Edited with Nina Dee Irizarry
H
onoring Self to Exist by Rafael Baglietto
REMAIN ENGAGED &NOT PARALYZED IN PERCEPTION.
To be human is to experience regenerating or damaging the self through triumph & trauma.
The bittersweet elixirs of urge, desire, & consumption navigate us into the present moment.窶馬ever exempt from the damage of impulse & consequence, in which the complexities of our past are formed. As urges compact the desire to experience, nature creates hunger for desire & curiosityﾍｾ shifting states of our conscious being. While consciousness uncertainty,
brings
awareness
it
also
brings
While experience and intent remain interlinked, language and action may articulate powerful difference leading to opposite results never intended to be. RETURN>REFLECT>RISE>RESIST
THE IDEAL IS DEAD
Optimism remains at a standstill while bordering on creativity & delusion, When the dualistic circumstancea of disability or traumas are composed by strings of hope & collapse it becomes a fierce process to regain a rightful sense of existence
transitioning our mode of life
Rather than bound by inevitable imbalance To Construct the present moment of experience Can be defined as evolution Through revolution comes evolution.
Is the awareness of being Delivered by catastrophic damage and sociallyadvertised surveillance An inevitable blur of evolution?
The hunger to experience human desire and curiosity, shift our state of conscious being The rush of information & saturation has been reached Personal experience defines potential by defying the odds or What does it mean to be human? embracing the habit. Granted I was have experienced both odd Just because the ideal is dead ends of such a spectrum, Does not mean pure definition I continuously remind myself & Is. others that
THE IDEAL IS DEAD
As I continue my recovery process nearly one year after having my character diminished by random hospital officials, I glisten in Quality Company余 embracing both my roots & fresh entrance in a refined state of being, When our anxieties become present we tend to reside in the habitual spaces of impulse & habit. Whether it comes in angelic shape or rotten state Familiarity is our shelter while the ideal is dead. Despite our individual conditioning, Its important to be present while
AWARENESS IS OTHER足 WORLDLY The essence of life does not posses identity Since the spirit is produced through the grace of spontaneity and experience the dream survives while the ideal is dead
Rather than be bound by the confines of trauma, I choose to embody humanity By creating connections &living the dream
While struggling to find a distinction between destiny and spontaneity余 The experience of exposure creates a mental recalibration Rising from desensitized static.
DISPOSE DISGUISE IMMERSE IN/SIGHT IGNITE DELIGHT THE IDEAL IS DEAD BUT THE DEFINITION OF THICK SKIN IS NOT.
Within the process of becoming, the aroma of honoring human existence should not be strayed with intoxication
PLUG INTO FORMAT TO ENTER DIMENSIONS YOU MUST BE UNBOUND TO ENTER DELUSION YOU MUST BE UNBOUND THE IDEAL IS DEAD BUT DEFINITION IS NOT.
“quite a ride "
NAZIR AHMAD HAUSAWA
FREEDOM TO SAY THE LEAST BY: NAZIR AHMAD HAUSAWA
photo: courtesy of Nazir Ahmad Hausawa by Manhoor Malik
As a rap musician, I want to use my music to express some of the basic human rights issues that are continually violated by my government.
R ecently I have been thinking and trying to write about Human rights. In the Human Rights Declaration
the first article says, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, the second article adds, “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it is independent, trust, non-selfgoverning or under any other limitation of sovereignty.” Yet, the reality is slightly different and that’s how I see it; yes everybody is created equally, but at the very first breath a human takes, he/she undergoes violations of basic human rights, of course the level of violations depend on race, color, sex and religion. I believe that all humans are equally created- by default, and only under the x-ray machine is where humans are truly equals.
“Human” as a word differs in languages not in its meaning. Humans, Ensan “ ”ناسناin Arabic; have universal, egalitarian, fundamental and natural rights, yet the story in Palestine is different. Many of the rights that are taken for granted and retained elsewhere are missing, but still are fought for resiliently with persistence-adorned smiles. Basic human rights such as Article 1 3 “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.” Article 1 5 “Everyone has the right to a nationality” Article 23 “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment”. Article 1 7 “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.” those all are dreams that still did not come true for Palestinians in the occupied territory as well as
Palestinians in the Diaspora. Dehumanization and examples of modern human slavery are images I grew up witnessing, personally experiencing and even capturing. Once you are labeled as a Palestinian Arab, you are automatically disregarded from most rights that the international law ensures. Moreover, demanding or even claiming any of those natural rights could be considered illegal and illegitimate, as if these rights are peculiar to certain nations but not for others. On the other hand, the task of protecting human rights and promoting the rule of international law becomes a challenge, a questionable matter and a debatable issue when these rights are subjected to international political interests. Double standard values and overlooking human rights violations by the international community have resulted in believing that the only way to exist is to resist.
Last summer I took my camera and went to shoot some construction workers waiting on the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Those workers leave their house “Hope is power; it is what keeps us alive.” This is a statement from an older construction man that works as a cheap labor behind the separation wall in Palestine. With a smile on his face, experienced tough hands holding the bars while waiting on the checkpoint to open after waiting for more than five hours to pass he added “ I hope one day I will see my dreams coming true in having a country that I can call my own, then instead I will build houses, schools and hospitals in my own village”, this for me sounded and even looked like a caged colorful bird singing for freedom. Hearing such powerful expressive statements accompanied with outstanding determination of creating a better future made me realize, yet further
more taught me more about human rights that I can ever read in books. I have had the privilege to travel abroad to a vast number of countries over the past five years. I have shared some personal experiences related to living in Palestine. In those trips I have given lectures and presentations that were powerful but still lacking some important element -photos. I have decided to buy my first small camera to start taking photos. By time, I became more and more eager to take good photos, to show people abroad, and even locally the beauty and reality of my homeland. As a photographer, I feel I have the responsibility of an ambassador, to show the burdens and harsh reality that Palestinians go through in their daily life. Capturing moments and sharing them is my passion, it is the fuel that keeps me motivated, knowing that my photos speaks louder than my words.
My name is Elias Halabi and I am a photographer.
01 01 01 01 01 0 1 01 011 001 01 011 011 0111 0 1 001 0111 01 0 1 01 01 01 001 0 1 01 01 011 011 1 01 01 011 01 0 1 01 01 01 01 00 1 001 0111 01 0 1 01 01 011 01 0 01 01 01 01 0 1 01 01 011 00
languages and principles and can therefore communicate in the same way, regardless of their location. Code can even serve to neutralize communication and problem solving between conflicting societies. This is something that I have observed in my own life and has directly affected my own work. [ I have seen Israeli
companies outsource software projects to Palestinians using this universal code, thus, creating an innovative way of communication between the two conflicting parties.] This communication occurs regardless of being in the middle of the most complicated political situation in world. Using the dialogues of computer code make, it easy for them to sit together and collaborate, programmer to programmer -wishing if only political negotiations could be done the same way.
[Art, in all its variations, has always been the world’s common language.] New variations of art come to formation from time to time, and can become a universal and common language. Composing and feeling music, for example does not depend on one’s culture, language or any other discrimination factor in order to experience it. I believe that the latest common language is software programming or computer code: it is a universal expression. Code can be art and can build the global community.
Collaboration is not only restricted to commercial projects. The open source community is a very large; programmers all over the world contribute and work together: they are sharing the same vision and language. People are continually working together. The biggest example of that is the Apache Software Foundation. A large number of software projects are released to the world for free use, from web servers to development frameworks and tools. When looking at the offshore outsourcing adaption in the software industry, one can see Programmers use these projects to build over it how it has transformed and revolutionized cross making software for people's usually for the cultural communication. Offshore outsourcing is majority of people: the upper layer, the people the practice of hiring an external organization to who mostly do not know how computers work. Programmers continue to connect and web the perform some business functions in a country other than the one where the products or services world -- by building it --code by code. are actually developed or manufactured. In As we can see, computer code is deeply example, American companies have been famously outsourcing software projects to India. contributing in making the world a big village, enabling multinational collaboration and Despites language barriers, individuals can communication towards human raise evolution. communicate through computer code. Every [I am proud to be software a engineer.] programmer knows the same programming
Worship the unnamable and unexpected artthe Yin, yet embrace and be indiscriminate towards all artthe Yang. Observe the world and one’s outer surroundings, yet trust one’s inner vision and intuition. As such, I use a blindfold to create art through the inner spirit (Yin), which in turn can be absorbed through the eyes (Yang). By using art as holistic medicine, we can all benefit from the mystery of art, balancing ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. My art is a remedy promoting a harmonious way of life. Furthermore, it is a prescription for a new wave of art – Jon Tsoi, Artist Statement
W
hile there are those who strive to live every moment calculated, others live unrestrained. A portrait artist is meticulous and transcribes an
image to canvas. A photographer peering through a lens captures a moment in time. Jon Tsoi is an artist whose work utilizes performance, sculpture, painting and spirituality; his work represents un-restriction.
Fortitudo: “courage/resolution/strength” Contentio: “effort/striving/struggle” Nixor: “I strive for”, “I strive with,” “I strive against” arte et labore — “by art and by labour” non sibi, sed suis — “Not for one’s self but for one’s own.” victoria concordia crescit — “Victory comes from harmony” vivere est vincere– “To live is to conquer” emergentiæ–”emergence” The theme of this performance art piece was the emergence of “the self.” This struggle was depicted by representing a battle for balance of yin and yang or light and dark forces. We also incorporated Sigmund Frued’s concept of the complexity the human physche that is based on the id, ego and superego The ego and the superego are forces that work together dynamically and sometimes in friction in order for the Id or “the self ” to emerge. In both the Yin and Yang and Frued’s concept, finding the balance or the Id can be a challenge. The piece featured martial artist, Kevin Saulsbury, performance artist and sculpturer, Carolyn Minot and Dekit’s own Creative Director, Nina Irizarry. “The Id,” “The Balance” or “The Self ” broke through and emerged at the end of the fight scene.
The performance piece started out with Tae Kwon Do, traditional stances called “Ponces” by Saulsbury. These stances represent the form’s principles: . The other performer juxtaposed the the single body movement with the principle’s of the piece using a Latin found poem based on words that related to the idea of “struggle.” The art piece became infused with both a fight scene and a dance; it showed the dynamic of the emerging self that needs resistance, romance and challenge in order for an emerge. “The Id,” “The Balance” or “The Self ” broke through and emerged at the end of the fight scene.
Artist: Jannick Boerlum I met Jannick almost two years ago. Our mutual Danish friend was his roommate in a New York City apartment. He had told me he was a photographer and was in New York to pursue a few gigs and work his craft. I would never think that I would connect so much with his aesthetic as an artist and story teller... I am thankful to have been introduced to his work. For me Jannick’s creativity celebrates what it means to be human. He uses humor, vibrancy, freedom, complex and simple compositions; he captures life’s beauty. I am excited for Jannick’s forthcoming photography in both the high Art and Fashion world.
Nina Dee Irizarry