Fine Cell Work in the 'Forgotten Community'

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quilt

Throughout time, people have incorporated storytelling and art making into the creation of everyday practical objects. For example, we can see immense artistry in the bead work done by Aboriginal peoples of North America in everything from the needlework done on shoes to the beading on bassinets and other items. Although these objects were created for practical purposes, the desire to make them beautiful was still a significant motivator.

Quilting is one such art form, practical yet beautiful, which is estimated to date back to ancient Egypt.

The earliest surviving quilt is from approximately the first century BC to the second century AD…. Piecing fabric together is also very old. It was more often used for clothing but also occasionally for decorative objects. (Source)

The August 2009 issue of Intelligent Life has a great article about a quilting project the Victoria & Albert Museum is doing with inmates at Wandsworth prison in London, the results of which will be displayed at the Museum in an exhibition which opens in the spring of 2010. According to the V&A the history of ‘Fine Cell Work’ dates back to the early 1800s when a Quaker named Elizabeth Fry was inspired to start the British Ladies Society for the Reformation of Female Prisoners after visiting Newgate Prison. As for why prisoners today are interested, according to the V&A,

Many of the Fine Cell Work stitchers acknowledge not only the reassuring rhythmic repetition of the act of sewing, but also the cultural meaning attached to the objects that they produce. There is often a great poignancy for participants in offering up their own time and designs for public consumption, and the realisation that something important to them is appreciated by the rest of society. A prisoner’s comment that ‘we’re like a forgotten community’ acknowledges the shared experiences of those within the prison walls, but also the strong sense of alienation that comes into being when entering or leaving the prison gates. (Source)

In addition to viewing the work done at Wandsworth, visitors to the V&A exhibition will get to see the Rajah Quilt, a stunning 2815 piece quilt created by female convicts in 1841 during a boat journey from England to Tanzania.

Quilts image by Asalam.

Too Big to Fail? The Story of a Civilisation

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Ta Phrom Ruins, Cambodia

That an entire civilisation the size of modern day Liechtenstein or Guam (between 0.0005% and 0.003% of the world population) could collapse entirely in the space of a few years is almost inconceivable—but is it beyond belief?

In the late tenth century (circa AD 980, to be more specific) Norse explorers discovered a seemingly uninhabited Greenland and began to colonise the island. For centuries the new inhabitants prospered in the virgin land, farming and trading with the world.

The population of the Greenland Norse soared to between 2,000 and 10,000 people (quite a range, admittedly) before, in the early fifteenth century (between 1410 and 1435), the civilisation completely collapsed (some say ‘vanished’). It wasn’t a slow collapse, either: it fell with the speed of the Soviet Union, and the reasons for the collapse were, until recently, a mystery.

In Jared Diamond’s excellent Collapse, he proposes that the Greenland Norse society collapsed because of “climate change, environmental damage, loss of trading partners, irrational reluctance to eat fish [the country’s easily accessible and plentiful food source], hostile neighbors and most unwillingness to adapt in the face of social collapse”.

In Collapse Diamond also lists what he calls the “twelve problems of non-sustainability”; the eight that have contributed to almost every past societal collapse, these being:

  1. Deforestation and habitat destruction
  2. Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses)
  3. Water management problems
  4. Overhunting
  5. Overfishing
  6. Effects of introduced species on native species
  7. Overpopulation
  8. Increased per-capita impact of people

and these four new factors that are putting our current and future societies at risk:

  1. Human-caused climate change
  2. Buildup of toxins in the environment
  3. Energy shortages
  4. Full human utilisation of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity

We now know that believing an organisation is too big to fail is to practice arrogance, but we still fail to consider wider collapses—of societies, for example, that are not only currently experiencing many of the non-sustainable problems noted above, but have also prospered for less time than the Greenland Norse (and especially that of the Maya).

Ta Phrom Ruins, Cambodia photograph by Taylor Miles.

Aloha: Welcome to Sunny, Warm Pain Relief

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epidural

It’s taken a while for me to process the indescribable experience of giving birth, and of doing so in a country that encourages pregnant women to embrace natural (read: drug free) delivery – a timeless method which, presumably, advances in medical science have all but quashed.

Midwifery is another tradition that has been maintained in the UK, and England is one of the few countries left in the world that offers consistent, knowledgeable support to women throughout the duration of this exciting and worrisome time. It’s these midwives that dutifully perpetuate the myth that pain relief in childbirth constitutes an unnecessary intervention that interrupts the body’s natural ability to bring a child safely into this world.

My own ‘natural childbirth’ scenario was deftly revised, however, after nineteen hours of difficult contractions, when my extensive list of birth plan thou shalt nots went swiftly out the window and I heard myself whining pitifully at the new midwife on staff, “But Comfort said I could have the Pethidine and the epidural!” Thereafter I was sucking back as many different kinds of pills, gas, air and injections as the antenatal and labour wards had on offer.

While I’m still on board with the notion that any intervention could theoretically lead to more difficulties, which may then require a further intervention (a ‘cascade,’ as it’s termed), when I read the somewhat recently released BBC News story ‘Pain in Childbirth a Good Thing,’ I nearly choked on my slice of organic, granary toast.

I know that pain relief can, under certain circumstances, be a bad thing. But pain – the hours-long kind that makes you wish you could set your hair on fire just to provide a welcome distraction from a knife-twisting abdominal cramp you wouldn’t even wish on your worst enemy – that kind of pain…a good thing?

An associate professor in midwifery (professor, mind), Dr Dennis Walsh, not only called painful birth a ‘rite of passage’ but actually had the gall to insist that it ‘prepared [a woman] for the responsibility of motherhood.’ You know, because fighting nausea, swollen appendages and immobility for nine months and then lying in a pool of your own sweat and anxiety for three days straight apparently doesn’t do the trick. Personally, I thought I was on an all expense paid trip to Honolulu until someone tapped me on the shoulder and said “Psst. You do know you’re supposed to feed that thing, right?” And even then I was reluctant to leave the luau.

In my opinion, the epidural I had the Sunday morning following my first real labour pains of Friday night probably saved my sanity, if not my imminent fate on the operating table, which was a distinct possibility after so many hours with so little progress. I will never know if things could have happened differently had I only been better prepared. What I do know is that I have a beautiful child who is stronger and happier than I could have ever hoped – one who loves me, and who I love infinitely – and this has nothing to do with how much pain I experienced the morning a helpful team of midwives, doctors and anesthesiologists helped him into this world.

This new fandangle method of a drug-free birth experience may work well for some, but for me I say: bring on the stirrups and IV drip. I’ll be enjoying my Pethidine shooter on the powdery beaches of Hawaii.

Photo by Amin Ashaari

The Importance of Physicality in a Virtual World

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model

Despite the many advances in technology that allow architects to render their designs very realistically in a virtual space, most practioners (and their clients) still insist on creating painstakingly exact physical models of their designs.

An architectural model is a type of a scale model, tangible (also called sometimes physical) representation of a structure built to study aspects of an architectural design or to communicate design ideas to clients, committees, and the general public. Architectural models are a tool which may be used for show, presentation, fundraising, obtaining permits, and sale purposes. (source)

There isn’t a lot of literature around about why this is still necessary, as from a purely practical perspective AutoCAD renderings are probably more accurate – though they don’t always give an impression of how a building will feel. There seems to be a correlation between the end result – presumably a building or room or outdoor space that will exist in a physical space – and the desire to have something tangible that represents it, even in the planning stages.

Similarly, hobbyists around the world are passionate about model building. At this very moment, there are likely thousands of people around the world making scale models of cities, vehicles (air, space, water and rail), solar systems and many other strange curiosities. There is no real answer for why this is appealing, except for the obvious, which is that it makes tactile the intangible curves and edges to ideas, which do not really come alive by reading about a thing or looking at a photographic representation.

Architectural Model photograph by Joaaso.

Lomography Store: New York, London and Near You Soon

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The Future Is Analog

Lomography is introducing a new generation to the unpredictable, serendipitous world of analog photography. Since re-introducing the simple-yet-flexible LC-A back into amateur photographers hands, the company has launched a wide range of mainly plastic film cameras that produce glorious results.

Although the cameras are available through a number of re-sellers (including Urban Outfitters), the best place to browse and ask about them are the official Gallery stores.

Lomography Shop New York

The last 12 months has seen the opening of both the first American store (in New York – pictured above), and most recently, the first British store (in London; September 2009). Perhaps in-keeping with the popular anti-popularist nature of the company, the stores seem to be located in almost central areas: just off the busy streets of the West Village in New York, and just off the busy Carnaby Street of London.

An insider tells us that they have aggressive expansion plans, with new Gallery Stores planned for most major American cities in the coming months.