Dreams and other Oddities

So I theme for this term was "The Unconscious Mind: Dreams and Other Oddities". I had quite a lot of fun with this one (though of course not as much fun as last term), and learnt a few new tricks in Photoshop.

I'll be heading off tomorrow to traipse some thrift stores in search of appropriate frames, but for now, here are the pictures as is. 

They were inspired by a dream I had once where I woke up one morning and my family had spontaneously turned into animals. I guess, though, that they also represent peoples' unconscious animal instincts, as civil as we consider ourselves to be.

A) KZNSA Gallery

This gallery was established 108 years ago, and is now the premier contemporary art gallery in Durban, and the province. However, a lot of young people don't pay it much attention.

Recently, an exhibition was held by local Durban artist, alias "Skullboy", called You&Me: A Series of First Times (formerly called Cherry Poppin'). Last year, Skullboy collected people's accounts of how they lost their virginity by placing forms and drop boxes in bathrooms and clubs, targeting the alternative crowd most likely to frequent them. Then he made art about it. I thought it was pretty dang awesome.

Its purpose is described as such: "The aim of this exercise is two-fold. Firstly, to capture a glimpse into the reality of the state and practice of sex in our modern day society. Secondly, to create a healthy dialogue about sex in reality without the baggage of religion, media, television and moral decorum. Through the accounts of others and the re-telling of our own stories, we realise the similarities between us and our peers. Through this communal discussion, we destroy the unrealistic expectations of sex set by society and ourselves and strip such a significant event of any shame, pressure or sense of failure and accept the event for what it was, whether good or bad."

Here are some pictures from the opening (courtesy of KZNSA)

A closer look (click to enlarge)

 
               

Check out You&Me's tumblr page:  http://youandmeproject.tumblr.com/
And Skullboy's blog: http://houseofskullboy.tumblr.com

The Secret Guide to Alternative Durban

For a lot of young people in Durban, their scope of Durban mainly includes what advertisers want people to think Durban is like - sun, sea and surf, I guess. And recently I've gotten tired of people telling me "There's nothing cool to do in Durban anymore". 

So the purpose of these next few posts is to document a few of the more alternative places and things you can do in Durban - and hopefully expose an alternative underbelly of Durban that some people might never have known about before. I will attempt to (with help from some friends) document my favorite second-hand shops, book stores, flea markets, coffee shops, cafes, art galleries and music halls. 

N.B: the name of this post was stolen from something Zoetica Ebb is doing at Zoetica's Biorequiem 

Music you don't hear on the Radio

About a year or two back, I wrote an article for the school newspaper called "Music you don't hear on the Radio". I recently found it again, and laughed. It listed bands such as Florence and the Machine, Band of Skulls, and Muse.
             
I'm not sure if the obnoxious grade 9 version of me just didn't have any idea what alternative music was, or if the bands I listened to at that time really WEREN'T on the radio yet. I like to believe the latter. It makes me sound less lame.

Anyway, things have changed since then, and as the first post of my made-over blog, I present you with the revised version of Music you don't hear on the Radio, or Things I like Listening to, but East Coast Radio Doesn't.

1) I discovered The Sir Walrus Band by accident. Scarlet Hill, another amazing local band, was playing at a Durban hang-out called LIVE. I came for the main act, but fell in love with the opening one. Sir Walrus is one of the best instrumental bands I've ever heard. With the magnificent Sebastian Goldswain on guitar, Jonathan Judge on sax, Brian Stone on drums and Ruben Thomas on bass, they easily combine swing, groove, funk and rock. Find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/thesirwalrusband

The Sir Walrus Band

2) I also found the next band, 7th Son by accident, at another LIVE performance. I haven't really listened to enough of their music to form a proper judgment, but they too have a sax player, and a trumpet, which instantly brings up their coolness level. They also have a hell of a lot of energy, if the drummer is anything to go by - his shirt was off by the second song.

More photos of 7th Son can be found at http://www.facebook.com/#!/LiveTheVenue

3) Staying with the local theme, a friend made me a CD recently, and one of the best things on it was Mr Cat and the Jackal, who are described as "experimental acoustic folk". If you're into strange, these guys are for you. Look for "The Devil Always wants to Dance" and "The Rain came Pouring" if you're willing to give them a try.



Photo of Mr Cat and the Jackal found at http://onesheet.com/mrcatandthejackal/

4) The Shins are a four-peice American indie band, but they aren't extremely obscure anymore. In fact, since Kristen Stewart announced them as one of her favorites, they seem to have earned a place in the "Archetypal Indie" gallery. Nevertheless, their albums Wincing the Night Away and Chutes Too Narrow include some of my favourite indie music.

The Shins

5) These guys are a little old school, and by no means obscure, but they had to show up here because A) they are one of my favourite bands and B) besides Smells like Teen Spirit, I've never heard Nirvana on the radio. Made up of legends Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. They exploded onto the Seattle scene in the 1990's and sparked the grunge revolution, but only released three albums before Cobain committed suicide in 1994.

Grunge legends Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana

Continuum

When I started with this blog, I didn't really expect much to come of it. 1000 page views (views have now reached almost 7000) was a far off dream I didn't even consider to be within my reach, but since this blog started the response has been overwhelming, not just from people that I know and my friends from Facebook, but strangers from overseas and people I've never met.

So I've decided, now that I find myself on this unexpected platform, that I will continue with this blog of mine. Not only with my art, but also with things I'm passionate about, namely conformity and fighting against it. 

The new subtitle, rather than being Beauty and Conformity, will now be Courage or Conformity, based on this lovely quote by Rollo May. 

"The opposition of courage in our society is not cowardice... It is conformity."

Becoming the Stereotype

It's finally over with, sadly and happily enough. I hope you enjoy it.


Please keep in mind that I am not a professional film maker, and this is my first attempt at anything like this. There will be flaws and there will be parts that can be better, but this is a result of passion and weeks of hard work, so please don't be too harsh on me. I know I have a long way to go. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmIoDWLySCk

The Conclusion is that there is no Conclusion

I guess you could say this project started with a pair of boots. 

One day in Grade 9 I put my dad's old air force boots on for fun and then I pretty much never took them off. They became somewhat of a novelty.

People have borrowed them to look "alternative", to look cool, and to look like what society apparently doesn't find beautiful or feminine. Countless people in my art class have drawn them, some refusing to believe me when I say I actually wear them, and when I bring them to school, my teachers ask me if it's for drama class. 

People started saying things. "You can't wear boots like that with a pretty dress!" "I love your outfit, all you need now are a nice pair of pretty pumps." "You look like a mine-worker!". 

The second thing that inspired me to do this project was a comment made by someone I know. We were watching TV when a tattooed girl came on screen. "She could be so pretty! It's just the tattoos that ruin it...". And that got me thinking. 

The offending specimen

Danielle Colby-Cushman from American Pickers

I guess I don't really know what I think beauty is. All I know is that no-one should be considered any less beautiful because of dressing to please themselves. I don't believe the girl who decides to wear Doc Martens should be any less beautiful than the girl who wears heels, and I don't believe that looking different equals looking ugly. 

Someone said to me, during this project, that "having holes in your face and wearing creepy clothes is not beautiful. it has nothing to do with society's beliefs; it's not beautiful because it's unnatural. even little babies, who haven't had time to be shaped by society, cringe at the sight of people who wear creepy make-up and have a gazillion holes in their faces. they cringe (or cry) because those people look scary - not because they don't fit in with society" http://beautyandconformity.blogspot.com/p/contact-maybe.html. I was pleased that I got at least one negative comment. It gave me an idea what the worst people would be thinking. 

Do you think alternative people are unnatural? How is dying your hair purple any more unnatural than dying your hair blonde? How is piercing your face any more unnatural than piercing your ears or your belly-button? Babies are born with the inherent ability to tell what is natural and unnatural? No. If a baby were brought up in a home where everyone had "a gazillion holes in their faces", it would think nothing of their appearances. Don't be silly. 

I guess, though, that there are always going to be people who think like that. There isn't any answer really, and there isn't really a conclusion either.

As long as there are people, there will always be conformity, and as long as there is conformity, there will always be a clearly defined "IS" and a clearly defined "ISN'T". So as long as there are people that are and people that are not, there will always be "beautiful" and there will always be "ugly". 

That is all.