animal Mysticism – Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow
The images in Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow remind us that animals have always had a mystical place in the world of humans. Started in 1992, Ashes and Snow is a long term project in which photographer and film-maker Gregory Colbert works towards “rediscovering the common ground that once existed when people lived in harmony [...]
Naked With Pigs – Miru Kim
“These industrial environments are so desensitizing in that you, even if you are an animal lover, become complacently accepting of the fact that the live beings are only raw materials for mass commodity production. This needs some serious questioning.” These are some of the thoughts of New York Based artist Miru Kim in relation to [...]
Robin Schwartz – Amelia and her Animals
Robin Schwartz is a friend. But that’s not why her work is on this blog. It is here because, for many months, I have been looking for work that describes a positive relationship between us and the non-human rather than the ubiquitous work that castigates ad nauseam the damage we are doing to our environment. [...]
Turning Back The Clock – Harri Kallio and the Dodo
I have often wondered what the now extinct dodo bird looked like when it was still around and roaming in the wild. Harri Kallio has tried to give us an insight into this lost-forever part of our world with his series “The Dodo and Mauritius Island” Kallio undertook extensive research into the dodo, what it [...]
