The Netherlands are famous for their flowers and nowhere else can you see so many of them in gorgeous presentations as in Keukenhof in Lisse. The park opened March 20th and closes May 11th. On the photo you see a ‘river’ created by blue hyacinths, with islands of pink and white tulips. My father and grandfather were flower bulb growers and I grew up close to Keukenhof and even did a holiday job there. There are worse things that work surrounded by natural beauty! Learn more at keukenhof.nl
…and that’s why I created beautyforabetterworld.org in 2020, during a time when the world was in a different kind of mayhem. Please take a look -and join with your most beautiful photo! #beauty #hope #resistance
Hommage à Claude Monet
Daniela Bretscher: “I take digital and analogue photographs. The picture ‘Hommage a Claude Monet’ is from the series Double Density, which I took in Berlin. I took the photos with my Rollei 35 SE and exposed the same film twice. In the first round I only photographed yellow objects and in the second only blue ones. This resulted in photos that were partly planned and partly left to chance and have a beauty of their own.”
Daniela’s quote: “Beauty is only created when there are irregularities and shadows that give things structure and depth. There is beauty everywhere, but beauty can only be captured with luck.”
Wayne Moss: “When you look deeply into a person’s eyes you don’t just see the pure beauty of that person, you also see the pure beauty of yourself; you see the pure beauty of us all. “
Carlo Van Hove: “An amusement pier juts out into the sea, a place where strangers meet, where strangers talk to others…….where probably you also can meet a new friend, a new love……..Isn’t love something we all need ? …… crazy, on a pier !”
‘White Swan in Rivierenhof Park, Antwerp, Belgium’
‘Small Newt and Tootpick’
‘Last Evenings’s Show, 1400 Feet Above the Pacific’
For Project Focus by Wim Tellier 250 fishermen work together to display 100 custom sails with their traditional boats in one of the most beautiful lagoons of the world located in Madagascar.
Project FOCUS was a huge art installation with 100 custom pirogues. Tellier created a 1800m long exhibition on the beautiful beach of Ankassy Lodge. The exhibition went into infinity. All the sails were photos of Irises taken with a special technique designed by Wim Tellier himself.
Project FOCUS centralises on the power of the eyes’ Iris.
The Iris is the purest part of our body the entrance to our soul. It’s the most timeless part of our body because it changes the least. Like in every project Wim Tellier searches for an unique emotional value not only he creates a timeless image for his customers but he gives them also the chance to visit in real time the exhibition Doing that he creates a very unique life experience connected to the artwork.
Project FOCUS wants to show the world how powerful art can be in the most pure form and hopes to inspire others to do something good in this beautiful world.
We love it!
IG: wim.tellier
Marlène Pauly: “A gate to a world in softness and love” Tameslouht, Morocco
IG @marlenepauly
This was an experiment by a kindergarten class: they dropped seeds in the cracks of the sidewalk, to see what would happen. Just how gorgeous is this?
‘The power of emptiness’ Famara Beach, Lanzarote
What with all the negativity and violence in the world, which is upsetting for everybody with a good heart and an ounce of empathy, we need beauty and authenticity more than ever. If we want to keep fighting for what is right, we also need to practice self-care, to prevent us from becoming too anxious or even depressed. One of my favourite ways to do this, is watching videos by Jamyang from Tibet Travel, who regularly posts the most beautiful videos of Tibetan people going about their daily lives.
It gives me back my belief that there are a lot more good people in the world than bad ones. I hope it has the same effect on you!
Katharine Hamnett: “I took this picture for my 99 year old friend to look at while she was in hospital- she had spent her entire life on boats and has had a captain’s license longer than any other woman in the world: since she was 18! She loved the Mallorcan coast and thought it was one of the most beautiful places in the world.”
Sunrise in Amed, Bali
This photographic series by Belgian photographer Vincent Lagrange captures the inherent humanity of animals and highlights their emotional depth and the beauty of Mother Nature. The photos offer a detailed, intimate look into the lives of these animals.
These photos not only reveal the striking similarities between animals and humans, but also remind us of the intense bonds we share with nature. Just like us, animals experience a range of emotions, form social bonds, and exist in a community. These images remind us that we are not alone on this planet, but rather closely interconnected with the animals around us.
The series not only showcases the beauty of animals, but also reminds us of the importance of conservation. The grandeur and majesty of the images inspire a sense of wonder and respect for the environment, and a desire to protect and preserve it for future generations.
You can still visit the gorgeous exhibition Between Us until April 23 in Leonhard’s Gallery, Schuttershofstraat 34 in 2000 Antwerp. Don’t miss it!
Just how gorgeous is this owl with its all over hearty feathers? Check our Earth Unreal Official on Facebook to see more wonderful images from all over the world
Mikiodo: “I find beauty everywhere. I particularly love suns, moons, clouds and sky. Always changing, sometimes unpredictable. This image was stormy morning clouds with a quick peep of the most gorgeous pink-orange color that appeared; it still excites me. It’s simple and the color is almost unreal. I often love to shoot alone in nature, even if it’s lonely. It’s a way of connecting to the bigger picture.”
IG:@mikiodo
“Beauty is just a matter of light”
Rafael Jimenez: “I met Ross when he just moved to Paris. He was doing his laundry in a Lavomatic and I was passing by. We used him as a model at the showroom and introduced him to Success Agency. He did the Rick Owens show and quite a few other brands. We became friends. This capture was at home. We were just having fun and I noticed his tattoo. I realised there was a similitude with him and captured it in this shot.”
IG: @therafaeljimenez
IG: @rossmackenzie
IG@williamseldenstudio
http://williamseldenlondon.com
You probably have seen the gorgeous black and white photos made by refugee kids in our Gallery, which they made under supervision of a mobile photo lab. They are preparing their next project near the border of Turkey with Syria and you can help them make it happen!
Here’s what project leader Serbest Salih writes:
“We are soon embarking on a new journey near the Turkish Syrian border with our mobile darkroom caravan. We will travel from village to village and give an opportunity to children to express themselves through photography.With your support, we will make this happen and reach the most distant places in this area. We constantly need equipment, chemicals, cameras, and support from all artists and humans worldwide who believe in the power of art and photography. With your support and even by donating a small amount to our campaign, you’ll make a clear statement that you believe in us, in our children, and in the power of arts in bringing change to the world.”
Watch the campaign video here:
Young people are the future when it comes to achieving a better world. This is why we rounded up a lot of resources where you can discover social activists and organisations that all fight to achieve the UN Global Goals. Take a look, choose one or more that you like best and get going!
March for our Lives (gun safety)
https://marchforourlives.com/mission-story
Pia Mancini
Pia Mancini is an activist and project leader from Argentina. She is co-founder of Democracy Earth and Open Collective.
Rock the Vote
Building the political power of young people
David Hogg
For gun safety and getting young people registered to vote
https://time.com/6186538/david-hogg-guns-march-for-our-lives/
Noam Chomsky
Activist, Professor and Philosopher
Youth for Democracy
https://www.coe.int/en/web/youth/programme
Climate Action
Young People for the Global Goals
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/youth/
Understand the News
Planned Parenthood
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/
Born This Way Foundation
Founded by Lady Gaga, the BTW Foundation offers programs and initiatives aimed at demonstrating the power of kindness to impact well-being, validating the emotions of young people everywhere and eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health.
So pleased to announce that I’m in the jury again of the Global Design Graduate Show, as Founder of Beauty without Irony and Beauty for a Better World.
The Global Graduate Show is a project of ARTSTHREAD in collaboration with Gucci.
This year I will be judging in the Fine Art / Photography / Craft categories, all 3 categories that are very close to my heart.
There will be judges for Digital, Visual Comm and Film / Fashion, Accessories and Textiles / Product, Architecture and Interiors / Fine Art ,Photography and Craft.
Open to apply!
The Global Design Graduate Show in collaboration with Gucci is open to all art and design students (undergraduate and postgraduate) graduating this year 2022 (Southern hemisphere graduating after October 2021) in any related discipline, located anywhere in the world.
The Global Design Graduate Show 2022 is your chance to share your creative work alongside your peers from around the world and get it judged by industry leaders.
Who can enter?
Open internationally to all art and design undergraduate or postgraduate students graduating in the Academic Year 2020-21 – i.e. October 2021 to July 2022.
Entry: Free to apply
Deadline to apply: August 31, 2022
In a tweet by The Nobel Prize today (May 16, 2022), the Dalai Lama says:
“We all live on one planet. According to that reality there’s no longer emphasis on ‘my nation, my country.’ We should think of ‘we humanity.’”
On the ‘International Day of Living Together in Peace’ watch the interview that The Nobel Prize had with the Dalai Lama: https://youtu.be/Vlhlw01qWJs
Did you know that almost two-thirds of the world’s population experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year?
Green School Bali grade 10 scholar Dipta (see photo) has dedicated to take this matter into his own hands, starting with his own village, Kintamani. @liquify_bali began as a middle school project and now is a social enterprise committed to the triple P: Profit, People and Planet.
Since Liquify started, recharge wells were built impacting the lives of more than 300 villagers in Kintamani. Dipta is making it his personal mission to ensure this project continues to spread change in communities all around the island.
Find more info about the Green School and their achievements here: https://www.greenschool.org/
With thanks to Green School founder John Hardy for the news.
Ljiljana Jokovic: “True beauty is the one towards the world around us, towards nature, it is everywhere and all around us. If we only take notice and take a step back, we can see that our planet is the most wonderful place. Beauty is also where love lives, love to our closest, love to the children, to the animals, birds, to freedom, to life itself. I have been doing photography since 2017 and it gives me great pleasure. I collect incredible moments and make them last forever. Pure love also lies in doing what you love, what inspires you. It can be writing, drawing, being involved in any of the forms of art.”
Branislava Jokovic: “Art is something irreplaceable when it comes to dealing with mental stress, it places us in an ecstatic state of mind in which we are closer to God and to our emotional resources. Out there, in that imaginative reality, we can truly find comfort and hope. To me, excitement creates beauty and art is what makes excitement.“
Youtube channel Banamusic: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBTFhFB17RtVgT7tN8_uo2A
Colleen Cassar: “I know I see beauty when my heart sings”
IG: @roamlikequeens
Kim Jones: “Somewhere over the North Pole is beauty”
IG @mrkimjones
Quite a few people are curious about how a fashion journalist could become a social activist, so we decided to publish the biography of BFBW’s founder Ninette Murk. Take a drink and a comfortable seat and enjoy!
Ninette Murk (born January 22nd, 1954 in Haarlem, The Netherlands) is a social activist, writer, consultant, curator and networker focusing on projects that make the world a better place through the use of pop culture (social media, fashion, art, photography…). She lives in Antwerp, Belgium
Early life
Ninette Murk was born the daughter of a flower bulb merchant and a librarian and grew up surrounded by beauty, books and music. As a 6 year old girl she wanted to become a doctor in Africa, until she discovered she couldn’t stand the sight of blood. Her favourite hobbies were reading and writing. She lived in the small village of Hillegom, which soon became too small for her and at 16 she moved to Bergen op Zoom, near the southern border of The Netherlands. She got bored with school around this period too, as she felt the classical system slowed her down. Her next years were spent learning-by-doing, reading a lot, going to concerts and enjoying the life of a young woman in the Seventies. In 1976 her son Mischa was born from a relationship with a Welsh traveler and two years later she left for Antwerp, Belgium with her son, to live with her new boyfriend (and later first husband).
First career in fashion
In Antwerp she met a lot of fledgling young fashion designers, make-up artists and stylists and she also honed her craft as a buyer and reseller of secondhand and vintage clothes. She married her first husband in 1982 and her daughter Nona was born 2 years later. The relationship didn’t go well, so in 1988 she left her husband and went to live on her own with her two children. Her first years as a divorced mother were lonely and she filled her days writing diaries and short stories. One day a well-known Belgian singer read some of her work and advised her to ‘do something’ with her talent for language. She started to work for free for avantgarde publications such as Blaazuit, Sheap and Pulp and soon after applied for a job as text editor at a new monthly Belgian magazine called Feeling. After doing some trial stories she got accepted and graduated from correcting other people’s texts to working as a journalist herself within the year. First she wrote about general subjects, but soon she focused on young Belgian and international creative talents and as most of those people were her friends, she could come up with exclusive stories. Next to Feeling she started to write for Belgian and international magazines- including a few in Japan, as the Antwerp designers were very popular there in the Nineties. Next to writing stories, Ninette also started to organise fashion and commercial shoots, went to Paris Fashion Week every season (both for women and men) and was busy and quite happy for a while, until 9/11 happened in NYC and she started to wonder if this was the kind of work she wanted to keep doing until her retirement. The answer was a firm no.
Second life as a HIV/AIDS activist
Ninette was fashion director at newspaper Het Volk in the Nineties, when her assistant Peter Verhelst (who was in his early Forties), passed away from AIDS. She couldn’t understand how this was still possible in a developed country and started to ask her children and other teens what they knew about HIV/AIDS and safe sex. The results were shocking: they didn’t know and they didn’t care. From that moment on, Ninette decided to use her contacts in the fashion and media worlds to set up projects that would educate young people about HIV/AIDS and the need for safe sex and why this was so important. Her first project, supported by Evisu (a Japanese denim brand), was Designers Do Denim (2001), for which she motivated all the important Belgian fashion designers, some musicians and even Ministers of State to customise a piece of denim, that were later exhibited in museums in Antwerp and Utrecht (The Netherlands) and then auctioned for HIV/AIDS research by the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. This project was a huge success and even journalist Suzy Menkes came to see an exhibition of the denim pieces in Antwerp and wrote about it for The New York Times. Soon after, with the help of her second husband Peke, who she married in 2008, Ninette founded Designers against AIDS (DAA) as a project of her NGO Beauty without Irony (BWI) and started to look for partners and fashion brands to help her get the message out. After a few hard years (the world was not ready for this kind of awareness, as they felt AIDS was either over or ‘just’ a gay or African disease) she proposed a collection designed and presented by international celebrities to global fashion retailer H&M in Stockholm and the result was Fashion against AIDS, that ran for 5 years and raised over 13 million euros for HIV/AIDS NGO’s working with young people. With their part of the proceeds, DAA founded an education center in 2010, where international students learned how to create and implement cool HIV prevention campaigns. This work was done until 2015, when Ninette became seriously ill – first with Cauda Equina Syndrome and 2 years later a spinal stroke, meaning that she couldn’t lead her center anymore, or had the energy to find partners and sponsors. Everything grounded to a halt.
Third career in social activism through beauty
Because Ninette spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals and in bed, she had plenty of time to think about next steps. She was about to retire, except that was the last thing she wanted, as she felt there was still a lot to do when it came to making the world a better place and she didn’t want to let her experience go to waste. She decided to focus on beauty (as in nature, love, compassion, discovering other cultures…not lipsticks) to lift people up and remind them to do their bit to preserve the beauty that’s still left in the world as well as they can. “If you love it, you will protect it”. Through her NGO Beauty without Irony she started several projects, the most important of which is Beauty for a Better World (BFBW), that was founded in March 2020 as an antidote to the feelings of helplessness and despair due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The concept of BFBW, which is an ongoing project as so many young people are anxious due to what’s happening in the world, is to ask people -ranging from small children to well known celebrities- to send in a photo, illustration or other work that they made and that reflects their idea of real beauty. Usually contributors also send in a quote or even a full story about true beauty. The works are exhibited in an online gallery and there are plans for expos in real life and a book, with the proceeds going to charity. In 2025 Ninette still is not back to full health physically, but busier than ever. From 2021 -2023 she (together with her NGO BWI and other experienced people from her network) also consulted for the nr 1 educational/charity app in the world: the Global Goals app, created by Samsung together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The app has around 380 million users and 11 million daily views and is translated in 83 different languages (May 2023). Ninette contacted well-known people from her network and asked them to give some practical tips -to do with one of the Global Goals- for young people, tips that they can easily apply in their daily life, with friends, at school and/or in their community. All fees for the consultancy were donated to NGO Beauty without Irony, to help with their work. She now focuses on Beauty for a Better World and on her online social activism projects together with her friend Katharine Hamnett about voting, sustainability, Gaza and more, culminating in videos, guerrilla projections on state buildings and articles in media such as V Magazine. Her story is not over yet!
Ninette didn’t become a doctor in Africa, but she hopes that her work will still have a positive impact on the world.
Jobs & Projects (more or less in reverse order)
It’s always nice to discover projects of BFBW contributors, so we were delighted when we learned about the new charity campaign of illustrator Jarno Kettunen together with footwear and accessory brand Jimmy Choo, benefitting the JCM Foundation.
The Atlanta (USA) based JCM Foundation -raising money and awareness for early detection and cure for Pancreatic Cancer- invited artist Jarno Kettunen and fashion company Jimmy Choo to partner together for its ArtCAN 2021 fundraiser event. This unique and exclusive collaboration resulted in a printed T-shirt capsule collection featuring Jarno Kettunen’s custom made fashion illustrations as well as a live in-store portrait drawing and shopping event at the Jimmy Choo Atlanta store in December 2021.
The live event was a great success and helped raise $ 17.000 to support Pancreatic Cancer research at Johns Hopkins and Emory Universities.
Too late for me, you say? It is not too late to participate at all, as the fundraiser continues with the sale of these à la mode JCM Foundation x Jimmy Choo x Jarno Kettunen abstract art printed super-soft cotton T-shirts, available in both womenswear and unisex styles. Please join us and support a great cause by shopping these awesome t-shirts, now available worldwide at Jarno Kettunen’s online shop!
See and purchase the T-shirts here:
https://www.jarnok.com/online-store
And here’s a cool video of the event, enjoy!
Tony Whelan:
“So that’s what it is !!”
So there I was, sitting here, looking at the photo,(which I call Time Handed Down), that’s another story, anyway, there I was, sitting here, waiting for inspiration to strike, grappling with words for a poetic line, even some simple rhyme, a one-liner, a quirky quote to make you think I’m some sort of influencer or prophet, gifted and blessed with that string of words to share with you, those words that would make you say “So that’s what it is !!”.
To get to the point: what I realised was, all I was doing was wasting time, getting caught up in something I know needs no explaining, it just is.
Time is so many things, at its most beautiful when you share it.
IG @somewhereinhillegom
When someone loses a person they love, it can be hard to find the right words to show that you care. But now, you can choose from a series of free cards have been designed to send to those experiencing different stages of grief.
Sue Ryder, the national bereavement charity, has launched a range of sympathy cards, designed to be sent when someone first experiences a bereavement, a few months on and at difficult times including the first anniversary, birthday and Christmas since their bereavement.
They have been specially designed in support of Sue Ryder’s Grief Kind campaign. The messages on the cards are words that people who have been bereaved told the charity had helped them, including ‘I don’t know what to say, but I am sending you so much love’, ‘I know it’s still tough, I’m still here for you’, ‘I’m always here if you need to talk, or even if you don’t’ and ‘You never need to lie when I ask how you’re doing’.
Sue Ryder’s research found that over four fifths of bereaved people felt that people around them didn’t know what to say or do when they were grieving.
“Everyone’s experience of grief is unique, but you don’t have to be a trained counsellor to support someone who has experienced a bereavement,” said Bianca Neumann, head of bereavement at Sue Ryder.
“We need to start meeting grief with warmth and acceptance, rather than fear. It’s time to begin the conversation, instead of shying away because we are worried about saying the wrong thing or think it might make the bereaved person feel worse.
“Sending one of these cards will not take away the pain and emotion of grief, but it could be the first step in someone finally feeling comfortable to talk honestly about how they are feeling.”
In order to help open up meaningful conversations about grief, each pack of cards includes prompt cards with advice on what to write and other practical tips on how to be Grief Kind.
The advice includes avoiding saying anything too stiff or formal, and to be honest if you’re struggling to find the words. It’s good to let people know that you don’t expect a reply, or to share a favourite memory of the person who has died.
So far the sympathy cards have been well-received; one person called them “beautiful and comforting”, whilst another said “these could actually help someone initiate a conversation.”
The Sue Ryder Grief Kind cards are free to order for a limited period with an optional donation via sueryder.org/griefkind
Source: Charlie Duffield for Smileyworld
Michael Denardo: “The purpose of pure beauty is to uplift, inspire and keep alive the spirit of transcendence. I was able to escape the confines of lockdown by creating my own surreal landscapes of beauty to inspire me. By spending quality time in the countryside during lockdown I was able to discover nature in a way I hadn’t experienced before. A discovery of many plants and flowers I have never known existed. The beauty of nature gave me the opportunity to escape the collective anxiety I perceived daily in the media and allowed me to feel vital and connected in a time of general crisis. Post Covid I hope that we are able to find beauty in the every day and each other by focusing on the present moment.”
IG @ Denardomichael
Pure Beauty personifies letting go of any conditioning.
Beauty can arise from moments of crises by staying in the end result of a life you love.
My hopes for humanity in a post Covid world is to stay in the positive of possibilities to manifest their dreams.
“They go inside a building to talk to their god. We go out into the natural world — and our Creator speaks to us” -Lakota Man
Today we discovered this wonderful video by US Youtuber Nick K about Kampung Warna Warni (meaning Rainbow Village) in Malang (Java) – a slum that was going to be demolished, until a group of students suggested refurbishing everything and giving the entire neighbourhood a lot of colour.
People there still live in tiny spaces, but the love and sympathy for each other and for visitors is palpable. Money doesn’t make you happy (as long as you can pay your bills, obviously) – love and compassion do. We feel this is a perfect story for the holidays. Enjoy!
One of our favourite artists is British Mark Titchner and we love this banner. What do you think, is he right?
Europe is full of traditional festivals, where strange figures, vegetation spirits, wild men and monstrous creatures appear.
Many of these characters are extremely ancient and popular, with rituals associated with seasonal and agricultural cycles.
These are some of the photos taken by Charles Fréger, a photographer who has traveled for years portraying these masks that he collected for his book “Wilder Mann”.
See all the gorgeous photos and read more about the artist here: https://www.charlesfreger.com/portfolio/wilder-mann/
Retailers are embracing positivity and joy through window displays to spread a much-needed message of hope and optimism for the future.
London department store Harvey Nichols has just unveiled its Christmas windows, which have been designed to spread joy and happiness. The facade has been transformed into modern stained glass windows, flooding the street with vibrant patterns and light. Each window features different colours to evoke emotion – yellow creates a sense of energy and excitement, orange grabs attention with a happy and uplifting effect, and blue projects feelings of calmness and tranquillity.
Source: WGSN
A travelling darkroom teaches refugee children to use photography as a means of expression.
In Mardin, a city in Turkey near the Syria border, a program called Sirkhane Darkroom has been launched that allows children and teens in the area to photograph what is around them, with the aim of showing a piece of the world through their eyes.
The project was born in 2017 and was curated by photographer Serbest Salih, who studied photography in Aleppo before fleeing Syria with his family in 2014, as Islamic State militia progressed towards Kobane, his hometown. As told by CNN, Salih showed the boys the operation of analogue cameras, taught them the basics of image composition and technique and provided film cameras for use for a couple of weeks. Then he showed how to develop photos and choose the best ones.
A hundred photos were collected in a book ‘We Gasp For More Than Just Air’ published by Mack. Sirkhane Darkroom is part of Her Yerde Sanat-Sirkhane, a not-for-profit organisation that runs a circus school, art festival and music school for children from war zones, to which all proceeds from the book will go.
In 2019 Salih thought to make his project mobile and began travelling across the border to offer laboratories to children and children aged 7 and older, until with the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 shifting became more complicated. Many of the children who made the photographs are refugees fleeing the war in Syria and Iraq: the project is aimed at teaching them to use photography as a means of expression.
In the conclusion of the book, Salih writes: ′′ When you look at these photographs collected together, you see children sharing real moments of their lives: inside their homes, with their friends, with family. It’s not the photographs adults would expect to see when they grew up surrounded by conflict; it’s not photographs of trauma or sadness. I am a testament to the resilience of childish imagination, the healing power of photography and the enchanting perspective of childhood.”
Washington Post photo editor Kenneth Dickerman highlighted how photographing is a tool to be seen and how ′′ seeing people and recognising them helps restore a sense of self. And sharing it with the world helps to cement that sense of self.”
Source: Abrasivo Cultural
IG@ persjodell
We were very happy to receive a video about the recently finished mural by artist Geert Nys (alias ‘ABSumo’, Absolute Unique Moments), who created the concept and then had it painted by… robots, with the help of Belgian telecom giant Proximus.
The artist uses a wheelchair himself, but that’s not the point. According to him, artists should focus on creating, while robots can do the dirty work.
The video is partly in Flemish and partly in English and can be enjoyed by everybody.
IG @ absumoma
Doin’ It
On a gloomy, rainy walk in North Carolina, I was struck by the beauty of a ray of sunlight penetrating a shallow and muddy body of water. It created an explosion of colours that stopped me in my tracks. When my eyes focused more, I noticed the two frogs ‘doin’it’ -creating new life. I love finding beauty in the most unexpected places and under less favourable circumstances.
Quote: ” I love finding beauty in the most unexpected places and under less favourable circumstances.”
Big Hair, Big Love
We decided to use this shoot as a campaign for Beauty for a Better World. Together with the BFBW founder we created this story. For me, this is perfect beauty, beauty with a twist, beauty with a dream, and a vision.
There is a huge need to dream again; the world needs inspiration more than ever. We need to collect all this beauty as a massive shoutout to let people create and dream again. Transgender and gay people are still the centre of disrespect and incomprehension.
With this story, I want to show that there is nothing more beautiful than a body in its pure art form. Whatever gender, whatever orientation you are, it’s all the same: love.”
Giel Domen: “I want to show that there is nothing more beautiful than a body in its pure art form. Whatever gender, whatever orientation you are, it’s all the same: love.”