Anne Yarwood

PERMACULTURE 

Hand of the Desert, Atacama

Muttering on about, swaying between …the hopelessness of Plastic Pollution and the practicality of Permaculture, here’s some more thoughts, before the pix –

• ‘‘Instead of feeling hopeless about our beautiful planet, Permaculture opened my eyes to the many simple solutions that can be adapted & applied to create a better world’’ Mel Chambers. PDC Graduate (Permaculture Design Course).    SEE HERE – to Learn more about Permaculture
• A selection of 6 of the 12 Permaculture Principles, from David Holmgron:- Observe & Interact, Catch & Share energy, Obtain & Yield, Produce no Waste, Use Small & Slow Solutions, Creatively use & respect Change.   SEE All 12   and   SEE HERE – 22 Facts about Plastic Pollution and 10 things we can do about it
• CUBA : crisis of agriculture after Collapse of Soviet Union followed by US imposition of Trade Sanctions. Once it only grew sugar & was heavy handed with fertilisers and pesticides. Organic farming began, as a necessity. ‘‘People from abroad see us as a paradise of sustainable farmers, but we are not. We’re coming out of a very bad model of agriculture, to something better” (Guardian Environment 2/5/18, Food & Environment Reporting Network .US. FERN)    SEE HERE – about CUBA
• RISC (Reading International Solidarity Centre): Gardens – sustainability & food security.  SEE HERE – about the Roof Garden
• Sarah Cox, artist – an exemplar of Permaculture principles in action.  SEE HERE – Sarah’s new website 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT  – Photo Hand of the Desert, Atacama – Yuri Beletsky, Nightscapes

THE GALLERY ILLUSTRATES THE PLASTICS AND PERMACULTURE THEME 

WE CAN WRAP OUR DAILY LIVES, IN BEAUTY

A picture celebration of family and friends’ imaginings: skilful play, with all forms of Creativity

SELF EMPLOYED: CHOICE…. NECESSITY 

Here’s some of my research, following the middle of the night ALERT to myriad SELF-RELIANT WORKERS world-wide.

⇒ The crucial role GOVERNMENTS can play in protecting workers’ rights. UK Government legislation requisite to make self employment secure. (See WAKE UP suggestions for UK). In Ghana, the government aims to lift the ban on small- scale mining in order to provide alternative income- generating and environmentally sustainable, opportunities to GALAMSAYERS and rural communities.

Link –  SEE HERE

⇒ Community determination to emerge from war-torn chaos.

WLP (Women’s Learning Partnership) Project example ‘EMPOWERING SYRIAN WOMEN for a better future’

Link – SEE HERE

The three co-founders of Mujeeb: Aghyad Al-Kabbani, Eyad Al-Shamani and Zeina Khalili

⇒ Young Entrepreneurs in Syria – “they’ll rebuild what the war has destroyed”. An estimated 5 million sought external refuge during the 7 years of war in Syria. 8 million people still live in Syria amidst rising poverty, high unemployment. Amidst the 52.9% of working age, 75% are Young People; before war it was 15%.

Link –  SEE HERE

⇒ The INTERMEDIARIES, enabling for example, craftsmen in war- torn countries or small- scale producers, to access the complexities of Western markets. The Intermediaries include:-

⇒ Tradecraft Exchange  – Two years ago Tradecraft Exchange started working with low-income Senegalese fruit farmers & collectors to expand the market for their exotic fruit

TC Exchange is also supporting new livelihoods for women in Bangladesh, by strengthening their trading position in the Jute trade.

Links –  Traidcraft

and SEE HERE 

⇒ Turquoise Mountain  – established 2006 at behest of Prince Charles works in Afghanistan, Myanmar and (so-called) Middle East. It aims to preserve and regenerate historic communities with a rich cultural heritage; reviving traditional crafts, creating jobs and skills and renewing a sense of pride.

Link –  Turquoise Mountain

Pratap Thapa and Lennart Budelmann,
Co-founders, aQysta

⇒ European Young Entrepreneurs – Young People from an early age are creating opportunities not only for themselves but for whole industries, developing new technologies and thriving work- places

Links – EU startups

and Forbes Top Under 30 European Social entrepreneurs

⇒ And INSECTS: FELLOW SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS – ‘Insect Armageddon’ local community research project aiming to raise- awareness of the crucial part that Insects play in our lives, globally AND THE FACT that the is an 80% global decline in global populations.

Links –  Wildlife in Ascot

THE GALLERY SHOWS THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF INSECTS

MAKE YOUR MARK: SOUND YOUR VOICE – Across Time and Places

Three Artists MAKING THEIR MARKS : SOUNDING THEIR VOICE across time and place :-

     –    Iraqi Artists’ paintings, at the turn of the 20th century. Proudly treasured and personally precious paintings from Iraqi emigres’ private collections.

     –    Welshman James Bibey, a young artist with scant funds and accommodation, delights in playful night photography, in an Ascot garden.

     –    Filmmaker Ken Loach opens our minds to Benefit Seekers’ disempowerment by the system, in his 2016 Cannes Palme d’Or winning Film  I, DANIEL BELL.

IRAQI PAINTERS

Modern Art renaissance in Iraq started by the early 20th century.

Map of Iraq

Iraq produced many prestigious artists and painters who were talented and well informed about western art and its movements.

The Gallery shows paintings by 3 artists who were reputable and well respected including paintings by one of the very first pioneers, Mohammad Salih (Zaki) Ali.

These paintings are part of a private collection and have never been exhibited in public before.

Mohammad Salih (Zaki) Ali (1888 – 1976)

While studying for a military degree in Istanbul he also studied painting at the Istana Academy of Fine Arts.

He taught painting in schools and encouraged his grandchildren to paint by giving them watercolours as presents.

Zaid Salih (1922 – 1986)

Joined Iraqi military forces and was sent to Loughborough University (UK) to study automobile mechanics but was more attracted to painting, music and art.

He was one of the key founders of the Iraqi Pioneer Group SP (Society of Painters).

Nimat Hikmat (1937 – 2013)

Studied and taught art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad.

She also obtained a Masters degree in Art from the Catholic University in Washington, USA.

Coming soon to the Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square  – ‘The Invisible Enemy’ inspired by Iraq

This year’s artwork is ‘The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist’ by Michael Rakowitz. Michael started The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist project in 2006. It attempts to recreate more than 7,000 objects which have been lost forever. Some were looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003, while others were destroyed at archaeological sites across the country during the Iraq War. For the Fourth Plinth, Rakowitz has recreated the Lamassu. This winged bull and protective deity guarded the entrance to Nergal Gate of Nineveh (near modern day Mosul) from c 700 B.C, until it was destroyed by ISIS in 2015 – READ MORE HERE 

Michael Rakowitz’s syrup-tin copy of a treasure destroyed by Isis is a magnificent marriage of sorrow, futility and resistance. One of the best fourth plinth works yet – READ THE GUARDIAN’S REVIEW   (*****)

JAMES BIBEY  – a young artist with scant funds and accommodation, who came several times at night to have fun in the garden with a camera, torch and bucket of water! Brilliant way to see garden, afresh ! He’s disappeared again.

KEN LOACH – 2016 film ‘I, Daniel Blake’ – ‘‘with this movie, maybe his last, and maybe not – Ken Loach establishes himself, yet further as the John Bunyan of contemporary British cinema. The film intervenes in the messy ugly world of poverty with the secular intention of making us see that it is really happening and in a prosperous country too.” Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.

The Gallery links to the above article as its exhibit for Ken Loach – SEE HERE 

AND ‘out there’ – Tate Britain’s current exhibition ‘ ALL TOO HUMAN’ shows artists across time and places ( till 27 Aug 2018) – SEE HERE 

The Gallery shows works from the Iraqi Painters and James Bibey