one clover one bee

cover photo : sandy phimester

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First a kid and now a doggo. Who will appear at June’s talk? . . Thanks to all our friends who are sharing their videos and photos of Friday’s event. It was a truly heartfelt experience, and we’re glad you got to be in The Ortona Armoury. . . #cmedm #cmpreserve #yegdogs #yegdt #ortonaarmoury #yeg #edmonton @creativemornings @yegheritage @edmontonexplorer | photo by our good friend and sharp eye @leroyschulz https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxn1X5-ATC_/?igshid=12lllxjrc43nc

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YOU ALL HAD FUN WITH THOSE FILM CAMERAS THIS MORNING, EH? #cmedm #cmpreserve #edmonton #yeg #yegdt #ortonaarmoury https://www.instagram.com/p/BxlCHD_htzM/?igshid=bb21zc2goio9

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“Everything we have has value.” . . Thank-you to everyone who came out this morning and lived—however briefly—in the Ortona Armoury. We watched you wander around the building and Patrick’s studio like little children in awe of the world. How do we protect these types of spaces and experiences? How do we delight in our environment? And these cultures? What have we already lost or could rediscover? . . Continue this conversation. If you grabbed a postcard, please mail it to the powers-that-be and let them know what you felt and experienced. They need to hear you. We may not build the structures but we are the ones who maintain them. . . #cmedm #cmpreserve #edmonton #heritage #yeg #ortonaarmoury @yegheritage @gdcabnorth @cityofedmonton @cbcedmonton https://www.instagram.com/p/BxkorLGAjug/?igshid=10sjil03l280v

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Another fantastic event. We really appreciate aAron munson for fighting his jet-lag to deliver in a medium he is less familiar with. aAron speaks through his films and his artistry, allowing the voice of visual mediums to transcend speech and communicate his perspective and ideas about the world.

We were cozy that Friday morning at MacEwan’s Allard Hall, where we sipped coffee, talked with one another and made new friends.

We love how Rona-Marie Harvey (pausephoto) captured our event and even took to capturing some Surreal takes on our speaker. We love seeing the community come together to make space for dialogue among the creative and curious folk of our city.

Thank-you to our videographer, Denis Limitovski, to our partners this month Graphic Designer of Canada, Alberta North, and to MacEwan University to hosting us in their beautiful space.

See you next month at PLLC on February 15.

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Loss of Culture AKA Culture Appropriation

Alright. Cultural appropriation, let me make sense of you.

Can I speak about cultural appropriation as a white woman? Can I really understand what it is to have someone adopt my sacred cultural relics as fantasy and play?

My theory is no. 

Most of us white people lost their sense of culture generations ago; we live in a cultural vacuum of monetary value, our god is capitalism and a hotel mogul can become President of America. Whatever left of an authentic cultural identity is too busy pouring cocktails to its guests while vegetarian lasagna roasts in the oven.

I watched a video made by a Japanese man, who is living in Japan, where he asks native Japanese (in Japan) what would cause them -- and Japanese society -- offence when it comes to aliens adopting their cultural relics.

The Japanese man, living on the island of the sun, is immersed in a highly homogenized culture. Being Japanese in Japan, you are reminded of your ancestry and the deep richness of your countries’ heritage. Your ancestral culture is so accessible it no longer seems sacred at times; the culture and history is just...there, available to you like a 24 hour drug store. A commodity. 

The interviewer in the video asks Japanese citizens if they saw a foreigner wear a kimono, would the Japanese find this offensive?

The Japanese replied, no it would not.

What if the foreigner was wearing it incorrectly?

No it would not.

What if the foreigner reinterpreted as her own?

No.

The citizens in the video go on to say how most society would find the sharing of their culture with foreigners as an honour. The culture continues to live -- in others -- beyond a safe cocoon of a homogenized culture.

Meanwhile, l live in a nation, whose fore-fathers, helped contribute to a cultural genocide of epic proportion. So much, that I was unable to not only see the past renditions of native people, but the renditions of their contemporary culture -- alive and well.

When you have been stripped of culture, stripped of the right to practice your own culture, the dances, the headdresses, the hair and housing, and colonial style and design -- alien to you -- begins to trump your heritage’s cultural relics. You no longer have a nation; you must conform.

One hundred years later, white men will sell $10 - $50 costumes, made to look like a generic stereotypical rendition your culture; with whom your parents and grandparents were refused to practice in, to evolve, and pass down to their children.

Also, to a larger extent, when immigrants come to America for whatever reason, they become less cultural saturated in ways that they used to. Years will pass and they will try to assimilate with America and its hodge-podge of ethnicities. The immigrants may have children, pass down their home-lands lores; meanwhile they will invest long term in America,and to average white americans, an immigrant culture will be referenced only in costume. You begin to think that the people dressing-up in your heritage won’t understand just how rich and holy the costume’s culture could be. Instead, they want to party in it. Or take an instagram photo -- #COACHELLA #IWOKEUPLIKETHIS -- and simply enjoy the aesthetic of the object. The costume, the culture, becomes an object.

Without feeling immersed in ones heritage, ones culture (if you have one), it can be hard to watch a superficial investment in what you may hold dear -- the relics -- of your ancestors.

It is fun to dress up like a mexican, but it’s not fun to have a threat of deportation because your parents are not registered as legal american citizens. #FUCKDONALDTRUMP

America and its white people, may have lost touch with their roots and in turn seek out other cultures to find richness in design, dance and writing. Those white americans may seek more than the boob tube, the god of capitalism. Maybe you just want to feel more cultured, more cultural. Appropriation is a symptom of a deeper issue being faced in the rapid globalization of our planet. Perhaps both sides of the appropriation scale feel at a loss, unconsciously or otherwise.

It is fun to dress up as your favourite black hip-hop artist, but it’s not fun to be in the streets defending the rights of your cousin who was shot because he was black. #BLACKLIVESMATTER

In regards to the First Nations, who lost so many tribes and culture -- all within 4 generations -- is traumatic. If we take up the relics of First Nation people, may it be among respect, understanding and commitment to carry forth the stories and richness of the First People. I can see this being done sensitively and radically. I want to live in a society that makes the remaining first nations come to the attention of the society as normal. Let America thrive again, with ancient culture and the stories of our land, passed down through oral tradition begin to permeate the nation.  

It is fun to dress up like a native american, but it’s not fun to stand in sub zero temperatures defending you ancestorial and currents land, while police officers douse you in freezing water, rubber bullets and attack dogs. #NODAPL

First Nations people can not go home to feel invested in their culture. They ARE home and we, as the immigrants of the last 300 years, could stand to learn the richness of the land, and feel benefited from its wisdom before we adopt cheap tricks of the indigenous.

In short:

1. Cultural appropriation is a symptom of immigrants loosing culture

2. People living in their mother-land might be charmed by foreigners adopting aspects of the mother-land heritage.

3. First Nations people are an example of cultural genocide. Almost slashing half of your cultural heritage in a relatively short period.

Again, I believe most white people of North America have forgotten their roots, their ancestors tales, and become enamoured or fascinated when a person (usually an immigrant) talks with great passion about his cultures traditions. I believe we all want to find community and be a part of a meal, a dress, a ritual which has been practiced for centuries.

In the above video we see how two “native americans”  -- not to be confused with a First Nation American -- interview a cabbie. The Youtubers find out their cabbie is Yugoslavian and are brought to a restaurant that serves all great slavic foods. 

Cultural Appropriation is a hot topic of today. Millions of people contribute mindlessly to adoption of aesthetics from cultures that are not their own. At the heart of it all, I believe there is a longing for our body and mind to bath in the waters of tradition, to feel connected to a source, and to feel connected to a community.

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HOLY SHIT THIS IS IN EDMONTON

Beside and unassuming liquor store, nestled at the end of a busy avenue, lies Edmonton’s claim to the worlds finest donair.

I would like to thank Donair-or-Die, a tumblr based review site on -- you guessed it -- Donairs, for the above image.

According to Matt Munsch (of Donair-or-Die), the above restaurant ranked 7th in the 15 top donair joints between Edmonton and Vancouver. Who was number one? Some joint in Vancouver. Too bad Edmonton, too bad The Worlds Finest Donair.

A glittering generalization indeed! What the heck does finest mean anyhow?

fine fīn/ adjective superlative adjective: finest 1. of high quality. "this was a fine piece of filmmaking" synonyms: excellent, first-class, first-rate, great, exceptional, outstanding, quality, superior, splendid, magnificent, exquisite, choice, select, prime, supreme, superb, wonderful, superlative, of high quality, second to none; More antonyms: poor

Thanks google search for clearing that up. 

I have to go on the record and say I have never had a donair, or am appealed to having one in the future. However, for years now, I have been amused by this businesses name. Such a large claim, and how many other establishments might be saying “Worlds Best Donair” or “World first-class donair?”. Seems like a lot of competition.

Is this the Worlds Finest Donair? I would like to guess: no. Will this attract customers by its blatant advertising? Maybe. Are drunk people stumbling down Jasper Avenue late at night, discriminate of fast-food? I beg to differ.

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Talwst Santiago

The Execution of Michael Brown, 2014 

Curtis (Talwst Santiago) began creating tableaus in old ring boxes back in 2014. Over a conversation at a summer patio series at a local art gallery, he opened a small briefcase of his early work in this medium. He later moved to Toronto and the beginning of #blacklivesmatter started to shake the social atmosphere.

The work was shifting from pop culture to political critique. When Santiago began unveiling recreations of current police shootings of unarmed black men in America, his star began to rise. His dioramas began courting international acclaim. The #BLACKLIVESMATTER movement (started in the 2010′s, highlighting the social injustice of black lives by the state) now had fine art backing where upper elite and privileged circles would be exposed to social commentary they otherwise might have not encountered before.

When I think of the nature of ring boxes, I conjure up images of proposals, of rings, of symbolism and the finances of love. Before a person opens up a ring box, there is an element of suspense -- the unknown -- with what might be within. With Santiago’s above work, we are given more than what is expected. We are given a wealth of social responsibility, to a system we all live and breathe in, and a system which functions under inequality -- those in power and those succumbing to that power. We can close this ring box and leave it somewhere to gather dust, and clean up aspects of our society we wish not to reflect on. Or we might share the contents, and adorn the scene like a promise ring, where we share with our social circle.

Michael Brown was 18 years old in 2014, when he was fatally shot by a police officer in a suburb of St. Louis County in Missouri. Shortly before the altercation with the police, Brown had stolen several cigarette packages from a convenience store and fled with a friend. The police were notified of the robbery and the description of the two boys involved. When Brown was found on the streets by a police officer, a complicated scene began where 12 shots were fired and six shots in total entered Michael Brown. Killed at the scene, Brown became another example in a growing movement of unrest in the black population of the United States.

The diorama had six officers represented, possibly congruent with the six bullets. There are three black men being shot at; one a colonial slave; one a civil rights protestors of the 60′s; and last Michael Brown himself. Here, the armed officer is not only firing at a 18 year old delinquent, he is shooting at the black man’s historic representation.  Time and again, black men have had to fight through the conceived roles given by higher society. The stereotype of the black man is one of violence, anger and overt masculinity. Stereotypically, a black man is a thug, a gangsta and armed at all times. Although the statements made of the black male are limiting and unrepresentative of the population, the stereotypes play as true in todays society. The above shootings are that of unarmed men, from various backgound and agendas. Complex as all humanity, the truth of skin colour is superficial, yet the cultural lores of our skin colour continue to stigmatize future generations, despite evolution of persona and character across all ethnicities. The inequality of weapons between the white and black components of the diorama is quite evident. The police officers seem ready to fight a riot, where the black men have only themselves to argue with. Here, Santiago argues how, by the weapons represented in the police officer, reflects the mindset white officers may have about black men on the streets. Although the details of the Brown case is still locked in the judicial system, similar stories of unarmed black men have occurred, stoking the people’s movement and unrest .

Santiago wants to make a proposal: can we look and be engaged in the scene -- in what it means to be a black man in today’s America? And how the history of black men in America has changed -- or not -- with time.

photo courtesy of Talwst Santiago

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90s Dream // Photoshop

The assignment in photoshop was to take a standardized digital image, of a summer scene in Squamish, and use the editing tools to create another version.

Here is mine.

I played around and kept going in the direction that was hitting me visually. I like the play on saturation and exposure, and somehow I ended up with this manipulation with two of my favourite colours: pink and green. Up’d the contrast of the photo, cropped the image, making the sail sit upper center; then I stopped.

After coming to this visual conclusion, I started thinking about my childhood summers in the Okanagan, which often depicted sites such as the above. Bright and almost flouresent colours were also rampant in fashion during the early 90s, so the tones of my manipulated image also evoked that era.

Isolating the sail in the air and centering it in the image, shows my focal point and what type of odd shape, almost bird-like, it makes within the sky. I wanted to obscure much of details and the realism of the original image.

My visual choices are based off of instinct and how I want a image to feel to the viewer. The general fog over the mountains and the mass amount of white space conjures up the idea of memories fading in time, summer memories fading with time and how we may forget the finer details of days past

I enjoyed exploring photoshop and how user friendly it actually is, and now feel more confident in utilizing the program. Hoo-rah!

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Mary Ellen Mark

Mary Ellen Mark is one of my favourite photographers and as it seems, photo journalist. Her interest into the lives of average (or below average) citizens of America, always moved me with the images’ honesty. I may or may not agree with the subject matter being depicted, but I am somehow always drawn to stare for longer. As a painter I would, myself, be inspired by the mundane, the over-looked and the images which tested my own conventionality. 

This particular image, of two cousins playing outside on a hot summer day, shows one cousin wading in the hap-hazard pool while the other cousin, who could be no more than eight years old, is smoking a cigarette with the flair of a 65 year-old bingo enthusiast. The innocence of the children is cut quite quickly by the taboo of underage smoking. As I look further, I notice the eye make-up on the smoking cousin, I notice the one earring hanging solo from a matching pair, and her delicate necklace. I feel like I am supposed to feel that she is older than her years, this contradiction is what makes this image so exciting. Her attitude is defiant, confident, cocky and self assured. Where does she get all this swagger?  

Mary Ellen Mark took a picture with such intimacy; here in a backyard wadding pool, where two children would play in the water and refresh themselves on one of those hot summer days. She is allowed into the children’s world, she is allowed to see the reality of a child, who through life experience, ended up smoking cigarettes.

Again, the black and white usage. Mary Ellen Mark’s imagery is black and white predominate. We are witnessing contrasts as we look through her portfolio of classic American scenes gone awry. No longer quaint, yet this photo keeps the air of a family member who-happens-to-take-great-photos kinda charm.

America was being exposed for its reality, its truth, its honesty. I adore Mark’s work for how it highlights and exposes the side of life in the worlds-most-powerful-country as a spectrum of privilege and customs. At some point in life, a smoking child could of made sense to many people, at some point in life innocence ends, childhood ends and we all face the reality of the world with whatever can help pass the time.

photo courtesy of Mary Ellen Mark

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James Nachtwey

This was a hard topic to research, how I was going to find my favourite photograph by James Nachtwey. His war-time photos are hard to digest over a google search image of his name, as there are many for me to see, and there are many images of such horrific scenes.

I decided to scroll until a photo really grabbed me with composition, something that hit me visually beyound just a graphic scene. After some columns, I came to this 1996 photo of the conflict rising in Kabul, Afghanistan. In the image we see hanging legs from the sky, which at first glance could be lynchings; however, the shadow cast from these hanging bodies show two boys straddling the barrel of a tank. This photo already is asking me to look further into the details. The play on shadows makes me think of ghosts, or hidden aspects of the human psyche. There is a very present anonymous nature with the figures in this photograph, they are hard to distinguish. With war, the hidden aspects come to light and create a shadow world humans descend into, or as Nachtwey had stated about the Rwanda genocide, 

“it was like taking the express elevator to hell.  ”

So war is present in the tank’s barrel. War is also featured in the ruins across the road, which have been skewed by war in a way, that they now resemble some jagged mountain range; and, like mountains, came to be their rocky selves by the result of, “compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward”.  War is an intrusion, war is made of forces which will destroy both lives and housings, where great unrest and revolt send a land mass into great change and, will disturb the ground that came before.

This is all contrasted by the [peaceful scene of cyclists on the road and what seems to be people getting on with their normal day. Besides the tank and the ruins of the building, there is no armed personal roaming this large and somewhat active roadway. There is a lot of movement expressed in this image, that of the cyclists, the dangling feet, the walking woman, and in the distance the other people moving about the buildings. This picture seems to be in motion, in change, and as we know of the conflict for Afghanistan in the years to come this change has just begun.

The black and white imagery allows further contrast from what is black, what is white and what is grey, which seems to be James Nachtwey’s preferred film type. Perhaps war is the composition of shades, somehow all linked and yet very divided: black is not the same as white, and somehow grey is this messy meeting place between the two sides, the two shades. War, to me, is the colour grey, where we get lost between both white and black, or as Nachtwey explains in War Photographer, “where the normal codes of civilized behaviours is suspended during [such] times”.

Photo courtesy of World Press

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Mutual Core

Bjork is an Icelandic Goddess who in her spare time creates musical landscapes and visual treats to accompany them. 

In her album Biophilia, a study into the natural world, Bjork wrote a song entitled “Mutal Core” which lyrically addresses the relationship between emotions and earths solid qualities.

In the music video, Bjork is embedded into the ground, in the form of sand, one of the smallest forms of rock. She strokes and plays with the earth while singing about a love relationship with Earth, the solidity of it, the combitination of solid objects coming together. Floating rocks with tentonic tongues are seen converging, becoming intimate with one another. Bjork discusses how the earth shifts, like one’s mood and how plates combine and shift. Visually, this is validated by the floating rock.

Later, as the pre chorus ramps up, the music becomes more urgent and the floating rocks begin to erupt--with emotion. The lyrics explain how one underestimated the power in the other; just like with the solid and steady earth, we forget its powerful force within: lava.

The imagery reflects the content of emotion and relationships while also explaining the nature of the earth crust and tectonic plates. Scientific and romantic.

Earth elements are featured. Bjork strokes and sways within the sand, the rocks dance over head, connecting with on another; until they no longer connect, and erupt with burning liquid.

The entire video is a sonic and visual treat. One where the words and visual content come together in harmony. Which, knowing Bjork, is nothing new to note of her music videos.

Watch the full video here

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Chinny-Chin-Chin

Courtesy of Vanity Fair

Rumer Willis is one of the three daughters born to famed actors Demi Moore and Bruce Willis. Having the strong genetics of both parents running through the features of their children, it would be obvious that one of the daughters would take on their fathers strong jawline. Rumer was that daughter. 

The daughters look like sisters; the children are great examples of genes mixing. 

Earlier this year, Vanity Fair did a pictorial piece of the daughters and after the photos had been released to the public, Rumer created a backlash at the company for obvious alterations of her jawline. Again, Rumer had inherited her fathers jawline and apparently, Vanity Fair believed it needed some fixing in photoshop for more aesthetic purposes. Obviously, photoshop is prevalent in our culture; magazines and celebrities alike are all well aware of its techniques being utilized on most images that gloss fancy-magazine pages. The issue that arose from Vanity Fairs Pictorial, came down to the choice of the individual being photoshopped. Whether they had requested to be enhanced in some way, or whether they were not informed; and whether having looked at the result, saw that their true image was not acceptable for the publication.

Rumer’s chin was shortened and softened. Comparing a real photo of her face to Vanity Fair, it was noticeable that one sister was truly represented, and some false version was created.

In light of the controversy, Rumer enabled further conversation on the usage of photoshop in the celebrity sphere and how it affects self esteem of the subject being altered and that of the readership. Rumer had explained her own past and current complexities with body image, having come a long ways into loving herself as she was created. When a photo shoot unvalidated her truth (her image) this was a sore point to Rumer and began to speak out.

#everybodyisbeautiful

We all see things a little differently, but we need to allow our eyes to do the judging, instead of the hidden markings of the artists hands. Especially if the alterations aren’t intended for a purpose known to the viewer, and are instead represented as truth, which will ultimately be unattainable. 

I think it is important that discussions are being had which break down the mystic of beautiful people we find in gossip columns, magazines and other media platforms. That these supposed archetypes of fame and beauty are affected by the alterations as much as those who consume the images. Beauty standards are culturally imbedded and it will take outspoken celebrities and readers to demand more honesty and representation. If Rumer feels beautiful in her own body, she should be celebrated. A young woman reading Vanity Fair’s article on the Willis Daughters might have a jawline similar to Rumer, or any other feature that is out of the norm of symmetry in beauty standards today; by the honest visual representation of Rumer, the reader can in-turn feel represented and validated. In a chin, an entire wealth of self-esteem can be found, and by slimming the face down, the technique metaphorically slims down the woman’s self-esteem.

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photo courtesy of Colombia Pictures

I am a child of the 90′s; my formative years, besides a slow fade out of the late 80′s, was spent in the whirling decade of the pre millennium. What a time to be a pre pubesent girl! What, with all these sugary pop groups to coinsign with the surge of hormanes about to rise.

And then there was the Spice Girls.

The Spice Girls were made of five women whom adopted and/or accelerated aspects of their personalities. They became super heroes of sorts. Each had a character; Posh, Scary, Baby, Ginger and Sporty. A member for most any adolescent girl.

It was easy to identify each character, even as a young girl. I brought up this group as a great example of visual communication, as their fashion and posture were congruent to their name and nature. Superficial to a degree, but archetypal on another; we are going to run with the latter.

From left to right:

First is Victoria Beckham AKA “Posh Spice”; Posh represents her token with expensive and highly detailed dresses. A taste for the finer things in life, as the description of Posh lifestyle being linked to high society. Her clothing choices best reflect that notion. This particular dress is designed by GUCCI, a haute couture “high fashion” clothing label. Posh was refinement, in her stance and catwalk face. This was a fashionable woman (who later went on to own a fashion empire) and was of the high society sort (she certainly is now). Taking evidence in her shoes, the only stilettos of the group; Posh is fancy, Posh is expensive shoes. Posh could not be found in simple footwear. There was too much class at stake.

Next is Mel B, AKA “Scary Spice”. Mel B, like the other girls, had chosen her own name, yet I found it convenient (later of course) that this is the coloured representative of the group and she has to be the “Scary” one. Coincidence? However, we will move forward and discuss the fashion choices reflecting her brand. Scary will often be found in some daring and evocative outfits; prints, body hugging numbers and general loud pieces. She will have a confident pose, often with her mouth out, since an outspoken woman could indeed be a “scary” thing. Her hair will be done in ways a young white girl could never imagine (but secretly hopes to achieve). If I could rename her, I’d call her “Boss Ass Bitch” with great affection.

Emma Bunton AKA “Baby Spice”, who is in the middle, will represent all the innocent, slightly Lolita visuals. Her pigtails will be abundant, her blonde “virgin” hair will be on point. Pink and other pastel colour and baby doll dress cuts will accentuate her naivety and general sweetness. Often found with a lollipop. She is the infantile of woman, she is cute, she is sweet; in her stance, in her wide smile. Just look at those knee high socks! Oh so reminiscent of school girls. However, she was 16 or so when the group formed, naturally the “baby” of the group; and she ran with it.

After Baby comes Geri Halliwel, AKA “Ginger Spice” (my personal favourite). All that spicy-ness. All that red hair. Ginger. Red hair. Get it? Ginger will also wear loud clothing but it will always lean to provocative with a slight Marilyn Monroe theme weaving throughout her fashion choices. Here she is decked head to toe in red; what could be more Ginger than that folks? Ginger is hot, is red, is spicy, is saucy (I think of sauce and there is that colour again, Red). She will also be outspoken, sassy and passionate; all things a good red hair might be labelled. Tits out, hands on the hips, and generally showing off her womanly figure, this is Ginger. Like the root, a bit of ginger is good for the body; too much though, can make for a deep burn.

Last up is Mel C, AKA “Sporty Spice”, who, as you can guess from her name, will be represented in sporting attire. From head to toe, found in sporting athletic wear; often with her hair in a pony tail, and often with demure makeup. Sporty might kick her leg in the air, punch with her fist toward the camera, or some other physical feat in photos. In this photo her only accessory is a watch, because home girl keeps it real. No heels either. Sporty girls don’t have time for frivolity, society says. They don’t care about image in the same way. Little did we know that Sporty was in the midst of an raging eating disorder. Because she was image conscious. Olympian in visuals, and the groups best vocalist.  

Growing up, I thought I could be anyone of these women throughout my life, that I could hone my Scary, adore my baby, sass by Ginger, fashion my Posh and kick like Sporty. I needed these fun archetypes, these fantasies during my discoveries as a young woman. These women were there for me to project my desires upon and my limitations.

We all need a variety of spice in our life, right?

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VOGUE

image courtesy, joanna behar

VOGUE.

That font. What does it reflect of the magazine? It’s image?

Digging deeper, I found that the mother of the VOGUE font is Didot, which was first released in 1799. Two hundred years later, the font was altered slightly to fit Vogue’s unique standards which leaves us to our present day magazines, rather iconic logo font.

With origins dating back to the 18th century, “classic” comes to mind when describing this typeface. Slap a historic (is two hundred years old enough?) font onto a piece of advertisement and/or magazine cover, and I’m also going to think of “refined” “elegant” and oddly enough “rich”. I’m even thinking of “renaissance”.

Vogue has elite connotations; the magazine is a powerful brand whose pages are a layout of luxury goods and lifestyles. Addressing the font, didot (with slight alterations) was a cohesive choice to go with the branding of such a publication. Historically, those who held the most power and accumulated the most wealth were both able to read and afford items of frivolity. Didot was invented in a time of a disbarring society; those that were excluded from education and thus being able to read, would only be able to enjoy typeface by its artistry alone; meanwhile, the rich and powerful, educated, would be able to enjoy both the content of the words and the style. The font came from a time of “tasteful” and “common”, of “aristocracy” and “worker”. Did Vogue understand the connotations? Did it want to remind readers that the privilege to read, when Didot came out, was a privilege to the elite?

Isn’t Vogue the print of the elite? 

Looking closer at the font itself, we see the signs of a serif font: embellishments jut out from the stems of the letters like proper hats and heeled toe boots; I notice the thin strokes contrasted against thicker lines and I think of how my paintbrush strokes the canvas in a confident line. Again, I’m seeing elegance here. I think of aristocracy. The middle of the font is pushed out, and that the bookends of each letter is visually striking, making the eye connect the delicate balances between the heavier elements.

image courtesy of mark serra

If I wanted to project an image of refinement, good taste, elegance and classical artistry, I could easily utilize didot (or Vogue’s variation) to subconsciously promote my agenda of the above.

I’m also seeing that this font, unlike what would be someone’s humble chicken scratch, is also distancing. Again, this would have to be replicated by a much skilled hand, dehumanizing the font or at the very least, making it less common. And perhaps Vogue wants to set itself from the common, from the chicken scratch. Didot supports the brand and it’s content; that the rich may read the magazine and feel akin, feel it is attainable; while the average citizen may use the magazine to dream, to transport, to feel refined when they place Vogue lovingly on their coffee table. 

Is this logo giving the reader a sense of luxury? Validated by the imagery, the interviews, the articles, and the quantity of luxury goods?

I would say yes.

[onecloveronebee]

My MacEwan is within the walls of the university and without.

In the first image we have the most important visual representation of what My MacEwan means to me; my daughter is a huge motivator to become a better, smarter, more capable mother and human. When I get home from school, I set aside my homework and spend the evening playing and going about our lives; later, we get ready for bed and she will invariably want to sleep with me, which I allow, and she will fall asleep at I type and write notes, finally allowing myself the quiet time to catch up on my assignments. This is a 5/7 day fixture in my household. I think its kinda cute to show her how “mommy does school” as she will enter kindergarten next fall. We kinda get to do the school thing together. You know, education as a life long process. Education despite hurdles.

So, when I am at school, I am observing the culture of the land. witnessing how students interact and for one observation, why for the most part, are they sleeping? Or standing in lines?

Sleeping is part of My MacEwan, since the balance of taking care of yourself and your studies is a fine one. And knowing that sleep is a hard feeling to overcome when your body desperately needs it to repair and simulate understandings. So really, all this cat napping that I have observed, and have yet to succumb to, may be biologically beneficial to their education. The particular picture I chose was how the dude may look on one hand to be studying, but in reality, this is some careful hat placement paired with a corpse sleeping posture. I thought he looked rather cool.

This other phenomena are lines. Lots of lines. While I initially wanted to capture the exceedingly predictable line up to the woman’s washroom, I decided to go with a less private experience and go with one of the coffee line ups. Lines to the bathroom, lines to the coffee shop. Having a legit Starbucks and Tim Horton's within the walls of My MacEwan. This is one big vending machine. Are the line ups a symptom of consumer culture? Falling in line? Remembering lines? 

My MacEwan, provides places for people to sleep, places for people to get their Timmy’s fix and places to grow as a educated citizen and provide a better future for the generations to come.

I would love to expand this into more of an photo essay and capture all the line-ups available on the daily to students. Or how many times I can capture someone sleeping. Especially in interesting places. I know the capturing of my daughter will be an obvious, who is my greatest reason to further myself.

[onecloveronebee]

Caton  Hower  Diab

Caton Hower Diab likes to collage images together. Since I have him as a friend on the good ol’ facebook, I am able to watch his development of this craft and comment with my impressions. This above piece, I commented with “NEXT LEVEL” meaning I was all “wow” and “awesome” and my brain moved quickly to make sense of it all.

Two images are being used, one of a propaganda type: the Bush era days of Presidency. This is an image of a room full of white men, old white men, conservative old white men; wait, maybe there is one black guy, but he is a man and he is old. The point is, a generic photos such as this is readily used to demonstrate to the viewers that the elected officials are working hard to fix “stuff” and indicated by the top left hand corner of the image, that stuff is” THE WAR”. This is a posed photo.

The other image, appearing on the desk, is a famous piece by American Andrew Wyeth, titled Christina’s World. Wyeth took inspiration from a female neighbour, who was born with a condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, which causes malformation of the bones and joints, leading to limited mobility. This is a humble painting, where in the distance she looks out to a farm house and a select few other buildings. This is rural life set in the 1940′s, a particular time of struggle and war for the country. The painting is a posed piece.

After understanding the context of the two separate images, now we look at what they mean together. Diab never professed to his own meanings  behind his collages, so we’re going to break down why I felt so moved by this particular piece and what it said to me.

If we have a table of older/powerful/privileged/able white men, in an office under false lights and fancy suits ($$$) we can contrast that context by placing a young/poor/marginalized/disabled woman in humble clothing under the summer sun. This collage spoke to me as how certain viewpoints, marginalization, mobility and wealth can affect who will be able to run for public office. Furthermore, these same barriers may never be considered when making decisions of war, for either side; yet, it is those issues which may further be exacerbated by war. 

Wars have never improved in the fact that there will be casualties by enacting it. There will be death, there will be injuries, which lead to limited mobility of the physical and as a society. War is expensive and can require a great deal of wealth in order to sustain it; something both the Bush era produced (a great debt) and the financial hardships found during the era of Christina’s World. 

During war times, it is those who are most marginalized whom will experience further strife and chaos. Those with privilege are the ones making the decisions which affect the “common people”, whom in this piece is the young woman reaching out for the President.

What would she say to him?

photo courtesy of Caton Hower Diab

[onecloveronebee]

In which we discuss a Triangle

                                             image credit Flickr

Triangles.

“A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry.” - Wiki

Such a strong sign. Triangles are considered the most stable of forms. Think of a roof (triangle), or parts of a pyramid (really old triangles), or those spinach filos (delicious). All are strong, all are triangles.

Triangles.

Not just an innocent symbol little toddlers learn to identify along with circles, squares and pentagons; triangles have ancient folklore attached to them. Lacking originality (well there is only so many signs to go around right?) many famous groups have put their name on a triangle: Google Drive, Google Play, Adidas, and Toblerone to name a few. One particular interest is the group called The Illuminati.

The Illuminati are some sort of secret group many internet theorists can not universally agree on. Except usage of the triangle. 

Triangles folks, they’re so esoteric!

“The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 May 1776.” - Wiki

The Illuminati conspiracy theory claims a super-secret society has penetrated governments, finance, science, business, and the entertainment industry with one goal in mind: world domination.

WHICH LEADS US TO BEYONCE.

Beyonce, the supreme diva of the 21st century, came under much hype and debate over the usage of signing a triangle in televised appearances. Everyone - meaning informed celebrity gossip bloggers and internet conspiracy theorists - said Beyonce was showcasing the illuminati sign as an indicator that she was in on the secret group. If anyone was going to claim world domination, they sure could use the pull of the Bey-hive (see Beyonce’s Fans). Beyonce later went on the Tyra Banks to explain she really likes triangles, that the sign was an indicator of her husbands label, Rockafella.

                     Video credit, The Tyra Banks Show via YouTube

So clearly, triangles come with power and esoteric meaning. Jay Z, Beyonce’s husband, chose the triangle as a symbol of his company. Would one of his choices being the signs history of power and influence? You know, the Illuminati being powerful, so why not cause controversy by throwing it out there when the internet is getting all “conspiracy theory” and create hype for your company.

Through research, I have found that the triangle has multiple meanings to a multitude of people; what you do with your hands can really drive the internet crazy.

                                 A FEW MORE FUN FACTS

Triangles when pointing upwards, symbolize fire, and male power

Triangles when pointing down, symbolize water, female sexuality, goddess religions and homosexuality. 

Two Triangles overlaid, one pointing up and one pointing down, make the symbolic “Star of David” in Judaism. 

Triangles for Christians, often represents the Trinity.