I’m not sure why—but I’ve been thinking about Joseph Beuys once again (deutscher Aktionskünstler, Bildhauer, Zeichner, Kunsttheoretiker und Pädagoge)… and then I came across the above image here (thanks to Silvie for the link).

Winnipeg, Canada

Geez magazine is looking for a half-time, Winnipeg-based person to help with business aspects. The new Associate Publisher would work closely with other part-time staff. Application deadline is 31 March, with an anticipated start date of 15 April.

Budapest, Hungary

This (“American Toys”) project was created by combining images from every United States patent containing the phrase “toy pistol.” The earliest image dates back to the mid 1800’s… by Christopher Baker. More about American Toys here.

St. Petersburg, Russia

All too often we forget the hardship experienced by generations past, especially during certain wars, yet some people have a profound way of reflecting on times gone by, presenting their take on the world in a new light. These haunting, hybrid images of past and present St. Petersburg—formerly known as Leningrad—are the works of Sergei Larenkov. After studying old images of the city, Larenkov visited the same spots, capturing them on film. He then digitally superimposed the old image over new, producing these eerie and thought-provoking shots.

Like ghosts captured forever on film the scenes depict all too clearly a harshness that can result only from times of war. The 900-day Siege of Leningrad, also known as The Leningrad Blockade, lasted from 9 September 1941 to 27 January 1944—just over 65 years ago—and was one of the longest and most destructive sieges of major cities in modern history, and second most costly…

“During nine hundred(!) days a few million people in the city of Leningrad suffered from cold and hunger, being deprived of almost all supplies of food and fuel. Many thousands died; those who survived remember this not very willingly. The situation with food was so heavy, no food was sold/distributed among people except a few grams (not even tens or hundred grams) of bread, and not each day, that people had to eat stuff that they would never eat in normal life, like making soups of leather boots (because leather is of animal origin) or boiling the wallpaper because the glue with which they were attached to walls contained a bit of organic stuff. Of course many occasions of cannibalism occurred.”

See more images at English Russia, here. Thanks Adrian for the link.

Winnipeg, Canada

“The pupit is making a comeback,” with geez magazine’s launch of the Daringly Awkward Sermon Contest. The Contest “invites entries that explore the aspects of social change that make us squirm—things like privilege, right-wing relatives, the drunk stranger in the back pew, guilt feelings, or litter in the poor part of town. Constructing a more fair and compassionate world involves awkward people, pauses and topics, and we want to find the wisdom in the awkwardness.”

Maybe the key to social change and spiritual growth is found in stumbling, fumbling, oafish awkwardness? The geez pulpit is set up and awaits activists, anarchists, atheists and good old-fashioned Christians to step up and confront or comfort, pontificate or confess, urge or encourage.

Berlin, Germany

John Heartfield (Helmut Herzfeld) was a German artist whose politically charged photomontages were banned in his home country during the Nazi regime (John changed his name in part as a way to protest the rabid nationalism and anti-British sentiment of World War I)—during the Weimar period he became a member of the Berlin Dada group. He was rediscovered in the German Democratic Republic in the late 1950s… since then his activism and work has influenced generations of artists and graphic designers.

Image: The cross was not heavy enough; collage.

Winnipeg, Canada

As if the black ice and freezing fog en route to the office this morning were not disconcerting enough… it also seems I’ve been commuting with Der Führer! Anybody else need a ride (besides Adolf)?

Poster by Weimer Pursell, 1943 [Printed by the Government Printing Office for the Office of Price Administration, NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-188-PP-42]. Find more World War ll propaganda posters here.

Tokyo, Japan

It’s been a very sad day… I have just learned that the great graphic sensei, Shigeo Fukuda, has passed on. Japan’s consummate visual communicator, Fukuda-San is known around the world as a playful prankster, a modern-day Escher, and an imaginative creator who “dramatically shattered cultural and linguistic barriers with his universally recognizable style.” Perhaps Alan Fletcher described him the best (in Masters of the 20th Century): “Shigeo Fukuda is a star in the design firmament—on second thought, maybe he’s more of a comet.” Fukuda-San—there’s no doubt that you’ll continue to light up our heaven…

Image: Shigeo Fukuda alongside his famous poster titled ‘Victory 1945,’ a bitingly satirical commentary on the senselessness of war. 

The Gaza Strip

A headline in today’s New York Times states: “Few in U.S. See Jazeera’s Coverage of Gaza War.” In a conflict where Western news media have been largely prevented from reporting from Gaza because of restrictions imposed by the Israeli military, Al Jazeera suddenly has had a distinct advantage—it was already there with six reporters in Gaza (two working for Al Jazeera English and four working for the much larger and more popular Arabic version of the network). Well, a valuable alternate source for news and opinion (from an Arab point of view) is now readily available to anyone at aljazeera.net.

I am very bothered by what’s happening in Gaza. It’s somewhat predictable, very troubling, yet not inevitable that the oppressed become oppressors (just as abused children often but not always become child abusers themselves—if they are unable to break the chain of violence). As Israel’s war in Gaza intensifies, it’s also not surprising to see the increased frequency of shock-value comparisons drawn in the media and the blogosphere between the plight of Gaza’s Palestinians today and the horrors experienced by Polish Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto and ensuing Holocaust nearly 70 years ago. (When) will we ever learn?

Political cartoons by Carlos Latuff. 

I don’t recall my exact age at the time, but I know I was very young when I first heard Æsop’s fable of the Wind & Sun from my pacifist father (a gentle but firm man who served as a conscientious objector during the Second World War). The simple tale offered a compelling allegory re: the “exercise of power” that has stuck with me throughout my life (and may also bear more literal responsibility for my ongoing interest in passive solar energy). The gist of the parable goes like this…

Once upon a time, high in the heavens, a dispute arose between the Wind and the Sun as to which was the more powerful of the two. The Wind (always a blow-hard) challenged the Sun to a contest that could resolve once and for all who was the stronger. Looking down, the two could see a lone Traveler making his way across the land—it was agreed that whichever would be the first to strip the man of his cloak should be accounted the victor.

The Wind began, and blew with all its might with blasts as cold and fierce as a Thracian storm; but (of course) the stronger and more furiously the Wind blew, the closer the Traveler wrapped his cloak around him, and the more tightly he grasped it with his hands. Finally, exhausted, the Wind gave up in despair.

Then the Sun (which had been hiding behind a cloud) came out and simply shone with warmth and brightness—in almost no time at all the Traveler felt the genial warmth, took off his cloak, and cast it on the ground.

Thus the Sun was declared the victor, and it has ever since been deemed that “persuasion is better than force”—and the sunshine of a kind and gentle manner is more efficacious than the force of blustering authority.

More tales at ‘The Æsop for Children’ with illustrations by Milo Winter, here.