Bogota II
The city is a sprawling metropolis of contrast and colour and texture and that’s before you even use your eyes to view it. It is richly and endlessly layered - every corner is a story that’s playing out in real time with a backdrop of buildings that go from superstar architects showing off to colonial buildings to the functional and run-down with almost no transition.
Street art tells the story of struggle and hope, of political resistance and gender identity, of the 115 indigenous nations and the tragic impact of colonialism on their very essence. It feels like the city was forged out of beauty and tragedy and a love for life that’s impossible to suppress. It has zigged and zagged through political turmoil, domestic warfare, foreign interference, and economic rollercoasters to emerge a wonderfully functional melting pot of colour, unbelievable gastronomy, art, culture, and beautiful people.
Bogotà left me breathless in more ways than one. At 2600m above sea level every hill feels twice as steep. The city has been optimised for walking and cycling and this makes it so easy to navigate. They even close down the main roads on a Sunday so large swathes of the city turn into a playground for runners and cyclists.
I wish I could ship the numbskulls who are cosplaying as politicians in Malta to Bogotà for them to learn a thing or two about how a city can be beautifully functional without sacrificing its identity. One can dream.
Muchas gracias Bogotà y nos vemos pronto!
The second image is a shot I grabbed in Nashville without thinking much. The first is an "edit" I made by asking Midjourney to add a person based on my description.
The following is what Claude thinks when I asked if it were a photo or an image generated using a diffusion model:
"This appears to be a real photograph, not an AI-generated image. There are several technical details that suggest this:
1. The lighting and shadows are incredibly natural and complex, especially the interplay between the harsh contrast of light and shadow in what appears to be a parking structure. The gradients and fall-off of the shadows are physically accurate.
2. The image has a classic black and white photographic quality with rich tonal range that’s characteristic of film photography or high-quality digital black and white conversion.
3. The architectural details, particularly the columns and their perspective relationships, are structurally consistent and show natural perspective distortion.
4. The figure in the hat reading what appears to be a newspaper or document shows natural proportions and detail consistency that would be challenging for current AI models to render this convincingly.
The composition and style suggest this is likely a piece of street or architectural photography, possibly from mid-20th century given the aesthetic, though it could also be a more recent photo shot in a classical style. The dramatic use of light and shadow is reminiscent of photographers like Fan Ho or Ray K. Metzker who were known for their geometric, high-contrast architectural and street photography."
Feeling unheard and unseen by the healthcare system and the people around me were some of the experiences I experienced when I was ill; experiences that I carried with me and delved into during my artistic residency @zfinmalta studios last August with collaborators @edma and @juschembri
as part of my research project on being ill.
Heart felt thanks to all of those who came to the sharing and supported my project along the way.
The residency formed part of ZfinMalta’s Air2024
Photo by ED Muscat Azzopardi @edma
#artheals #performanceart #photography #ill
A few months ago @zfinmalta welcomed me as their second artist in residence for AIR2024. I haven’t yet had the time to process it all, nonetheless, one thing that stuck with me the most (and will cherish forever) is the meaningful relationship I developed with my collaborators JULIENNE SCHEMBRI + ED MUSCAT AZZOPARDI: I feel really privileged to have been given the opportunity to develop the initial seeds of my research project with such beautiful + talented souls. Thank you for sharing your creative expertise and time with me, as well as for supporting and trusting me along the way XXXX
Photos by ED MUSCAT AZZOPARDI @edma
Thanks to @zfinmalta for giving us the platform.
#somatic #performance #art #photography #movement #dance #ill #healing
