Month: November 2015

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Thom Estifanos

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“I first fell in love with skateboarding as a young kid. Me and my brother started to skate around our neighborhood in Skövde, Sweden. Skateboarding became a big part of my everyday life. My friends and I started a skate crew and all the days we spent together were amazing. Skateboarding gives you the opportunity to be creative on so many different levels… I got involved with Ethiopia Skate by chance. As many things in life happen at random, the more you travel, the more people you meet. I have always loved that about traveling around the world. Getting to know new places. I originally traveled to Ethiopia to work as a photojournalist interning at an English newspaper. On one of my first days in Addis, after doing a story on the National Museum, I saw one of the skate kids with a board and asked if I could try it. He ended up giving me the number to Sean. Sean Stromsoe (from LA) founded Ethiopia Skate with Abenezer Temesgen, who lives in Germany but is originally …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Rose Chang

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“August 2008 — One of my best friends from childhood was getting married in Maui. I think this was the last trip I took where digital cameras were the norm, so all of my pictures and videos are burned on a CD (haha! tell that phrase to a 20 year old!!) somewhere. I’ve never been a huge picture taker anyways. I’ve always thought that what doesn’t stick in my memory just doesn’t deserve to be remembered. I challenge this theory more and more as I age, and it’s a discussion for another time. For now, I’ll describe the moments during this trip in which my memory dwells, and from which sensibilities linger.  So back to Maui, August 2008… Three girlfriends and I planned to attend the wedding together and spend some extra time traveling afterwards. The first few days we went fancy tourist: Gunning down beach side highways in a fire-red mustang convertible. A table setting with six different glasses at The Ritz for a bachelorette dinner party. The wedding was picturesque–on the beach at the …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Maze Marshall

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“I’m a paralyzed veteran who uses a power wheelchair and I have congestive heart failure. I took my wife to Frankfurt, Germany in March. Once we arrived, an old Army buddy met us at the airport. There weren’t any accessible vehicles available so I put my wife, luggage and oxygen in a taxi to the hotel. He and I would take the subway as my research showed we were only 6 stops away. My research was wrong, we got off the subway and were about 1 mile away from the hotel. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem, but my chair was low on power. We got within a half mile of the hotel when I had to go inside an office building to seek shelter from freezing temperatures and use their electricity to charge my chair. I’m not fluent in German and neither was my friend however, the building we were in had an English speaking receptionist, she used to be married to a G. I. The only problem is I don’t have a …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Danielle Williams

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“I live in Arizona (Tempe) but am from the Diné (Navajo) Nation in Tuba City, Arizona. I travel to many different Native American reservations throughout the nation typically to photograph and visit friends and family. I am full-blooded Diné so let me properly introduce myself (translation to follow) – Shí éí Danielle Williams yinishyé. Kinyaa’áanii nishłí. Ta’neeszahnii báshíshchíín. Tł’ízíłání dashicheii. Tódích’íinii dashinálí. Tónaneesdízí dęę’ naashá. Shimá dóó shizhé’é éí Rose Marie dóó Daniel Williams wolyé. Ákót’éego éí asdzáa Diné nishłí. My name is Danielle Williams. I am of the Towering House clan, born for the Tangle People clan. My maternal grandfather is of the Manygoats clan and my paternal grandfather is of the Bitter Water clan. I am from Tuba City. My mother and father are Rose Marie and Daniel Williams. In this way, I am a Navajo woman. The purpose for “Old Love” was to restore balance because I was taught that love is the most powerful and beautiful gift of all. We know this because of the Love that the Holy Ones have …

#Artlife: Dan Flavin’s “Corners, Barriers, and Corridors”

Published by Khadijat Oseni

Fluorescent lighting isn’t exactly the sexiest invention known to man but somehow Dan Flavin mastered transforming this mundane and sometimes annoyingly buzzing source of light into magical works of art. A minimalist who referred to himself as a “Maximalist”, Flavin was able to create transcendent, futuristic teleports through fluorescent light tubes and bend reality in ways that were so delicate yet strikingly alluring at the same time. Last month, I was glad to have been able to actively explore perceptions of space through the beautifully curated, “Corners, Barriers, and Corridors,” a collection of some of Flavin’s noted works from the 1960s and 70s at David Zwirner Gallery in New York City. Though the exhibit has since ended, Dan Flavin’s pieces still conjure up many thoughts on duality which have helped expand my definitions on style and aesthetics. While at the gallery, I unknowingly started to play with binary oppositions like femininity vs. masculinity, anonymity vs. recognition through the masking silhouettes, tones and shadows formed from the different color gradations of each piece. Here are some …