food art, or big block of cheese day

Blog post here about The Signing of the Declaration of Independence sculpted in cheese. Yes, cheese. Photo by Reuters:

And then there’s a fascinating collection of photos here of rice field art.

– Elizabeth

Sight & Sound 4: Spinning prayer wheels

Large prayer wheels at the Shepup Choelhelling buddhist temple to the west of Mussoorie.

– words & photo by Paul
– sound by Elizabeth

Sight & Sound 3: visiting George Everest

George Everest’s house (yes, that Everest) is near Mussoorie, derelict and accessible only by a long drive on scary roads and a short trek across fields, but it has fantastic views.

Sounds of the scary road, car horns, and a jingling icon that dangled from the rearview mirror:

– Elizabeth

Sight & Sound 2: overnight train

Having flown into Delhi, we had to take an overnight train to Dehradun for the start of our Hill Stations tour.

The sounds and motion of the train are soothing, but not really conducive to sleep.

Arriving at 5:50am after a sleepless night, everything was blurred and confusing, even to the camera.

– photo by Paul
– sounds and words by Elizabeth

Sight & Sound: Safdarjang’s Tomb

An occasional series of images and sounds recorded on our most recent trip to India.

Safdarjang’s Tomb, Delhi

birds, wind in the trees (and across the mic), workmen in the distance: peace

– Elizabeth

I am Iron Man!

Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all,
Or if he moves will he fall?

Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
Well just pass him there
Why should we even care?

(Iommi, Osbourne, Butler, Ward)

Was Antony Gormley inspired by Black Sabbath? I’d like to think so as the lyrics to Black Sabbath’s signature song Iron Man, although written over twenty years before Gormley’s Iron:Man was created describes him perfectly; blind, rooted into the ground but with an unstable lean and seeing all as we walk past to shop, play, work. Just what is he thinking of?

Gormley’s Iron:Man is a large cast iron figure located on the south-west edge of Birmingham’s Victoria Square just by what was the central Post Office (which now contains, amongst others, the Gambling Commission) and on his left the statue of Victoria (which is a 1951 bronze cast by William Bloye of an original marble statue by Thomas Brock from 1901).

The same stark facts about Iron:Man are repeated across the net:

1) That it was given to the city on 2nd March 1993 by the Trustee Savings Bank which had, at the time, its HQ in the city.
2) That it was cast at Bradley and Fosters Castings (now Firth Rixson Castings) in Willenhall.
3) That at the time of its installation it was ‘controversial’ but when TSB moved from the city there was strong support to retain it.

The problem is that these facts appear to have become facts simply by repetition and without any attribution.

When asked about the supposed Iron:Man controversy in a BBC interview in 2000 Gormley astutely talks about his art in general rather than just Iron:Man:

“Art has to change things, and if it was immediately acceptable it would not be doing the job. The press are the most cynical and re-enforce an outdated attitude that is not actually the way people think. People enjoy challenges, find visual art exciting and do not think all artists are trying to pull a fast one”⁽¹⁾

We may soon know more about the selection and commissioning process for Iron:Man as Dr Sian Everitt, Keeper of Archives at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, will be presenting a paper titled If Public Art Communicates, Who Chooses the Message? Birmingham’s Iron Man As a Case Study in Selection Processes for Public Art at next months Third International Conference on the Arts in Society to be held, appropriately, in Birmingham.

Gormley’s works do still cause controversy, for example a proposed installation, Time Horizon, at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire has just been refused planning permission because “the National Park ecologists consider that the lawns in the garden are of national importance for their mycology (fungi), and that this might be negatively impacted by the temporary installation of this work”.

There is similarly limited further information about the construction of the statue beyond the statement above as both Gormley’s official site and the main fan site have little detail. What is known is that prior to construction at least one preliminary plaster maquette was produced which is now owned by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. This is not currently on public display but can be seen during the occasional open days held by the BMAG Museum Collections Centre as seen in the picture below:

The information with the maquette explains a little about Gormley’s choice of iron which “alludes to the industrial history of Birmingham, with the natural changes in colour and texture, over time and through oxidation, adding further resonances”. Gormley has also said, in an interview with F. David Peat in 1996, that “when I use iron I’m aware it is an earth material. It has a strong gravity. It has a relationship with the liquid core of the earth”. Although without attribution the Wikipedia article reports that Gormley said the sculpture represents:

“the traditional skills of Birmingham and the Black Country practised during the Industrial Revolution. The raised edges where the different sections of the air-set mould joined [are clearly visible - see the pictures here]. These are common and are usually removed after the casting process. It was said that Anthony Gormley actually asked for them to remain, as it added character”

This last statement, about the normal fettling process to remove the flashings from the casting, is clearly doing the sculpture a disservice as it would be poor casting indeed to have this much flashing (it would be simple for any foundry to create a smoother mould than this). I strongly suspect that this was all part of Gormley’s original vision as the picture below shows how intricate they are, especially in comparison to the main riveted joins between the main sections:

As to the first ‘fact’, that it was given to the city on 2nd March 1993 by the TSB, this can be verified as there is a helpful plaque embedded by the statue.

Whatever Iron:Man’s origins and initial controversy he is now firmly established as a Birmingham landmark, one that teenagers use as a meeting place when coming to town on a Saturday afternoon (although if you ask - slightly - older residents of the city you can still get the reply “Iron:Man? What’s that?”). Unsurprisingly Flickr has an extensive selection of pictures, sometimes of variable quality, of which this picture by Troutmask of a bleak, snow-swept square is one of my favourites. The statue is now so well known around Birmingham that his image - real or imaginary - can be seen elsewhere around the city:

More of my Iron:Man pictures can be found here.

Let’s leave Iron Man where we found him, with the prophetic imagery of Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill:

Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfold

⁽¹⁾ Although not specifically relevant to Iron:Man Gormley’s replies in the interview are often insightful, for example when asked about the arrest of a man for climbing The Angel of the North he has this to say:

“Anything climbable will be climbed. I was impressed but would not advise anyone to try. The photo of him stretching with his arms out while standing on the head was beautiful.”

– Words and pictures by Paul

Eddie Carmel, the Jewish Giant

A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y. 1970 must be one of the best known photographs of Diane Arbus.

Via Sound Portraits.org it is possible to listen to a radio documentary made in 1999, in which Jenny Carchman talks to people who knew Eddie Carmel, her cousin, and tries to fathom her family’s reluctance to talk about Eddie. It’s a fascinating half hour piece in which Jenny’s father remains angry at the focus on the tragedy of Eddie’s life, that makes it seem empty. It’s hard, though, not to be saddened by this tale of a bright young man earning a living as reluctant sideshow freak, all the time knowing his life would be very short as a result of his condition.

It’s well worth exploring the other radio documentaries available at the site too.

– Elizabeth

one by one fulfills a plan and leaves 3 ghosts in Birmingham

As a coda to this earlier post the début CD from Birmingham band Johnny Foreigner, waited up til it was light, comes with seven interchangeable covers, all featuring city landmarks.

The artwork is by the same artist as for the EP discussed in the earlier post but fortunately this time he is credited: Lewes Herriot, who is a 25 year old self taught illustrator/artist from… Birmingham. The artwork is again wonderful with the illustrations perfectly complementing the photography of the city. It even comes with a map of places in the city important to the band, The Barfly, The Flapper, Bullring, Hall Green Library etc. Now all that is needed is for someone to do a google maps mash-up of the locations to create a ‘Johnny Foreigner City Tour’. [EDIT: thanks to J clicky clicky (see comments) I now know that the band have already done the mash-up with places/lyrics/songs on the map]

The music lives up to the graphic design and the band are even better live. Pictures below are from their gig at the Roadmender, Northampton, 30th May 2008.

– words by Paul
– pictures by Paul and Elizabeth

Jaipur: a pink retrospective

Hearing the news this week of bomb attacks in Jaipur, in which an estimated 63 people died, brought back thoughts of my visit to the city in 2004 when I explored some of the streets in the old town where the attack happened.

The street above is in front of the famous Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) and it was here that I started to realise quite how surreal India could be (as distinct from overwhelming). Looking up at the Palace I was approached by a young man with a microphone, followed by another man with a large, professional looking, video camera. They explained that they were students from the local college and were doing a project on the city development plans, part of which involved the pedestrianisation of some of the streets, and asked if they could interview me on camera about it. For some unknown reason I said yes and started pontificating on my extensive (well, very limited) knowledge of city planning. I suspect I prevaricated about it potentially being both good and bad but whatever I said it was capture for posterity:

Jaipur was also, I think, where I started to fall in love with India. Delhi had been exhilarating but arriving after a long flight, with two changes in the Gulf (note to self: always, always fly direct with Jet Airways) only to find the traffic gridlocked due to a presidential motorcade, made it more of a challenge than a pleasure, not helped by being stung by bees at Humayan’s Tomb (subsequent visits have fortunately shown the wonderful side of the city). After a train journey down to Jaipur I remember the city as relatively calm - roundabouts in a cyclo-rickshaw were still terrifying with traffic always only just missing - but the atmosphere felt open and easy going, no more so than at the Jantar Mantar:

“The biggest stone observatory in the world, which is still in a running condition and stands witness to the wisdom of the former age. Jantar Mantar of Jaipur in Rajasthan is one of the five astronomical observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh, the founder of Jaipur of Rajasthan and is located close to the gate of the famous City Palace of Jaipur of Rajasthan. The Jantar Mantar at Jaipur of Rajasthan was conceived as a quest for discovering the mysteries of the Cosmos. It was built not only to verify astronomical observations made at Jaipur of Rajasthan, but also to stimulate interest in astronomy, which had become enmeshed in theory, superstition and religious jargon. During the period between 1727 and 1733, Jantar Mantar of Rajasthan took its form and structure”

When I visited the site it was full of student veterinarians from Southern India with the inevitable photographic consequences when Elizabeth and I joined them on the steps of the small samrat (sundial):

If there is a ’small’ samrat there must be a large one and the large one here reaches a height of 27.4m and is accurate to within two seconds (the smaller is ‘only’ accurate to 20 seconds) with the time taken from the scale below:

In another part of the site are a further twelve samrats, called the Rashivalaya Yantraeach, each specific to one of the signs of the zodiacs and they are apparently to “get direct determination of celestial latitude and longitude” (p35 Astronomical Observatory of Jaipur by Daulat Singh Pajawat, Delta, 1989):

Key to the site is the Jai Prakash, two sunken hemispheres which are the most accurate instrument at the site for measuring latitude and longitude and showing which astroological sign the sun is passing through:

For more information about the site I would recommend this website which although it uses an old-fashioned web structure nevertheless has some useful diagrams and explanation of how the instruments work. Also useful is Daulat Singh Pajawat’s book Astronomical Observatory of Jaipur, which I bough for 50Rs at 10:14 on 29/02/04 from the Site Superintendent, according to the receipt tucked inside the book along with the entry ticket to the City Palace Museum:

More photographs from the trip to Jaipur can be found here and there are also photographs of the Varanasi and Chitwan (Nepal) parts of the same trip.

– Words Paul
– Pictures Paul & Elizabeth

Varanasi: city of life and death

I first went to India in 2004 and despite having been back three times since it is still Varanasi (previously known as Benares and before that Kashi) that is perhaps the most memorable place I’ve visited. I was there in the days leading up to the festival of holi and the city was crowded with people, with sound, with action, with life. It was in no way relaxing, I came away drained after just three days, but it is a place which made a lasting impression and one to which I must return.

Varanasi claims to be one of the oldest living cities and despite there being others with a stronger claim. Mark Twain said:

“Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”⁽¹⁾

The city is one of the holiest places in India being a sacred pilgrimage site for Hindus of all denominations with more than a million pilgrims visiting each year. It has the holy shrine of Lord Kashi Vishwanath (a manifestation of Lord Shiva) and one of the twelve revered Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva, who according to mythology once lived here. Hindus believe that bathing in the river Ganga cleanses them of sin and that dying ,here ensures release of a person’s soul from the cycle of its transmigrations (see here for more information about the history and customs of the city).

In Varanasi the dead are cremated in public on the rivers edge at the ‘burning ghats’. Strangely these burning ghats are treated as a tourist attraction with the river boats taking visitors to observe the burning pyres. I felt distinctly uncomfortable with this until, talking with the boatman, he explained that the families see this a a joyful event - who would not want to die in Varanasi? - and welcomed anyone to share in it. This seems to me a much more positive life-affirming view of death than any in the West.

I was told of a tourist who died in Varanasi, but whose family refused to have him cremated, a real issue as there are no facilities for storing the bodies, which are normally cremated within 24 hours. To make matters worse, the family’s health insurance was invalid (they had not declared the known serious medical conditions of which he died) and they were insisting that the body be flown back to the UK. As a matter of goodwill the travel company arranged and paid for this, a remarkably generous gesture.

Varanasi is a very photographed place, just see all the pictures in the Flickr group, but for a beautiful introduction to the people of the city I’d recommend this set by Flickr user entrelec (the French photographer Joel Dousett). For anyone seriously interested in the photographic life and history of this holy city there is one essential book: Benares Seen from Within by Richard Lannoy (Callisto Books, Bath, 1999)

Richard Lannoy is an English photographer and one of the founding staff of the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, first visiting the city in 1953 and returning over the years to produce this monumental book of over 600 photographs, including 150 colourplates, with substantial accompanying text plus maps, glossary, bibliography and index. The above photograph of the cover does not do the book justice as the reproductions are superb. The scanned image below, however, gives some idea of the quality of the photography.

“Lighting lamps in honour of the Goddess Ganga during Diwali, festival of lights (1959) (p124)

Lannoy’s work captures all aspects of the city, not just focusing on religion or the ghats but including the country around the city - and the vast flat riverbanks across from the city - and crafts, producing some brilliant images of weaving and looms, plus the less well known Buddhist area of Sarnath (seen below).

In his introduction to the book Lannoy has this to say about his photography and what he was trying to achieve:

“My intention is to evoke the multitudinous diversity of Benares as vividly as I possibly can. I want to present the reader-viewer with the same kind of revelation as Benares has granted me - in all its complexity - without the falsification of reality by bogus spirituality or by sentimentalism, whether cynical or humanist, to which photographic books are prone. I believe, firstly, that some photographs at the very minimum give real and important information about the world. But secondly, borrowing the language of anthropology, ‘photography can also communicate about culture, people’s lives, experiences and beliefs not at the level of surface description but as a visual metaphor which bridges the space between the visible and the invisible’ (Elizabeth Edwards, 1996)” (p427)

For a very different, fictional, view of the city I’d recommend the wonderful River of Gods by Ian McDonald here seen in a bookshop in Jaisalmer. There is more about the novel here.

Varanasi’s more recent history has been both tragic and comical. In 2006 the city suffered a terrorist attack with at least 15 dead from a series of bomb blasts. Earlier this year the city suffered another sort of ‘attack’ this time from space invaders, with a wonderful report titled 8 bit Varanasi which concludes with “I look forward to returning to Varanasi; I want to find [invader] number fourteen”: a sentiment I can only agree with (although I expect the return of pacman by the time I get there).

Further photographs from my Varanasi trip can be found here.

– Words & Pictures by Paul

⁽¹⁾ Twain, Mark [1897], Following the Equator: A journey around the world. Dover Publications Inc.; New Ed edition (2 Aug 1990), ISBN 978-0486261133.