Tag: Culture
-
Ruminating art
Ruminating art After having been exposed to a multitude of diverse works of modern art, as I was during my visit to the 2016 Kochi-Muziris Biennale, you need time to digest. Art makes you think. I have said that the beauty of a work of art may not be all-important for its appreciation and for…
-
Ambrosia
Ambrosia According to one creation myth of ancient Mesopotamia, the gods created humankind because they were fed up of having to look after their own food. Yes, gods also need food to survive, and they want man to provide it. As we can see here, man, religious man, still acquits himself faithfully of his task.…
-
Living doll
Living doll Apart from the phallus shrine that I showed you in last week’s post, I also came across – at the same flea market – this exquisite Geisha doll. The doll almost seems alive, radiating the modesty of a real Geisha. A masterly example of true Japanese craftsmanship! Photo of the week: Geisha doll…
-
Phallus shrine
Phallus shrine A wooden phallus in a small wooden shrine. How did this piece end up at the flea market of Kitano-Tenman-gu? Has it figured on someone’s house altar – or bedside table – and fallen out of favour? We can only fantasize about it and think up vivid stories, but we don’t know. It…
-
Black is beautiful
Black is beautiful A black woman and a woman dressed in black against a black background. When I walked into a bank in Alice Springs and saw this scene, I couldn’t resist taking a photo. The woman in black is clearly an Aboriginal girl, but the black woman looks African to me, with her facial…
-
Death of an anthropologist
Death of an anthropologist I haven’t found an explanation by the Aboriginal painter July Dowling about this work of hers. Whatever I say about it will be guesswork. But it is interesting, and probably not without significance, to note that apart from red ochre and synthetic paint, blood has been used in the painting. The three…
-
A child is born
A child is born every quarter of a second. Happy Christmas. Photo of the week: Christmas, Mumbai, India 2014
-
Feminine beauty
Feminine beauty Five pillars, five depictions of Hathor, the goddess of beauty, joy and love. We are here in the temple complex on the islet of Philae in the Nile, south of Aswan. The temple dates from the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Three thousand years of Pharaonic rule are drawing to a close, and…
-
The Bent Pyramid of Dashur
The Bent Pyramid of Dashur “We humbly greet you, oh majestic pyramid of Snofru.” That’s what the tracks in the sand seem to express in honour of the monumental tomb. The pyramids of Giza and Dashur are awe-inspiring indeed. Not only man, but the entire environment comes under the spell of their mighty presence. A drifting cloud…
-
The Pyramids
The Pyramids Going down the pyramids, one doesn’t do it every day. Nor coming face to face with them. When the moment is there, one can’t avoid the impression of absolute grandeur, and of well-nigh disbelief that thousands of years ago people have managed to plan, organize and build monuments like that. With its height…
καιρός remembered 