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you’d probably recognise the face of the Afghan girl with piercing green eyes that once covered an issue of the National Georgraphic magazine, even if you didn’t realise that the photographer who captured the face is Steve McCurry, one of the world’s best photographers who tries to bring the connectedness of humans through his pictures. as least, that was the case for me… i’d seen the face on his collection of portraits published by Phaidon but i couldn’t remember who the photographer was until i was reminded of his name at the “Face of Asia: Steve McCurry photographs” exhibited at Edinburgh’s City Art Gallery.
it is a wonderful collection of portraits and scenes… and often the intensity of the facial expressions could really tell you so much of the person’s life. what skill, sensitivity and patience it must require to attain the quality of expressivity in his subjects, whether descriptively or metaphorically… what i find so amazing about photographs is how much they tell you about the subject and the photographer and in some other ways, the audience. this inter-connected-ness renders a beautiful role for well-captured photographs.
as i wandered about the gallery filled with his signature pieces, i found myself wondering perhaps what makes Steve McCurry’s photographs powerful is because they capture more than the person or the places in which they live or flee… they capture the ironies of life too and the formidable human strength to overcome some of life’s harshest conditions… they are themselves, life stories. it is life stories that touch… and this is how his photographs have connected people and how people reached out to those they do not know, to help.
i found myself taken to a photograph of an indian man wading through the flood left by a monsoon, water to his chin, him carrying his livelihood, an old sewing machine slightly submerged, to higher grounds… on his face, a resilient but distant smile. when i finished reading the caption that accompanied it, i turned my head not knowing that another lady was also there… and we both just happened to look at each other at the same time.
“It’s so amazing!” she exclaimed with a beautiful smile.
“i am so happy he got a new sewing machine!” i told her…
“Me too!”
that made my day. the happiness is quite indescribable…
Steve McCurry’s work can also be viewed at the pdn gallery and is definitely worth catching if it comes to a place near you.
chatted to mummy this morning… which is pretty much evening on her side of the world… she wanted to know how i was getting on… and although i wasn’t so keen on telling her that there’s just so much that needs to be taken care of and how 麻烦 (troublesome and vexing) it all is… i did anyways…
in an attempt to make me feel better, she quoted from Mencius (孟子)…
“[Before Heaven places a great responsibility on a person, it will always test the person's resolution, wear out his/her sinews and bones with toil, as well as to subject him/her to experiences of starvation and extreme poverty. It will frustrate his/her efforts in order to stimulate his/her mind, toughen his/her nature and indemnify againsts his/her deficiencies. Most people are only able to mend their ways after they have made mistakes.] Only when they are frustrated in mind and in their deliberations will they stand up anew. Only when their intentions become visible on their countenances and audible in their voices may they be understood by others… [A country without good citizens on the one hand, and without the experience of external threats on the other, will perish. Until then, we do not necessarily appreciate that anxiety and distress promote survival and that ease and comfort lead to one's downfall.] “
(quoted from http://www.confucius.org/old/m0002.htm with some rephrasing)
i seriously doubt i have the calibre to do anything great or survive this great test… but it’s really sweet of mummy to think i might…
something which i don’t get… america is made up of people originating from different nations… yet such narrow-mindedness prevails… makes me wonder…
i shall be really annoyed if they don’t do ceilidhs there… humph!
–Friday 15th April 2005–
it’s been quite a while since i posted regularly… i kinda lost that ‘randomness’ and excitement of posting something potentially trivial and nonsequential… perhaps i ought to limit myself to more substantial and informative posts… hmm.
anyways… here i am in Manhattan… just round the corner from Times Square… New York is a happening place… far too busy for my liking… BUT there are pockets of very charming areas that are able to keep yours truly smiling…
crazy day yesterday… trying to catch various supervisors dotted in different parts of the macro and local world…
experienced what the Swiss-Psychologist Piaget might term as “dis-equilibrium” as i went over the un-finished manuscript to piece a seminar talk together… and somehow regained “equilibrium” via Vygotskyian ‘scaffolding’ from C, my old supervisor… [excuse the silly lingo -- partly to do with overemphasis from having to mark essays...] more scouting of current research papers and reading required to supplant my discussion… (when will i ever get to read the list of interesting books?! instead of dry, jargon-filled scientific papers?! … scientists don’t write like Luria (Russian neuropsychologist whose writings could be described as ‘romantic’ science because he gives the subject of his study humanity) anymore… SIGH…)
my plate is piled up… marking/tutorial/programming/experimental-design/2 posters/funding report/funding renewal/oh yes… and seminar this thurs! help.
then i got a note really late today to say that my funding application in aid of attending the conference in NY has been approved… so it seems i could sing “New York… New York…” perhaps… let’s just see if i can still get a ticket!
i can’t wait for April to arrive… just so i can get a breather… perhaps…
[therefore... in case i am not spewing more nonsense for a while... i'm just trying very hard to be sensible elsewhere... wish me luck!]
crocuses and some snow drops are already nosing their way above the soil… soon the daffodils will probably join in the display… spring is coming coming…
i can’t wait for the colours and the sounds to reappear in full but the temporal aspect of their ‘debut’ is really something quite beautiful and exciting… this Chinese poem describes just how lovely it would be…
春风动春心，流目瞩山林。
山林多奇采，阳鸟吐清音。
— 乐府民歌(子夜四时歌) —
i can’t quite translate this appropriately… and so this attempt might be quite futile: my joy in appreciating Spring’s colours, sets free my gaze and render it to wander towards the forest on the hills… yonder, from the mysteriously spectacular foliage, the calls of migratory birds can be heard…
and to welcome Spring… we mark the start of the Spring Festival (or Lunar New Year) today! 松迎富贵福满门, 鹤舞吉祥春回地! Happy New Year to everyone out there!
went to the Chinese New Year’s party organised by the local asian students with XY and her mum who’s here to visit and 2 Scottish coursemates of hers… it’s been ages since i’ve been to one of such gatherings… different generations of students have their different styles of organisation, entertainment and choice of restaurants… tonight’s dinner menu was nothing for raving about (although i had to my delight 2 tasty giant prawns and lots of Cantonese-style steamed seabass fish!), there was no lion-dance like in those good ole days, nor fun interactive games…. nonetheless, i appreciated the gathering of people with common roots… and the respite from having to cook tonight! heee.
minority ethnic festivities are such non-events here… and that really makes celebrating terribly trying… i miss the colour and noise that often accompany Spring Festival… with fire crackers being banned even in asia these days… it must be quite a different atmosphere too, especially for those older generations who grew up with that New Year’s crackling! i miss all things special that are consumed particularly at this time of the year… the preparations… the visiting… the treats…
it’s Lunar New Year’s eve tommorow… and i’ll be missing reunion dinner for the 10th year… the steamboat at home in singapore will be taken out from its box and used for what europeans might call the asian fondu… actually, i think the swiss fondu pot, being a lot bigger, might work well… hmm… after dinner, mum will be choosing pots of plants from her garden that look pretty to take them indoors and perhaps papa might do up some calligraphic couplets for the main doorway…
i’ve not really got a new set of clothes that i’ll wear on New Year’s like how i usually do when i was growing up yonder… (i do have a lovely 2-piece corduroy set from Laura Ashley =c), which i got at the post-xmas sale in singapore, but i won’t wear it on wed… i hope to take it to the conference in NY! mummy sent a set of summery wear the other day but it’s still too cold out there…) but i’ll put on an ethnic top instead… make some asian dishes for dinner with A and perhaps ruth might be around too…
ahh… i should pick up some mandarins/tangerines and some flowers for the flat! hmm flowers!!! =C)
darn… i don’t have any more of mummy’s incredible kuey lapis cake that’s synonymous with Chinese New Year…
i did have a huge piece which i carried with me flying back to europe… i made it last over the whole of january being quite a good squirrel i am… but it’s all gone! … those lovely little flat-squarish-stripey pieces are really truly hard to resist… some people call it the asian tiramisu… but i fear that name isn’t quite so befitting; it’s more than just a ‘pick-me-up’!… this cake is really too special… and all the Lunar New Year’s visitors are so fortunate to receive some of those stripey pieces as treats! the best way to go about consuming such divine creations is to eat them layer by layer… and know that each layer is made with wholesome goodness… and a lot of love! =C)
today in Auschwitz the world remembers… and painful memories are rekindled…
i’ve never been to Auschwitz… but visiting the concentration camp in Dachau near Munich was an eye-opener… and reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn for Theory of Knowledge class years ago in Wales, gave me some ideas of what the ordeals that those who had to survive each day in such tormented conditions must have been… still, i am only just able to imagine what it must be like… and nothing really comes close enough to the true experience… but this is one experience which no one should have (had) to live through…
i am really enjoying the daily poetry selection of The Writer’s Almanac which monoceros introduced us to. it gives snippets of interesting information about whose birthday it is everyday (e.g. today’s also the birthday of Virginia Woolf) or what happened during each day in history. it’s a great thing to hear a poem a day! and here’s today’s poem:
Bonie Doon
Ye flowery banks o’ bonie Doon,
How can ye blume sae fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae fu o’ care?
Thou’ll break my heart, thou bonie bird,
That sings upon the bough;
Thou minds me o’ the happy days
When my fause luve was true.
Thou’ll break my heart, thou bonie bird,
That sings beside thy mate;
For sae I sat, and sae I sang,
And wist na o’ my fate.
Aft hae I roved by bonie Doon
To see the wood-bine twine,
And ilka bird sand o’ its luve,
And sae did I o’ mine.
Wi’ lightsome heart I pu’d a rose
Frae aff its thorny tree;
And my fause luver staw my rose
But left the thorn wi’ me.
— Robert Burns —
hmm… maybe i should have some Haggis and neeps and tatties tonight… or perhaps i could indulge in poetry reading instead… :C)
apart from making a rather simple but lovely dinner of couscous with baked peppers and aubergines, tomatoes, corriander, drizzle of olive oil and soya sauce and serving it with golden-baked chicken wings with a dash of spiciness which were hungrily devoured mainly by a male guest who is the friend of XY (leaving us poor ladies with only just enough… grrrr… and pics of which i never got to take because it all disappeared too quickly!), i concocted some lovely mulled wine yesterday with the help of a bag of mulled wine spices (grounded cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice) and added some cranberry and grape juice to a bottle of red wine together with some 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and the lovely clove-studded baked oranges (a brilliant invention by Ruth’s mum!) to give it a full-flavoured taste of loveliness…
Frauke, my ex-neighbour from the flat below where i used to live in T?bingen is here to spend new-year’s and we made our way to Blackford hill with some lovely mulled wine to welcome the new year…
little did we know how time-confused we were until we were almost at the foot of the hill… the view of the clock tower of a chapel on the way alerted us to our temporal folly and reminded yours truly that she’s still living by continental German time… we were terribly early…. an hour to be precise… so we had to keep warm in the windy dark night and hoped that other people would arrive soon to avoid looking stupid or too eager.
but our patience was rewarded by some beautiful fireworks shooting upwards from the 7 hills surrounding Edinburgh… but it was all too brief!
here are some fragments of flying colours i managed to capture…
you’ll just have to trust me that it looked far more spectacular than these wee little fragments!
