Hi Clippers, a little bird told me you were feeling abandoned..... so today, I've made some room to talk about the rise and fall - and everything else that is in between. As always, I can only write as far as my own meandering experience goes....and in my case, a fall when it happens every so often makes you realise how tall you thought you were standing, and it normally takes place when we need to know to learn how to earn perspective. Nobody likes "the fall", quite reasonably enough; but without "it", very rarely do we really know where we stand. This is what I also learned about "the fall" - it comes in disguised, and most of the times we deeply resent it. Because the true ones, come unannounced, they are extremely unfriendly, and have the ability to suck at timing. - yes - I never recalled having a fall in my life and thinking "Oh wow, this is a great moment for everything to collapse". (have you)? So why do we need to connect with "the fall" after all? Because "it" is what allows the other side of the "rise" to stand still, to make sense, and exist. The so-called: - in between - where everything else that matters really lies. So no - its not "the rise" that defines us either. It really isn't. What have I learned about the rise? That you need to dis-connect yourself from everyone else, from all your falls and flaws; count your blessings to find out what you are looking for and walk towards your passion (yours; not your neighbours, not what you think people think they think about you). And when you walk the line, take your hard work and gut with you, everything else is unnecessary and will most likely hold you back. Ok, now, fair enough, if by my accounts, press load and recent results you consider someone like me living "the rise" at the moment, but make no mistake: we never really live on it, because the very moment it strikes us, its the very moment its gone. So I guess what I really want to do is rise you and thank you Clippers. For being so kind to read and share CLIP of the day with me over the months that have gone by, (even when its not every day)! to made it to newspaper colums and for 'rising' the every day traffic on my webiste - (today we reached 65.000 visits) but most importantly for representing what matters the most: everything else that is in between the rise and fall.
Let me tell you who is also on the rise: Rose Klabin - my good friend from Rio,
CONNECT art ambassador and her first time exhibition in the UK - at the
Wilmotte Gallery.
She is known for her political mind and her brilliant ability to understand, analyse, and reinterpret our own corporate culture. That and for making us think (!!) - so we salute you for that Rose - Tomorrow is her big British debut and one where Rose will show how she uses photography in an innovative way, integrating the subject matter into the production of the artwork by overlapping media. So you have a grasp of what Rose's work is all about: her first series Corporate Identity saw her spending two weeks at a paper factory in the south of Brazil (her own heritage, as her family holds the biggest paper business in the country). Rose captured images of the machines at work in the jungle, using raking angles to highlight the vast industrial structures in the forest. She then photographed the reforestation reserves around the factory and superimposed these over the original images; the results are then printed on paper produced at the factory.
Rose is always "looking directly at corporate responsibility, man versus nature and sustainability" specially now as Brazil emerges as a powerful economic force, so needless to say I absolutely adore her work....Her most recent series Rise and Fall will be show cased tomorrow - a the result of an extensive road trip through the south of the USA. Rose documented the impact of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, compiling over 5000 images of abandoned homes. Back in Brazil she documented the other side of the coin, focusing on the huge construction boom in Sao Paulo. Rise and Fall is the result of overlaying these conflicting realities to create a third, more abstract vision. The images are then printed on insular sheets, a material used in construction - (smart and complex thus simple and beautiful) - in the end pretty much, like the artist CONNECT and I happened to fall for... I guess we do need a 'fall' from time to time. xx
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