Figurative diversity in "our" glazed tiles ...or aesthetic "blindness"

Having been (... or should I say being ...) one of the most expressive and original contributions of the Portuguese artistic creativity to the Universal culture, the "glazed tile" Art has gone beyond  its use as a merely ornamental form of Art, excelling in its figurative diversity having moved away from the traditional geometric moorish influenced designs and flemish mannerist style. 

Amongst the many panels I have been drawn to, particularly over the last two years, these have caught my attention, because of the originality of the themes.

In the National Azulejo Museum (Left) and in the Palace of the Marquises of Fronteira, Lisboa (Right)

 

"Monkey business " (3rd quarter of the XVII century) - Palace of the Marquises of Fronteira, Lisbon.

Glazed tile façades and murals are present in our daily life and yet we don't seem to pay them the attention they deserve ...

Could it be that  amongst the various things we have been losing ... we are (also) losing our aesthetical sense ?...




 

Elias and the "festa da fita" ...

Elias has not had the presence of his "godmother" in "festa da fita" as he would have liked, but the photos we have just received from Cape Verde, have made her proud  (without any doubt) for having "indirectly" participated in it,  by having paid for whatever was necessary in order to make him feel proud as well, on such an important occasion ... he will be attending primary school next September.

Solidarity gestures (still ...)

These are the latest clothes bought by the "godmothers" for the children in Calheta, having heard that I would soon be going back. I am truly thankful for their support ...

A rose colour skirt and top; a green skirt with embroidered butterflies and a violet pair of trousers and T-shirt bought by Sandra for Nessinha (Left). A colourful dress, an embroidered skirt and a "baby doll" bought by Carla for Leidina (Right) 

A T-shirt and shorts bought by Maria João for Eduardo (Left) and two bathingsuits (one for Nessinha bought by Sandra and one for Tarine bought by me) - (Right)

An embroidered pullover and skirt bougth by me for Leinira (Left). A dress and a pair of sandals bought by Fátima for Tarine and a pair of sandals bought by Sandra for Nessinha (Right)

Ana Maria (who has contributed with an amount of money for school material), Sandra and Carla (Left) and Maria João (Right)

  A "drop in the ocean" ..., someone has said about these contributions ..., which is true, ... but  they are solidarity gestures and they are not as unimportant as some people might think.

An instant out of time ... or poem to Faye ...

"Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still" - Dorothea Lange

An instant out of time ...

Memories still hovering by ...
Your underwater descriptions echoing in my mind ...
The warm seas which witnessed your last dive ...
You ... for whom the limit was the sky ...
An instant out of time ...
An untimely demise ...
... too many memories hovering by ...

Note: Faye Andrade Farr (Lisboa, 13 August 1975 - Lorca, 7 August 2006)

King Afonso V of Portugal and the tapestries of Pastrana ...

Afonso V (15 January 1432 - 28 August 1481), King of Portugal and the Algarves of either side of the sea of Africa, nicknamed the African because of his conquests in Northern Africa (Alcácer Ceguer, Tangiers and Arzila) the latest of which are represented in these fine tapestries of the Colegiata of Pastrana, made his way through a period of "glory" ... the glory of his achievements ...

The King seen here riding his horse prior to the raid of Arcila and during the actual raid.

The 4 tapestries being exhibited in Portugal now, apart from being an absolute beauty, are also undeniably meaningful, once they depict the pride of a Portuguese monarch ... and naturally "his" people, who shared with him the victory of a conquest ...

"To have common glories in the past, a common will in the present, to have done great things together, to wish to do greater, these are the essential conditions which make up a people" - Ernest Renan 

 Portuguese Monarchy is long gone ..., but so seems the pride of people's achievements ... what has changed since then ? ... I can't honestly explain, but I feel, as a lot more people that it may have to do with the "leading" characters ...

Let us "invent" whatever may be necessary to "regain" the Nation's pride ... let us "invent" a glory that may not be in vain ...

"Filling" my soul ...

Photographing in Lidice, Czech Republic, 2007

"Early, very early in my life the bewitching exotism tempted me in a restless way. Why? I don't know. I believe that soon after being born, the marked temperament of a wheighing languideness, led me not to feel adequate where I was and in reverie I cried out for wings, to take me far, far away ...

And I ran, flew away and tattered my soul (because one does tatter one's soul whenever one falls for things) the exotic world around".

 (free translation) Wenceslau de Moraes

With the "Walking around the musseques' group of foreign expatriots", Luanda, Angola, 2006 (Left). Talking to a musician in Fez, Morocco, 2004 (Right)

 Riding around Djerba island in Tunisia, 2005 (Left). Photographing in Guatemala, 2007 (Right)

  

 

 Being approached by people in the streets of old Havana, 2008 (Left). Observing in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, 2009 (Right)

Having travelled on my own for quite a while, I rarely have photos of myself ..., although it is relatively unimportant, once the real importance lies on letting  myself go, being bewitched by the "exotic" places ... the people ... the cultural differences ... the similarities ... getting involved ... filling my soul, wearing it to tatters (sometimes) ... and moving on ...

Mozambican Batik "canvases" ...

I rarely talk about things or places I don't know enough of or have never visited, but to the many who have recently told me that I only seem to display Cape Verdian and Angolan Art in my blog, I have decided to introduce some other examples of Art, this time from  Mozambique, although I have not had the chance of visiting this country.

In 1995 I bought some Mozambican batik "canvases", which really fascinated me (still do), not necessarily because they were more colourful than the traditional batik patterns, as in accordance with what I read then, but because the whole thematic  "canvases" depicted the reality of the African daily life in a very realistic way ... the family ...  the daily tasks ... the ceremonial dances ...

Soon after having bought them I realised that this wax resist dyeing technique in fabric was an ancient art form, which according to discoveries already existed in Egypt in the 4th century BCE, though in Africa it was originally practiced in Nigeria and Senegal, but also the fact that to get these patterns, several colours had had to be used, following a series of dyeing, drying and waxing steps, some of which must have been time consuming, particularly since these pieces were clearly not mass produced. 

 

When this technique was introduced in Mozambique I don't know, but according to the lady who sold them to me, quite a few Mozambican artisans make these batik "canvases" in order to get some money by selling them to tourists (quite different from the traditional lineage identification, body wrapping, ceremonial costumes, wide variety of rituals and formal occasions and even corpse wrapping use).

Note: Three of the seven batik "canvases" I bought in 1995, by three Mozambican artists - Majoe, Mapyo and Micas).