amirjina's photostream  

Happy Children's Day!

It's been a long time since I have posted any photos. I've been meaning to get back into it for a long while now. In the coming months I'll probably post some new photos, but also get a lot from my "archives".

First up: Carp streamers from Children's Day in Japan, taken almost exactly 4 years ago during my last few months in that country. These kites were one of my favourite things to shoot.

Today was the Global Day of Action for the Occupy Wall Street movement. In New York, thousands of people descended upon Times Square, choking the streets and pavements.

It's an incredibly visual type of protest - there are as many cameras as protesters, each trying to snap the perfect juxtaposition, irony, or incongruity. It could all seem a little bit superficial, but it is anything but. Rather it is part of the protest: generating images and content to broadcast and soundbite across all the communication streams that have caused its numbers to swell. It spreads a message that is worth spreading.

The issues themselves are quite diverse. A seemingly unifying thread is the sense of powerlessness that has been shared by the protesters and their dissatisfaction at a social structure that accrues huge wealth in a tiny minority. In that sense, it's a sentiment that is shared by vast sections of the planet's population - most of whom can't tweet their deprivations 24 hours a day.

"O commemorate me with no hero-courageous
Tomb - just a canal-bank seat for the passer-by."

Home.

Have a look at my "interesting" photos here (as decided by flickr).

R.I.P. Cy Twombly, who died yesterday.

A few days before, by chance, I was in the Tate Modern and got to see one of his more recent works - the monumental blood spirals of his Bacchus paintings. He's long been a favourite of mine - gigantic gestural canvasses that are written more than painted. In the spareness of some of his work I always saw a confidence and bravery that was the mark of his gifts.

He's definitely an artist that can have the claim of "anyone could have done that" levelled at him. Anyone didn't; he did. And he connected deep mythical musings with simplicity and directness in a way that few could. Standing in front of a 10-foot canvas dripping with violent spirals, it's difficult not to be impressed.