Marlène Pauly: “A gate to a world in softness and love” Tameslouht, Morocco
IG @marlenepauly
Categories
Marlène Pauly
Category: daily life
Categories
Rural life in Tibet
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!
Categories
William Selden
IG@williamseldenstudio
http://williamseldenlondon.com
Categories
Ljiljana Jokovic
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.”
Categories
Branislava ‘Bana’ Jokovic
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
Categories
Colleen Cassar
Colleen Cassar: “I know I see beauty when my heart sings”
IG: @roamlikequeens
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
Categories
Per Sjödell
IG@ persjodell
Categories
Hannelore Knuts
Hannelore Knuts: “Co-parenting in action to keep all of us sane -and a little bit crazy”
IG@hanneloreknuts
Categories
Werner Van Reck
Werner Van Reck: “I don’t know who said this, but I think it’s fantastic: ‘Beauty is the only truth'”
IG @wernervanreck
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underprivileged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
Categories
Kate Baxter
Kate Baxter: “For me, beauty is simple and comforting”
IG @kateabaxter
Categories
Jessica Ogden
Jessica Ogden: “Beauty is when eyes talk love”
IG @the_cats_whiskers
Categories
Federico Marchetti
Federico Marchetti: “To me beauty is freedom. Last year, when we couldn’t leave our homes, I took this photo of Lake Como with my drone. The sky reflected on the surface of the water reminded me of the infinite opportunities we have to find beauty in this world.”
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
IG @sirkhanedarkroom
Categories
Steven Laureys
“During my last holiday in Quebec, I went climbing with my son Matias. The rock was next to a magnificent waterfall. Hanging by my rope, I wanted at all costs to take several pictures of him. I was adamant about providing Matias with a tangible memory of the moment. It did not take long before he got really annoyed with having me behind his back like a paparazzi. He turned around towards me and I never forgot what he told me then. ‘Dad when are you going to put away that camera of yours and admire the landscape around you? Look how beautiful! Enjoy it!’ Of course, he was spot on. My thirteen-year-old son called me back to the obvious: hanging by my rope, I was surrounded by the splendours of nature. And the only thing that mattered to me was to capture in pictures for later the spectacle that I was missing out on in the present moment. Mindfulness is just about that: living the present moment, here and now. Becoming aware of oneself, of what surrounds us, of the lived moment and the unique quality of happiness each brings. Unfortunately, we often mix up states of mind and thought.”
From “The no-nonsense meditation book” Bloomsbury Press – Green Tree 2021
IG @ drstevenlaureys
Categories
Sir Paul Smith
Sir Paul Smith: “What pure beauty is? The love of the countryside, open spaces, the views and fresh air”
Categories
Teun Voeten
Teun Voeten: “Fantastic, beautiful, happy girls, wearing nothing but tattered dresses in faded gradients and primary colours, but they radiate a fierce energy and vitality. They use an old plane, a Junckers JU-52, which stands on an abandoned airport in Kabul, as a slide. The girls are poor, but full of strength and energy.”
Teun Voeten: “Beauty gives us wings, so we can escape the gravity and banality of daily existence.”
www.teunvoeten.com
IG@teunvoeten
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
Categories
Ben Van Alboom
Ben Van Alboom: “Beauty is jazz is beauty. Bold. Pure. Idiosyncratic. In the moment. Imaginative. Alive. Authentic. Distinctive. Free.”
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
Categories
Emerald Rose Whipple
Emerald Rose Whipple: “Beauty recognises itself through us. It touches on the ephemeral nature of all things. When we witness something that impermanent, we witness a moment in time passing.
The fleeting fragility of life is what makes something beautiful to me. I cherish flowers, they are here only for a moment in time, yet they bring innocence and a gentleness to the world.”
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
IG @sirkhanedarkroom
Categories
Boris Dittrich
Bay near Vancouver, Canada (June 2023)
Chris Mooney: “There is nothing more beautiful than the silence of humility observed in the aid of others without notice or credit. Sort of like this fresh snow and the highlighted tree, except we can see it here. The beauty observed!”
IG@chrisloganmooney
Categories
Sacha Van Wiele
Sacha Van Wiele: “The Ferris wheel of the Sinksenfoor in Antwerp: a skeleton in the burning summer sun. Just looking at this picture makes you sweat.”
IG @sachavanwiele
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
Categories
Julius Poole
Julius Poole: “I shot this image at a friends’ house and found it to be quite beautiful. It’s the top of Antwerp Centraal Station at sunset. You can see the sky in the glass. It was my friend’s birthday that day. A beautiful image and beautiful moment indeed.”
IG: @juliuspoole
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
Categories
Marco Santaniello
Marco Santaniello: “I always thought ‘What’s more beautiful than seeing people from all countries/ and races, all gathered together, cheering happily and sharing everything, all focused on the same cause?’
In the case of a crowd of festive supporters the cause is obviously their team, but what if we start thinking of our earth as our team? We could change everything. People can change everything – but only if they are together”
Website: https://mixmixmix6.wixsite.com/marcosantaniellotemp (temporary url )
Twitter/IG: @Superstarmix
Kakao Talk: Superstarmix
Wechat/LINE: superstarmix1
Categories
Bolaji Alonge
Bolaji Alonge, aka Eyes of a Lagos Boy, uses macro photography to show the inner world of street flowers of Lagos. These flowers grow in city gardens and sidewalks in between the dirt and rubble. They symbolize the beauty of nature, both fragile and strong at the same time. Together with Lagosians, they stand proudly in the midst of the urban jungle. Bolaji shows beauty where it is least expected. During these trying times, when uncertainty is the new normal, the “small” things in life can make all the difference. However, once enlarged, they can become magical objects of wonder.
Bolaji Alonge is an artist, photographer, journalist and actor from Lagos, Nigeria with more than a decade of experience in documenting history. Bolaji Alonge’s visual language speaks of the wonders of nature and human exchange and searches for historical continuity in a world that is fractured. He shows his beloved Lagos from unexpected angles, a city that inspires and captivates imagination, but also pulls people into a vortex of energy and constant challenges. Images of everyday life in Nigeria carry deep social messages that expose fragility, audacity but also squalor. Bolaji makes the viewer reconsider what we have seen with our own eyes, through the Eyes of a Lagos Boy.
Quote: Bolaji shows beauty where it is least expected. During these trying times, when uncertainty is the new normal, the “small” things in life can make all the difference.
Website: http://eyesofalagosboy.com
Bolaji Alonge: “I show beauty where it is least expected. During these trying times, when uncertainty is the new normal, the “small” things in life can make all the difference.”
To be pure, beauty has to create an emotion, but not any type of emotion.
I believe it creates an emotion in you so sudden it connects you instantly with deep down feelings, what you might be in constant search for without finding it and then “BAM!” it’s there and suddenly it’s gone, with all what it has of preciosity. Or it might bring you to a contemplative state, an understanding, a surging questioning, a mesmerising vision of pure beauty, rarely fabricated, often accidental, many times connected to the true sense of living. Pure beauty is in essence valuable for who can be sensitive to it.
About the photo: “‘Moment de grâce’ walking the other day in a field toward this apparently immobile crow, it suddenly took off when I came upon it. It is me willing to fly away, it is me willing to be a bird, to experience what is beyond ourselves.”
Title: Walk
Olivier Theyskens: “Pure beauty is in essence valuable for who can be sensitive to it.”
Zeynep: “People think that only cars use this road- I wanted to show that animals do too”
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underprivileged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
We are very proud to present the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
We are proud to present you the photography work of children for the Sirkhane Darkroom project.
DARKROOM is a small mobile photography workshop for vulnerable and underpriviliged children residing in the south east of Turkey, a few miles from the Syrian border.
The project is part of Sirkhane, whose mission it is to provide hope and beauty through social circus, music and arts for the most vulnerable children effected by conflicts and war
Discover more about the project here: https://heryerdesanat.org/darkroom
Categories
Nancy Ruffin
Nancy Ruffin: “Mother Nature has the best box of crayons”
IG @ruffinnancy
Categories
Pia Versele
Pia Versele: “Beauty is everywhere, anything, endless, vision, emotion, overwhelming, attraction, seeing, discovering, feeling, tasting, touching, hearing, smiling, affection, melting, wellbeing…”
Categories
Chris Philippo
Chris Philippo: “Pure Beauty to me, is the reason that we smile, we feel, we survive and therefore we are. It is the reason we feel pain and therefore feel joy.”
IG @chrisphilippo
Categories
Raphael Bouquet (7)
About his illustration, Raphael says: “This drawing is of the planets because I think space is amazing, I always like looking up at the sky at night to see the stars.” What Raphael would like to see change in the world: “What I would like to see in the world is for people not to die of Coronavirus. This makes me feel very sad.”
Raphael Bouquet: “What I would like to see in the world is for people not to die of Coronavirus. This makes me feel very sad.”
Categories
Quincy Nelson-Watson (3)
Quincy’s drawing is of his birthday party, playing with balloons and eating cake.
What Quincy thinks is beautiful: “My garden and playing hide & seek with my sister.”
Quincy Nelson-Watson: “I love my garden and playing hide & seek with my sister.”
Categories
Acacia Nelson-Watson (6)
About her illustration, Acacia says says: “This drawing is of my family on my birthday and hanging a pinata from the tree.”
What she thinks is beautiful: “Family, friends, laughing, fun and nature.”
What Acacia would like to see change in the world: “I want Coronavirus to go away. I want to see my aunty and cousins feel safe when they come from Belgium and see me in England.”
Acacia Nelson- Watson: ” I love my family, friends, laughing, fun and nature.”
Categories
Stoffie
Categories
Bea Bouquet (11)
My idea of beauty is being by the sea. My Mummy asked me where I wanted to go for a short break in Belgium and I said anywhere as long as it is near water. I love to be near water whether it is the sea, a river or a lake. That is my idea of beauty. I feel relaxed then.
My hope for the future is that people will start caring more about the planet we live on. I want people to care about young people like me having a future. I want to be like Greta Thunberg. She’s not bothered about being popular, she just wants to save the world.
Quote: “I want to be like Greta Thunberg. She’s not bothered about being popular, she just wants to save the world.”
In Obudu Mountain there is so much to come across and there are several waterfalls to see. They have the Grontto fall, where the pool is not too deep. The one pictured is one of the deepest pools, which is about 20 feet deep. Only little kids were found swimming in this deep pool -they are great swimmers!
Story and photos by Babatunde Aremu, Nigeria- one of the artists taking part in Beauty for a Better World
I am a singer/songwriter/producer and artistic director. I own Isotop Records. My mission: to create beauty through sounds, words and visuals with always an edge of humor. True beauty doesn’t take itself seriously. It just exists— it never needs to feel superior nor to compare itself- as it understands its uniqueness.
About Love Elastic:
I was conceived in Fort Lauderdale. My parents got engaged on a specific strip of beach called Sebastian (before it was the gay bit) where they had been escaping regularly for years to just be—- lovers. As a kid they took me there. I was happy. It was our ”fetish” vacation location. On my 4th Birthday, mom died. And I returned alone with my father each year well into my teens– bitter sweet each time.
Flash forward many years; I have cancer/recover from it/dad had died by then and I decided to revisit my childhood beach during my post-surgery down time…
Boom; I meet my husband EXACTLY sitting where I’d been building sand castles. We get engaged— on Sebastian. We spend 6 fantastic years together and suddenly he gets a dream job offer abroad. I push him to accept. I can’t allow him to miss out on his destiny…
This pushes me to write ”Love Elastic”! The idea being: ”Because true love isn’t possessive, it is flexible, its shape morphs through time, it rarely breaks; — it is elastic”
He filmed the video for the song— we returned to the beach one last time. It was magical- a wonderful way to say goodbye. It’s by far my favorite clip. And Fort Lauderdale remains sacred in my heart… I visit Europe, more exotic locations- more glamorous ones; nothing beats Sebastian to me!
“The song was recorded during the first wave of the corona virus to raise awareness of respect for confinement so that the pandemic disappears as quickly as possible. My heart would like to tell you these words of love that loves you. Protect yourself and heaven will help. Stay at home, yes I’m telling you that because I love you. Confine yourself, it’s not the end, but for your own good … “
Categories
Oskar Lindholm
Oskar Lindholm: “Real beauty for me means nature, people… life comes in many colours and how boring would it be if it didn’t?”
Title: Ocean Mood, Sumba, Indonesia
What is the inspiration and story behind the submitted work?
“The inspiration I had for this image, had to be soft with a little rough edge. Think 90’s with a tender feel”
What is the definition and purpose of pure beauty to you?
“Pure beauty to me would be to stay true to yourself, enhance one of your best features. Keep it easy, there is a time and place to play around.”
Title: Tulip
David Stella-Traylor: “Pure beauty to me would be to stay true to yourself, enhance one of your best features. Keep it easy, there is a time and place to play around.”
“Real beauty is to see perfection in the imperfection”
Title: Unconditional Love
Karin Van De Schootbrugge: “Real beauty is to see perfection in the imperfection”
Categories
Swaane Lauwaert
“Beauty hides in strange places, even in sadness and sorrow.”
Title: ‘Dans toutes les larmes s’attarde un espoir” – Simone de Beauvoir
Quote: “Beauty hides in strange places, even in sadness and sorrow.”
Categories
Jean-François Carly
“Pure beauty is not only a visual or intellectual emotion, it’s a feeling that can unexpectedly get hold of you, surprises and humbles you”
Title: Laetitia
Website: https://www.jfcarly.com/
Jean-François Carly: “Pure beauty is not only a visual or intellectual emotion, it’s a feeling that can unexpectedly get hold of you, surprises and humbles you”
Categories
Chael Needle
Beauty lies in the acceptance of difference, difference as an asset, something about ourselves that could enrich our collective lives on a material and cultural basis. When I photograph, I often strive to find difference in the commonplace. In this image of trees, for instance, it almost seems like an abstract painting to me, at first, and invites the viewer to appreciate difference.
Title: Trees
Chael Needle: “Beauty lies in the acceptance of difference, difference as an asset, something about ourselves that could enrich our collective lives on a material and cultural basis.”
Categories
Anne Davis
“Real beauty is other people”
Title: Lucky Ladybird (2020)
Photo taken by Maja Barker
Anne Davis: “Real beauty is other people”
Categories
Jelle Van Seghbroeck
Categories
Babatunde Aremu
“The Beauty to Achieve Goals” gives details of the female Nigerian Gen-Z singer and song writer Temilade Openiyi, known as Tems, who was born in Lagos in 1995. Tems loved Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child; she felt a restlessness and strong desire to sing. At age 11, she started to train her voice to really get into music: she joined the choir in high school and recorded songs every day with her elder brother who had a guitar. She became friends with her music teacher, who gave Tems access to professional help with her music at a young age. She learned how to play the piano and heavily consumed everything from Asa, Frank Ocean, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Beyoncé and Rihanna, for their authentic emotional content.
She writes, sings and produces her music by herself, and when her three specialities come together, it becomes a beautiful whole. Tems pushed her best music to the world and the world accepted her realness and amazing music, with love, which has made her a star for everyone else to see. She has testified to the world how beautiful it is to achieve goals.
THRIVE
In Life, it takes so much dedication of time and energy to grow vigorously or to progress toward or realize a goal despite of circumstances.
HIGH FLY
To make steady progress or to be at the high point in one’s career in life or to gain high point in historical significance or importance all it cost is a plan and vision.
Beauty for a Better World
My story: “No matter the condition of problems and challenges in life, as long as one never gives up and relent in others to aim for better days, dreams will surely come true, when we find our purpose in life. This will help us make the world a better place.”
Title: Triumphant
Website: https://500px.com/babatundearemu02/galleries/the-beauty-to-achieve-goals
Babatunde Aremu: “No matter the condition of problems and challenges in life, as long as one never gives up and relent in others to aim for better days, dreams will surely come true, when we find our purpose in life. This will help us make the world a better place.”
Categories
Sean Black
In this time of COVID I am visiting Mom and trying to enjoy every second with her. We are talking about keepsakes and family heirlooms. I am also trying harder to do little gestures to show her how much I love her and to stay present.
Title: Mom’s hand, figurine and roses
Sean Black: “In this time of COVID I am visiting Mom and trying to enjoy every second with her.”
Categories
Alex Van Der Steen
Beauty for me is in the most fundamental and simple things, situations and people… in life: beauty exists in everything and it needs an open mind to detect it… Beauty in my book stands for kindness & realness in people, nature, animals, small incidental surprising situations. Beauty is not what society tries to lay upon us, but goes beyond.
Title: Kori- Summerhead
Alex Van Der Steen: “Beauty is not what society tries to lay upon us, but goes beyond.”
Categories
Mark Titchner
Categories
Rachel Graham
Real beauty to me is being present to pay attention to the details
Title: Los Angeles
Website: http://passeprojects.com
Rachel Graham: “Real beauty to me is being present to pay attention to the details”
Fugitive Color
Sequestered I gather
The visible objects and angles
Of my days as they turn voiceless
Corners grow in drama and I make peace
With vagaries like a thin supply of lake pigment
The kind known to fade or go dark with time
I paint twilight in the mornings and the red memory
Of flesh made anxious largely by my shy approach
On a good day I set about to reconstruct the wall of my living Room across a single sheet of cold pressed cotton
On the reverse side the spirit animal of my pepper tree
Dips her jasmine skirt to passiflora’s lavish mop and arching antlers
In truth alone again I soldier on with a still life ripe and raw
Plum, clay cup, an empty wine bottle’s full-throated embrace
Of flamed admission & I vow to play in this moment
Songs of radical tempo shift and going all the way
The path walks with her wanderer scattering cinnamon
Our landscape grows thick with scarlet leafwing
A father’s ghost throws a net to his barefoot child
But her hands are full with firefly
Forest echo / Alizarin crimson
—
Tamsin Spencer Smith, 2020
Title: Ninette’s Garden
Tamsin Spencer-Smith: “In truth alone again I soldier on with a still life ripe and raw”
I took this photo in February, the last time my husband and I were able to go out. For me, it speaks to the loneliness and isolation we long-term HIV/AIDS survivors endure.
Title: My Wheelchair (2020)
Categories
Pat Boets
Beauty can be found anywhere, in anything. An image, a sound, a memory, an idea: it doesn’t matter. The moment you feel it, you know it.
Title: Gothica
IG: pat.finder
Pat Boets: “Beauty can be found anywhere, in anything. An image, a sound, a memory, an idea: it doesn’t matter. The moment you feel it, you know it.”
Categories
Sidney Long
Churchtown Dairy’s founder, Abby Rockefeller, was inspired by William Copperthwaite’s quote ‘Beauty is a birthright and the lack of beauty is a sign of great danger’, made beauty the cornerstone of Churchtown’s mission. “We strive to imbue all our work with beauty — the buildings, the gardens, the care of the animals and the economic and social systems within which we work.”
Title: Churchtown Diary: “A Castle for the Cows”
Quote: “Beauty is a birthright and the lack of beauty is a sign of great danger”
Categories
Ninette Murk
I took this photo in the spring of 2018 at around 5 AM, after another sleepless and painful night. In February of that year I had a spinal stroke and the after-effects took a long time to heal and are in fact still ongoing at the end of 2020.
I was feeling down, walked to the window and saw this view, of our back garden in the mist. Took this photo with my iPhone and immediately felt a lot happier again.
Nature has that effect: it’s not only the greatest artist in the universe, it’s also a fantastic healer. Let’s take care of nature as well as we can- also in our own interest.
Real beauty: You know it when you see real beauty, as it touches you deep within. It’s also a physical reaction (intuition, reflex), it’s what makes us human and what connects us with all other people.
Title: Misty Morning in the Garden
Website: beautywithoutirony.com
Ninette Murk: “You know it when you see real beauty, as it touches you deep within. It’s also a physical reaction (intuition, reflex), it’s what makes us human and what connects us with all other people.”
Categories
Samet Durgun
“Come Get Your Honey” is a story about the transgender and queer refugees in Berlin. While respecting their struggle, it shows my journey of weaving bonds with a community through fragility, friendship and joy. This work rejects current mainstream narratives on queer and refugee identities, which widely reduce them to their agony. This is performed either by romanticising their pain and struggle, or surgically exploring their body from the “outsider” gaze. Instead, my work aims to depict them as complex human beings in their wholeness, trying to establish a new home in a foreign country and an extremely polarised political climate. As a queer person with a desire to live better, I intimately relate to their pursuit and draw references from my own life.
Title: Come Get Your Honey
Website: http://www.sametdurgun.com
Samet Durgun: ““Come Get Your Honey” is a story about the transgender and queer refugees in Berlin. While respecting their struggle, it shows my journey of weaving bonds with a community through fragility, friendship and joy.”
Categories
Sigrid Beek
This picture of my daughters’ eye represents an ode to both beauty and a better world to me. Not only because of its natural beauty. But also, because the eyes of a child invite me to look at the world in a more authentic, marvelled, unprejudiced and unconventional way. Abilities that most of the adult people have lost on their way to the age of consent. If we would look through the eyes of a child more often, we can go back to the age when social and cultural boundaries were not hindering us yet! So, here’s my advice to all the parents in the world: never ignore the fact that your young child suddenly halts in the middle of your hasty way from one appointment to the next because something caught its eye. Encourage it to stop and watch. This way, your child will learn to recognise and maybe even to create beauty later on. It will keep its eyes and mind open, so it will be more sensitive for beauty… That’s my idea of gently improving the world!
Title: The Eye of Jis
Sigrid Beek: “The eyes of a child invite me to look at the world in a more authentic, marvelled, unprejudiced and unconventional way”
Categories
Cator Sparks
Real beauty to me can simply mean being present. If we can pull ourselves away from our tiny screens and simply look out the window, smell a flower, feel the dirt under our feet. It’s all around us if we take the time to be with nature’s bounty.
Title: Sunrise On Sullivan’s Island With Fergus
Cator Sparks: “Real beauty to me can simply mean being present.”
It’s been heavy for all of us, these times, I was just taken again to a place that I barely remember. But I also found it by searching what is the thing that is beautiful for me in the midst of chaos. This time it’s the forest (always been, but all over the world… This is my home one, that I didn’t get to see much for a long time). It’s my home hoods. Literally. I’m a traveller of spaces and times … And been basically everywhere that was necessary to my growth. But I was taken back… Not just because of Covid-19. But because someone in my family is close to dying as well at this point…
It’s hard. But it’s part of the game of Life. In the end even the sadness is beautiful, because we’re in that together as a family. So this picture portraits that… The Autumn of the forest, letting go… Sometimes even of the precious ones. Home. And the energetics that I see of it. Peace and love from the North.
Title: Autumn Forest
Phaedra Sinatra: “In the end even the sadness is beautiful, because we’re in that together as a family.”
Categories
Maja Barker
Real beauty is able to stir incredible forces inside our souls. It gives us the magic to spread to others.
Title: Spanish Oranges
IG: maja-barker-art
Quote: “Real beauty is able to stir incredible forces inside our souls. It gives us the magic to spread to others.”
Categories
Dila Amalia
What does real beauty mean to you? If you’re asking me that question, I’m probably not really sure what to answer. What I know… real beauty is natural, real beauty doesn’t need any filters, real beauty is radiating from within.
“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in some ways, and they’re still beautiful.” -Alice Walker
And I couldn’t agree more! These pictures of the green nature in Setul (West Java) perfectly describe what Alice Walter said and what I know about real beauty; it’s natural and doesn’t need any filters.
The last one is the picture of my best friend and I. Recently, we were not being our best selves (mentally and physically) then we decided to find peace and fresh air in nature today. Truth to be told: we’ve never been this happy lately! Natural, no filters and we are genuinely happy -it seems like our happiness is radiating through the picture. It feels like we are another example of real beauty.
Title: Happiness is a walk in nature
Quote: “Real beauty is natural, real beauty doesn’t need any filters, real beauty is radiating from within.”
Categories
Jane Sagnes
Some might think they’re just weeds, others might see its beauty
Title: Beauty or Weed?
Categories
Valérie Servant
Categories
Simon Jobson
In the current pandemic and the constant negativity that is propagated by the media it is easy to get dragged down and become thoroughly despondent. You then go to a place where the pace of life is so slow and seems relatively untouched by all the coronavirus bollocks and it quickens your heartbeat and makes you happy to be alive.
Title: Puteus Palace: Dancing In The Moonlight
Simon Jobson: “You go to a place where the pace of life is so slow and seems relatively untouched by all the coronavirus bollocks and it quickens your heartbeat and makes you happy to be alive”
Categories
Fikri Zarioh
I never really sat down and thought about what I like in the world. Until Ninette (creative director of this project) asked me that question. The first things I came across were pictures of nature, vintage, art, etc. She replied that it’s very common for people to go for these. So my plan was to try to avoid these. I had to go deeper and look for things that you don’t expect to be beautiful. Also had not much to do these past weeks with this whole pandemic situation. Sitting at my desk with a cup of mint tea and bowl with a trail mix of nuts. Not knowing what I’m looking for, makes it almost impossible to describe it in the google search bar. And even then I will mainly get popular results. I’m looking for something personal and decide to just go on a journey in my head. Going through a whole lot of memories, trying to find small connections between them. I’m a person who can really enjoy being alone, but these past months of quarantine made me realise how much I miss family gatherings. And that’s when it struck me and I came to realise what I find beautiful in this world: mint tea. In Morocco it’s custom to serve your guests mint tea. It’s that one thing that’s always there. I might just have made a connection between tea and family gatherings. Making it that tea reminds me or just delivers this warm feeling of comfort.
Fikri Zarioh: “In Morocco it’s custom to serve your guests mint tea. It’s that one thing that’s always there. I might just have made a connection between tea and family gatherings. Making it that tea reminds me or just delivers this warm feeling of comfort.”
Brandon Stringfellow La Voie: “Beauty isn’t what you see… it’s how you see it. The Alinker Family Farm understands it’s not IF you can achieve wellness… it’s if you have ACCESS to it. Together we move differently, in order to build a kinder and more equitable world for and by us all.”
IG @stringfellow_deeds