Ghosts of Isan

The Isan region of Thailand, situated in the northeast of the country, shares much common ground with Laotian culture. What I find particularly interesting is the genre of music named 'Mo Lam', in fact an umbrella term for many sub genres, which has become one of the more famous aspects of Isan. These styles of music began to intergrate with Western influences between the 70s and 80s and I've posted an example below. The two contrasting tones of the man, sometimes men, and woman in 'Community People, Let's Work Together' are combined, creating something that I really enjoy listening to.

Another display of Isan culture is the Phi Ta Khon festival. This event takes place every June and according to Buddhist folklore, a reincarnation of the Buddha was banished by villagers for giving away a white elephant, once their anger had subsided he then returned and the celebrations were so intense that even the dead were awakened. The masks featured in these displays are intricately detailed and  highly grotesque, there are countless different styles too. It's understandable why the event has been nicknamed 'Thailand's Halloween' and underneath the photos, I've posted a video of the masks in action.

A Taste for Domination

The macabre side of jewellery is by far my favourite and designer Joji Kojima is one of the more admirable. The usual choice influences, that I've spoken about frequently, are of course present in these designs. Arguably, the more famed work by Kojima was for Lady Gaga as the layer of sequin skin I definitely enjoyed! There are plenty of other designs I've found too, heavily defined by skeletal detail with the idea of fetishism arising here also, particularly in the Gaga image. Domination is also a recurring theme, notably the photo of the rabbit in a muzzle demonstrating the power over species, as well as the tyranny that can accompany wealth. The mystery of such wearable yet unobtainable art captivates me.

Graduation - Belated

Eventhough I graduated at the beginning of November, it wasn't until I came home for Christmas that I properly looked through the photos my parents had taken. I wasn't a fan of going up to receive my degree but I did enjoy watching my coursemates and other good friends receive theirs, in fact I was a little surprised to feel so proud of them! All in all, it was a very pleasant day accompanied by close family, I was pretty pleased with my choice of outfit too. Thanks to River Island!

The Face of Lace

Gloria Swanson by Edward Steichen & Tilda Swinton by Paolo Roversi

Witch House?

Stemming from my love of the eerie electronic sounds and vocal distortion of Fever Ray, I have recently been listening to various songs from the electronic sub genre 'Witch House'. The bands tagged with this title are usually recognisable thanks to numerous triangles, either in their band name or album artwork. Much of this music, I'm actually not a fan of but there are a select few bands that I find quite interesting. The imagery that is associated with these somewhat disturbing soundscapes is what captures my attention the most, the majority of which I found  through the band 'Modern Witch'.

Of all the songs in this genre that I've listened to, Mumbai by oOoOO is my favourite. I'm always fond of chopped up and distorted vocal samples!

Maggie Cheung Man-yuk

Hong Kong born Maggie Cheung is one of my favourite actresses. I think she brings a sense of class and elegance to all the roles I have seen her, such films include In the Mood for Love, Clean, Hero, Irma Vep, As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild. I first saw her in Hero, a film starring Jet Li, where her scene entitled 'Gone with Leaves' entranced me. The following video I have posted, from In the Mood for Love, definitely showcases the elegance of this actress.

This is Nollywood

The cinema of Nigeria is the 2nd largest film industry in the world in terms of output, behind Bollywood and bigger than Hollywood, whilst the 3rd largest in terms of earnings. The equipment used by Nigerian filmmakers is very low budget but it is not about the quality but the often unusual content. About five years ago, I used to watch the Nollywood channel occasionally and honestly that started off because I found the films quite amusing. Though I didn't really know what was going on, poor sound quality often didn't help that, I clearly remember some truly odd segments in these films. Examples include, a man walking through the fields throwing plastic forks around, people walking into wardrobes and vanishing and a whole host of spirit and ghost based scenes. The films are often created in the space of a week with actors cast on the day, yet remain very popular with audiences due to the familiar plot subjects. South African photographer, Pieter Hugo has captured the unique and unsettling side of the Nigerian film industry 'by asking a team of actors and assistants to recreate Nollywood myths and symbols as if they were on movie sets', as found on his website. This collection of images is somewhat a break from the heavily emotional imagery he usually captures, such as victims and the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. That being said, it is far from lighthearted.

Skeleton of Habit

Historically, bone is one of the first widely used materials in jewellery making with the original purposes being adornment, a signifier of social rank, currency and protection. Bone, along with teeth, sinew and skin, is mostly associated with tribal or shamanic origins and as cultures throughout the world today still utilise bone in these ways, modern jewellery designers and artists have not overlooked it as a possible material for their work.

Firstly, there are countless real bone necklaces, bracelets and rings out there but I find those created by Zoe Mou particularly interesting. In a collection named 'Deadly Creatures', there are eight different animal skulls carved out in total  that are designed to 'showcase the beautiful creatures and serve as an educational experience, with hopes of a greater appreciation of the natural world.' The use of gold and silver is intended to enforce the qualities possessed by the animals. Such as, enhancing the humour of the duck bill or highlighting the majesty of the wild boars tusks.

The ideology behind Andrew Ross and his use of cow bone was to reduce waste by recycling what would otherwise be discarded, however that would still be better than ground up and fed back to the living animals, as was the case not so long ago. For this idea he won the 'New Designers Swarovski Crystal Palace Award' for innovative product design. It is all very natural in shape as Ross wanted to retain the bones original form and just apply it to another use, this being on the outside of a living being as opposed to inside it.

Although bone is inspirational as a material, it has also triggered many designers to create metallic replicas. Reid Peppard, who I should have mentioned in the post about taxidermy as her work is very similar to that of Julia deVille, has created a collection of jewellery that features gold and silver lower mandibles as neck ware. I find the work of Peppard equally as intriguing as other taxidermy artists and other examples of her work include a hamster hairband and a purse made out of a hollow rat. Much like her contemporaries, Peppard strides to evoke strong feelings in viewers and it doesn't matter if they are positive or negative. In an interview with the artist on Vize magazine's website, Peppard comments on those that provide the most negative comments on her work, in that they 'wear leather without thinking, will eat meat, drive cars that pollute the atmosphere, then turn around and say my taking waste and preserving it is somehow wrong'.

Metal is not the only applicable substitute, as Molly Epstein knows well. The glass-filled nylon necklace was created in 2002. It is strikingly modern in appearance, due to the materials used, yet timeless as is the human anatomy that it is based on. The same can be said about the pair of shoes designed by Naim Josefi and Souzan Youssouf. They are one of the first wearable pairs of shoes that have been created by a 3D printer and in my opinion, oozes with a strong web-like elegance.

 

The Era of Seven Great Singing Stars

During the 1930-40s in Shanghai, a music scene emerged that evolved from actresses singing the soundtracks featured in the city's developing film industry. In the earlier stages of this era, Shanghai was known as the 'Paris of the Orient' where decadence was rife. Despite the Japanese invasion in 1937, the careers of the 'Seven Great Singing Stars' continued until 1949 when Communist China denounced this particular genre as pornography. The image on the right is of Zhou Xuan who, following her success with becoming the most well known of the seven, died in a mental asylum at the age of 39. The remaining stars, having to deal with arrests and persecution, lived many more years with some remaining alive today. Their names are as follows:

• Zhou Xuan - The Golden Voice
• Yao Lee - The Silvery Voice
• Wu Yingyin - The Queen of the Nasal Voice
• Gong Qiuxia - Big Sister
• Li Xianglan - Yoshiko Otaka
• Bai Hong - White Rainbow
• Bai Guang - White Light

Skin Deep

During my first practical project of the third year at uni, I created the idea of this book where the first half would depict collages of animal cruelty and the second half a reverse, where animals would be in power. Although my style has changed a bit since, these are the first images where collage was solidified as my preferred medium.

Photos by K.L.V.

Sleepwalking Through the Mekong

I first became interested in Cambodian music thanks to the American based band, Dengue Fever. Their primary vocalist, Chhom Nimol, is from Cambodia and leads the band in their homage to classic Khmer songs, in their earlier albums at least. The majority of the covers were originally by Ros Sereysothea (left), Pan Ron (centre) and Sinn Sisamouth (right), all three of which met an untimely end.

As I prefer female vocalists, I haven't listened to many songs by Sisamouth but I am a big fan of Sereysothea and Ron. Personally, I find Ros Sereysothea conveys a lot more emotion in her music whereas Pan Ron brings more of an upbeat feel to Khmer songs. The 60s and early 70s were the prime of these musicians careers but when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power, it destroyed the Cambodian music scene. The death toll under Pol Pot's leadership is estimated at 1-2 million, with musicians, artists and scholars targeted in particular. According to one account, Ros Sereysothea was forced to leave Phnom Penh, like everyone else, to work in the countryside along with occasional breaks to sing pro-Khmer Rouge songs. Some sources say she was beaten to death, others that she died of malnutrition but what is for certain is that she did not survive. There is almost no evidence of what became of Pan Ron, except for one account stating that she was immediately blindfolded, driven to a pagoda and murdered. Again, with Sinn Sisamouth, there is no factual evidence indicating the details of his demise. Having learnt all of this, the music created by these artists carry a much sadder note for me and yet I still enjoy listening to them at the same time.

Let's dance while we are young,
The band is playing the Ago-Ago,
Lift our hands, feet and swing our heads
The audience praises that we dance so well
Happy, happy... happy, happy
We dance while we are young.

Palace of the Winds

In the sparsely populated and disputed territory of Western Sahara, south of Morocco, lives a band named Group Doueh. I came to discover them thanks to Group Inerane as they share the same music label of Sublime Frequencies, though they are not dissimilar to Group Inerane, they are not a Tuareg group. In fact, they are a family run entertainment business more so than a band, with Salmou Baamar (Doueh) on guitar, his wife on vocals and son on keyboards. They have released two albums with Sublime Frequencies and also star in a film entitled 'Palace of the Winds' by Hisham Mayet. Below is the trailer from that film, a live performance and my favourite Group Doueh song.

A-Z of Couture

Whilst carrying out research for my final major project at Uni, I discovered a Dutch designer named Yvette Yang. Using the medium of collage, my favourite, Yang creates a new typeface twice a year. The style of these typefaces is determined by the current fashion season, her reason for creating them was 'to make an Image Font which can be more imagery and more meaningful'. 

These typefaces inspired me to begin creating my own, an example of which can be found in my blog header. Whilst my final major project developed, the use of my own typefaces increased and here are some I've used as page headers on my website. They are all constructed using various animal parts, although the first was from black card. The remaining were created using images of Ethiopian wolves, Saiga horns, Bali Starlings and Bactrian Camels.