Catholicism has a rich tradition of integrating sensory experience with religious worship. This Italian ad campaign, however, looks to a more Eastern tradition for its holistic imagery.
June 2008 Archives
The Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services provides a graphic reason to avoid noodly appendages.
Danmarks Radio's youth club Skum has named eighteen-year-old Huda Falah Miss Headscarf 2008. Hijab Style describes the controversy surrounding this contest and provides a comprehensive set of links (including an instructive video interview); Faith Central ponders the implications.
Via Animal, neo-Jesus Kanye West's shutter shades go ecumenical in the latest issue of Islamic trendmag Elan.
Call the fire men--Parisian psychobilly burns like hellfire in this impish song from the Washington Dead Cats.
It actually sounds exactly like things I've heard multiple times from Christian pastors, but this is Malaysia and the city is governed by a conservative Islamic political party:
Azman Mohamad Daham, a spokesman for Kota Bharu municipality, said the latest suggestion contained in leaflets was part of a two-year old campaign.
"We just distribute pamphlets," he said. "Our minimum guideline is [women] must wear headscarves. The rest is up to them. If they want to follow the 100% Islamic way, it's up to them."
The goal of the modesty drive was to prevent rape and safeguard the women's dignity, he said.
It advises that women should refrain from using heavy makeup, particularly bright lipstick. Loud high-heel shoes should also be avoided, though if women insisted on wearing them the heels could be padded with rubber to mute the sound.
This morning on my walk to work I noticed that the demolition of an office building had exposed a church to public view--and not just any church, but Manhattan's first Roman Catholic parish. Drawn by the sight I decided to do a walk-through. The ornamentation, the altars, the markers commemorating the history of building and craft--the place was a vivid reminder of a visual style in some ways alien to life today, but at the same time its direct antecedent.
The blend of sensory richness and spirituality reminded me of this recent article on the goldsmiths of Iraq. Gold as an expression of transformative identity has a long history there, a tradition evident not just in the Bible but in the diffusion of its iconic values throughout the globe. Which is just one more why the plight of Iraq's goldsmiths is so tragic--it's not just that the invasion led to the pillaging of ancient art; Iraq is losing the very artists whose work help gives life meaning.
Even more disturbing--the role of religious conflict in this spiritual implosion. For more on that check out the whole article; for now, a poignant reminder of one family's lost golden age:
For Walid, goldsmithing is more than a business, it is a family tradition too important to abandon.
His grandfather worked on the golden-domed Kadhimiya shrine, where Imam Musa al Kadhim and his grandson, Muhammad Taqi, revered by Shiite Muslims, are said to be buried.
His father made jewelry for the Iraqi royal family.
A faded photograph hanging above Walid's counter shows his father with the portable wooden box he used to display his wares before he opened a store in 1934 in Baghdad's most famous gold bazaar, which fills the winding alleys leading to the shrine. . . .
The jewelry sold in the Kadhimiya district is especially prized by Iraq's majority Shiites, who consider it to be a blessing from the imams buried there.
Before U.S.-led forces invaded the country in 2003, the shopkeepers say, as many as 3,000 Iranians also visited the shrine every day. After offering a prayer to the imams, the pilgrims would join the bustling throngs to shop for gold.
Via Murketing, a cola-flavored church sign.
A Christian single woman reviews Sex in the City for CT, but it's not just the obligatory condemnation of New York's Babylonian perversion. Particularly noteworthy: the reviewer's lament for the lack of the acknowledgment of single women's sexuality by the Church. It's a fascinating window into America's evangelical subculture, one seldom provided by PR for True Love Waits:
[Li]ike the TV series, the film offers much that will resonate with singles—and yes, even Christians—who see themselves not just as a demographic in a Barna poll but as sexual beings who wrestle with balancing loneliness and a desire for romantic love with a commitment to purity and platitudes like "true love waits." (And waits. And waits.)
Though many viewers were no doubt drawn by the sex or the sisterhood or the shoes, it was Carrie's thought-provoking, vulnerable, and relatable wrestling with life that made the show not just popular, but a pop-culture phenomenon.
And a phenomenon even for many Christians. For years, good churchgoing friends of mine secretly raved about Sex and the City. They told me that I, a 30-something single woman (and a singles columnist to boot), would appreciate the randy little show. I was a late adopter only because I didn't have cable. When the somewhat sanitized version showed up on WGN, I was intrigued. I could've done without the "man-izing" and definitely without the nudity, when I rented the original version. But it was refreshing to have a single woman's sexuality acknowledged. In stark contrast, the last time anyone in a Christian setting spoke to the fact that I'm a sexual human being was in a college church group, where I was blithely instructed that "true love waits." Well, 15 years later, it's still waiting. And it ain't so blithely simple.
Most of the few Christian voices speaking to the growing single segment of the population offer ten easy steps to find our soulmate. As if it's that wondrously simple. Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda, however, show how challenging it really can be for intelligent, accomplished, and admittedly neurotic women to find lasting love. They, unlike many Christians, don't insult my intelligence. Instead they speak to the complexities of relationships in a postmodern age—addressing baby lust, the mommy wars, sexual temptation, dating outside your "class," commitment-phobia, the reluctant desire to be rescued by a man, and the simultaneous fear that you'll lose your own hard-won identity in the process. Yes, materialism and hedonism abound. But so does a messy wrestling with complex new realities of life that I wish I saw more of in Christian circles.
"Just because you're Christian doesn't mean you can't self mutilate or be anorexic."
This is just one of the intriguing observations on this LiveJournal blog post about one woman's visit to her strict Reformed Baptist relatives. Our protagonist sees biblical parallels for self-mutilation and embraces her ana/SI/bisexual identity. Her relatives "think 18th century dresses are immoral."
Pictured above: a less restrictive approach to Christian adornment, one of a series of photos featuring a Christian model with an embedded crucifix piercing.
Sure, the little hands look cute . . . until you realize they're printed in blood.
Above: the sign outside the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane. Whether it's a directive aimed at tour group guides or a broader statement about the relation between reason and religion I'll leave up to you.
For more on the latter theme, check out A Religious Case Against Belief, reviewed by Pico Iyer in the 6/26/2008 New York Review of Books.
An interesting study in cross-generational rhetorical contrast: A Religious Case, written by a professor emeritus, makes the case that belief has corrupted religion. Conversely, Gen-X filmmaker Kevin Smith's cult film Dogma argues that religion has corrupted belief.
Express India offers this informative story on the diffusion of Rudraksha beads in secular fashion, featuring commentary by Indian designers and merchants. Divine-Rudrakaha.com explains the basics . . .
The word Rudraksha, comes from the two Sanskrit words Rudra, a synonym for Lord Shiva, and Aksha, meaning “eyes”. Botanically, the rudraksha tree is known as Elaecarpus ganitrus Roxb. The Seed of this plant has a rough surface and a hole running through it from top to bottom. Each seed also possesses from 1 to 21 vertical lines running down its surface, like the longitude lines on a globe. These lines are known as mukhas, or facets, and are natural formations of the seed. Seeds with one vertical line are known as Ek-mukhi (one facet); those with two lines are Do-mukhi (two facets), and so on. Each bead has a different effect on you, depending on the number of mukhis it has.
And these excerpts from the Express article highlight the beads' dissemination throughout Indian fashion:
"Rudraksha is the new fashion mantra. It is very famous among youngsters. Today's generation prefers something different and so Rudraksha is high on popularity. Rudraksha accessories go not only with skirts, jeans but also with salwar-kameez for girls and guys can wear it with jeans and T-shirts," says a well- known jewelry designer. Interestingly Rudraksha accessories are quite famous among foreigners as they are both inherently Indian and act as pretty, wearable souvenirs. They are also quite a rage amongst young professionals. `It looks cool to wear Rudrakhsa accessories at the workplace and they go perfectly with my T-shirt and jeans," said Sudipto Kumar who works in an IT company.
Though the trend is just a revival of Rudraksh's usage from times immemorial, the intriguing part is its acceptability amongst the people with a sartorial dress sense. "There has always been an elelment of fashion surrounding Rudraksha, but now it has been widely accepted," says Firoj Ahmad of Sham Jewellers in KP.
There are 15 types of Rudraksh from one mukhi to 15 mukhi, according to the inlaying on it. One, 14 and 15 mukhi Rudraksh are costly, priced around Rs 2000 per Rudraksh, as they are rare to get. Seven to 12 mukhi Rudraksh ranges around Rs 700 to 1500. One can get a whole string of panchmukhi Rudraksh as they are easy to get. But even some jewelers find it difficult to recognize an original Rudraksh. They come from Nepal and finding original ones is quite rare according to jewelers in the city. . . .
"When it comes to astrology, particular Rudrakshas are allotted to specific sunsigns, like Virgoans should wear four-mukhi Rudraksh and Scorpions should don three-mukhi but people generally prefer to wear panchmukhi Rudraksh as they are easily available," says Alka Kulkarni from the Ram temple in Tulsibaug.
Like life, fashion too it seems, comes a full circle.
In this series of vignettes, the Phoenix Neutrino Project riffs on "terrorist plots, illicit drug use, and religious icons."
Last night's powerful windstorm in New York reminds me of this traveling art and jewelry exhibit featuring hurricane-inspired designs--Storm Cycle: An Artist Responds to Hurricane Katrina, which also has as its companion exhibit The Hurricane Brooch Show.
"I want them to use jewelry-making as a method of artistic commentary," [artist Thomas Mann] said. "In some cultures, jewelry pieces transcend fashion to a large degree by becoming objects of celebration, honor, reflection or spiritual context."
For 30 years, Mann has been involved in the contemporary American craft movement as an artist, gallery owner and teacher. While his work ranges from hammered sterling hearts on delicate chains to hanging installations full of aesthetic and thematic confrontation, he is best known in the international art community for his jewelry. But a jeweler he is not. He is a sculptor, often working on a scale that just happens to be wearable.
For Storm Cycle, he created 20 brooches that attach to larger panels, each one a glimpse into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "Markings No. 1" pairs found sheet metal with a photo of a handmade warning sign that reads: "U loot / We shoot." Such markings are a major element of the show, as Mann collected images of graffiti made in the desperate hours after the devastation of New Orleans.
"Markings No. 3" is an interpretation of the grids painted on doors by inspection teams charged with searching ruined buildings for bodies. They used symbols to indicate where teams were from, the date and status of the inspection and the number of bodies recovered. Mann said the count started rising when officials realized how many people had died trapped in their attics.
"That's why those markings are so important to people," Mann said, adding that the brooch element of each piece is meant to give its message reach. "They allow you to take the whole story with you."
Another great Needled photo.
Why today? Because I just came across this great quote from my notes on the Yale-in-China archives. Source: a Y-i-C fellowship application:
I really do not want to go into business or law because I feel as if I would be accomplishing nothing constructive."
I did track down the applicant--and of course, he went on to be a lawyer.
At Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore through August 31, 2008.
Sit back and take a whiff of this crackerjack news story via Alt Religion:
Drug traffickers mixed as much as six pounds of the illicit white powder into a paste and used it to make a regal statue of the Christian savior, complete with painted-on flowing hair and a gold cape.
Click through the pic for a Flickr set of excerpts from a 1969 Baltimore catechism that used the comics medium to suck all the joy out of life.
Street art in Austin, Texas.
NYC's Babeland has received a considerable amount of press for its efforts at integrating socially responsible sex ed with the sex toy biz. Gothamist features this interview with co-owner Claire Cavanah on the occasion of the opening of Babeland's first Brooklyn store; me, well, since everyone else has the scoop on all the education stuff, I'm featuring the shop's vibrator creche.
The Dansk Folkeparti is nothing if not media savvy, as evidenced by this attention-grabbing ad featuring a burqa-clad judge. The message: unless the people take action, Denmark will soon be governed by sharia law.
The Economist explains the effect of this campaign:
Birthe Ronn Hornbech, the immigration minister, denounced the DPP as “fanatically anti-Muslim” and said the judiciary was capable of policing its own impartiality and dress code. Stig Glent-Madsen, a high-court judge, confirmed that the judiciary had always managed this itself.It would appear that the country's recent experience with the controversial Muhammad cartoons has sparked a serious backlash against the country's Muslim community.
Yet the government, which relies on the DPP's support to stay in power, has decided that a new law is needed to ban the wearing of all religious symbols by judges—from Christian crosses to Jewish skullcaps and even Sikh turbans. The hapless Ms Ronn Hornbech will have to frame the law. And the DPP is now calling for even broader bans. Muslim headscarves, says Ms Kjaersgaard, are a “symbol of political Islam and the discrimination against women”. She wants them “out of schools, off the streets and outside the doors of parliament”.
Many Danes share Ms Kjaersgaard's sentiments. A poll by Megafon for TV2 found 48% in favour of a ban on public employees wearing “religious garb”, and only 39% against.
One person's sin is another's sentiment. Above: a satanic ornament collection from TimePassagesNostalgia.com.
Included in the mix: five gum-machine charms from the '50s and '60s, a patch from the seventies and several undated pendants.
A church ad in Montreal appeals to trendy Lost-watching tourists by giving them directions to the answer, although perhaps not to the ones raised in the Lost season finale.