Black & White scribbles

Photo Challenge: Week 2

Week 2 of the photo challenge. Here's a snippet of some images I took

More of week 2 can be found here

Thank you for reading.

30 Day Photo Challenge

Have you done this challenge before? How was your experience? Would you be interested in doing something similar? 

Check out week 1 of my 30 Day Photo Challenge by clicking on the image.

Here's to 3 more weeks of clicking away :-)

Kraft Series Exhibition by Ubermorgen.com

On Tuesday this week, the Goethe-Institut in Johannesburg hosted a late morning (early lunch) hour long Walkabout exhibition presented by artist Hans Bernhard from the art duo Ubermorgen.com.

http://leeeeeeets-go.nl/

The exhibition titled “Kraft- Let’s Go!”, a part of the Ubermorgen.com’s “Kraft Series" featured themes on energy sources, fracking in the Karoo, Microexpressions, astronomy and gif-animation.

Exploring the microexpressions of the landscape

Highly pixelated gifs of members of the Shell Corporation Board

Highly pixelated Telescope- Sutherland Observatory, Karoo

Old school benches with reports

The exhibition also included reports by Shell Exploration Company B.V. such as the Environmental Management report of the South Western Karoo Basin Gas Exploration Application. One could spend time pouring over the material to understand the findings and the conclusion that was drawn up from the research done.  

Summing up the exhibition in the words of Hans Bernhard "But the Karoo is not what it used to be, it has already been fucked up over and over over the last centuries, it is dead by now. But there is gas for 30 years! So let's use it to boost South Africas economy for a while, it can really not get any worse! The devil-may-care, but we don't. Stop being stupid & Let's go!".

Peacemaker

What comes to mind when you hear the word Peace? Antiwar slogans? Peace signs? Hippies and flower power? Violence? Protests? John Lennon’s “Give peace a chance” or “Imagine”?  

What does the word Peace mean to you? Do you find yourself reflecting on your state of being and your inner conscience as well as your recent behaviour and activities? 

21st September was World Peace Day, an annual day reserved for the observation of peace. Fast forward a few weeks and here we are: Yoko Ono relights the Imagine Peace Tower on the 9th of October, violent protests continue due to the several strikes taking place and the week when this years’ Nobel Price Laureates are announced.

I decided to visit the newly opened Peacemakers Museum at the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton.  The museum displays all the Nobel Peace Price Laureates from the inception of the Nobel Price in 1901 until 2011. The 2012 Nobel Peace Price went to the European Union, I believe the museum will be adding the new receipient to the exhibition soon. I’m curious to know what your thoughts are about the EU receiving the Nobel Peace Price this year.

The museum also exhibits a detailed history of the South African Laureates and the role they played in bringing Peace to this beautiful country of ours: Albert Luthuli who received it in 1960 for his role in the promotion of non-violent struggle against apartheid, Desmond Tutu in 1984 as well as Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk in 1993. 

If you ever find yourself in Sandton City or Nelson Mandela Square, maybe you can pop into the museum and spend a few minutes enthralled by the experience while thinking about all the individuals, famous and not famous who have put themselves at potential risk for the sake of the greater good of humanity.

Quoting the Dalai Lama, a laureate of the Nobel Peace Price in 1989, “if you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito". It is imperial that now, more that even, we take an active role in world activities. We live in “relatively” peaceful times compared to other periods in human history, and learning from history, things can turn around overnight. A question I pose is: what can I do today that will allow me to leave the world a better place than how I found it? Like the Nobel Peace Price recipients, they not only fought for peace, but fought for equality, solidarity, tolerance, world hunger while struggling against violence, intolerance, prejudice and hate. Our actions may not seem like a big deal on their own but everything counts. An important think to remember is that we should not only think about what the individual is doing but the impact the action may have on the next person and the next and the next. That's how social change starts. That's how we can get the ball rolling.

So, what small (and big) changes can you incorporate into your life that will contribute to Peace?

Wiki Loves Monuments...me too

During the month of September Wikipedia organised a month long international photo contest called Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM). The public was invited to upload and share photos of heritage sites including buildings, monuments, archaeological sites, sculpture, churches, memorials, graves, tombs, temples, statues etc. These photos are uploaded to Wikimedia Commons which allows Wikipedia to use them.

In all honesty, I've been seeing the add on Wikipedia's home page throughout September but paid little attention to it until the last week of the month when I had an "ohmigosh" moment, so I went through some pics I'd taken and decided to just go for it. Why not? I didn't enter this with the purpose of winning anything, I entered simply because I just wanted to. Why not?

These are some of the photos I submitted.

Dutch Reformed Church (NG Kerk), Middelburg

Donkin Reserve and Lighthouse, Port Elizabeth

Donkin Reserve Pyramid and mosaic, Port Elizabeth

War Memorial, Jeppe High School for Boys, Johannesburg

Union Buildings, Pretoria

Bronze Group Memorial, Union Buildings, Pretoria

I'm curious to know about the historic sites in your town or city, whether people are aware of them and their significance, their impact (if any) and how they merge with the newer infrastructure that forms part of the modern landscape. 

One thing for sure, I'm not only looking forward to September 2013, but the amount of discovery and learning that lies ahead.

spiral O