SASHA KONKINA

disorder out of disorder into disorder

[sashakonkina]

kids

[sashakonkina]

Chunky and noisy, but with stars in their black feathers, they spring from the telephone wire and instantly they are acrobats in the freezing wind. And now, in the theater of air, they swing over buildings, dipping and rising; they float like one stippled star that opens, becomes for a moment fragmented, then closes again; and you watch and you try but you simply can't imagine how they do it with no articulated instruction, no pause, only the silent confirmation that they are this notable thing, this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin over and over again, full of gorgeous life. Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us, even in the leafless winter, even in the ashy city. I am thinking now of grief, and of getting past it; I feel my boots trying to leave the ground, I feel my heart pumping hard. I want to think again of dangerous and noble things. I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing, as though I had wings. Mary Oliver

[sashakonkina]

watercolored

[sashakonkina]

cause books are just a different kind of stars

[sashakonkina]

It's all about ripples, isn't it. The ones we choose to send and receive through good times and dark times, life and death. About light we create and reflect. Songs we write and pass on. It's such a mess, this life, but a beautiful one, with all the mundane that goes into it. Having dirt on you hands, feeling tired and out of breath, inspired or scared, having dreams about things you'd rather forget and enjoying the satisfaction of saying exactly the right words when needed. Feeling all there's is to feel not to forget you're alive. Disorder out of disorder into disorder.

[sashakonkina]

look up

[sashakonkina]

There's breathing, and then there is Breathing. The latter is made of innumerable stories of playwriting and theatre and cinema and acting and time and ideas and their interpretations, of galloping thoughts spoken by a voice that turns everything into poetry, that feeds your mind and clears your senses. Tonight that happened when Aleksey Bartoshevich was talking about "Merchant of Venice" and its journey through centuries, and it's @serdca_bumerang 's job to make these things happen, and it blows my mind away and I'm so proud of her. 💙 (at Jewish Museum & Tolerance Center)

[sashakonkina]

Sunday essentials ⚪️ (at Gulu Town)

[sashakonkina]

I no longer live by the ocean, but I still find places to admire the power and beauty of water

[sashakonkina]

"And at last, slowly, afraid he would find nothing, Douglas opened one eye. And everything, absolutely everything was there. The world, like a great iris of an even more gigantic eye, which has also just opened and stretched out to encompass everything, stared back at him. And he knew what it was that had leaped upon him to stay and would not run away now. I'm alive, he thought. I want to feel all there is to feel. Let me feel tired, now, let me feel tired. I mustn't forget, I'm alive, I know I'm alive, I mustn't forget it tonight or tomorrow or the day after that." Ray Bradbury

[sashakonkina]

"All our actions take their hue from the complexion of the heart, as landscapes their variety from light." Francis Bacon

[sashakonkina]

A month in Africa, and I still didn't get a care package from home, but I've already gotten my favorite hot sauce from Peru. How crazy is that? #ricefordays

[sashakonkina]

morning dew on my feet is by far one of my favorite Ugandan feels

[sashakonkina]

Cleaning and organizing day in the knit room turned into the day I'm gonna be inspired by for a long time. Eight hours of working, learning and laughing side by side with the ladies left me amazed by how smart, how kind, how open-hearted they are. There is so much potential in each and every of them, as there is in every human being. So many people in the world never get the chance to flourish, to show how much talents and skills and energy they have. And I am so happy and excited to be a part of work that helps people rise above their circumstances and change their worlds.

[sashakonkina]

Africa keeps being a constant journey of "I can't believe this is my life right now". The life where on some weekends you ride for an hour behind you friends on motorbikes through green grass and red dust of Uganda, and on the others take a boat trip up the Nile to see the waterfalls. The life where on Saturday night a guard knocks on the door of your house in a safari lodge and casually asks if you want to go see a wild water buffalo that is wandering nearby. And on Monday night you find yourself taking a hot shower under the open sky while looking at the Milky Way shining up above. And then take a ride home under the stars, letting the wind dry your hair. Then you remember that this is the life where you've seen a lion in the wild from a couple meters distance. And in that life anything might really happen.

[sashakonkina]

Just your typical 7am on a Sunday morning crossing the Nile. What more is there to this life than finding yourself in the best of places with the best of people?

[sashakonkina]

"Boil out the Ohio tap water, he thought, then drink down the best Bordeaux. Silt your blood with rich French sediment so you'll see with native eyes! Why? Why eat, breathe, drink everything French? So that, given time, he might really begin to understand the genius of one man." This Bradbury metaphor is one of my favourites. That’s what being a guest in a different culture means, this is how it feels. You replace your blood with sweet juices of fruit that ripened under the hot alien sun, you breathe in the air filled with exotic odors and strange dialects, and fill your heart with stories of people that are welcoming you in their country and are opening their souls and memories to you, making their home yours. You get to know the beauty of learning and exploring and becoming.