ISSUE 32 WWW.FOKUS.ORG/INSIGHT
INSIGHT magazine: Ground and Water CONTENTS 02 03 04 14 15 16 18 21 27 28 30 31 32 35 36 47 54 56 60 62 68 72
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR COVER ART SEASCAPES WATER AND EARTH DECOMPOSITION, IN HONOR OF DENNISSÉ ORGANICS SWAY IN MOVEMENT SLUGGO'S PERSPECTIVE VIGOROUS SERENITY THE GREAT LOST LOVE UNTITLED ARMED WITH A CAMERA SMOKING LINES FIRE FISH, A PHOTO STORY A BRUSH WITH INSPIRATION LOOKING FOR A MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP AN OCEAN OF ANSWERS TOMORROW THE FLOOD RECEDES IN WINDHAM COUNTY BEYOND MATTER GROUND AND WATER VISUAL ART
ARTICLES
PHOTOGRAPHY
POETRY
SCULPTURE
CHIEF CURATOR / LAYOUT & DESIGN: ATIBA T. EDWARDS
Atiba is a perpetual visionary that likes to do art in the dark since it is easier to see the true light.
CURATOR: ALLISON MARITZA LASKY
Allison believes that children are the best artists—they are individual universes of infinite creativity.
CURATOR: ANDREW MILENIUS
Andrew has always been on the fortunate side of the fence thinking about how the people on the other side of the fence feel, and he wants to break down that fence.
CURATOR: Emily Wen
Emily enjoys the pleasure of aesthetics and in contemplating the meaning of life.
CURATOR: JOLILLIAN (JOZI) ZWERDLING
Since even you and I are made of dying stars, Jozi finds inspiration in those who understand timelessness and travel in alternate dimensions.
CONTRIBUTORS: Hassan Abarou / Eleanor Bennett / Beryl Benbow / Pierre Davis / Candice Danielle / The Earth Warrior / A. Espinosa / Ömür Kahveci / Rose Jaffe / Jordan Kifer / David Leblanc / Jessie Levandov / Hall McCann / Alex Puryear Mariama Rafetna / Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg / Ashley Russell / Nelson "Chief69" Seda / Angeles Vera / Miles "Reskew" Wickman / Stephanie Winbush / David Zinn / Jolilian (Jozi) Zwerdling www.fokus.org/insight Questions, comments and submission inquiries can be sent to insightsubmit@gmail.com INSIGHT magazine is published by FOKUS, Inc. All rights reserved on entire contents. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FOKUS, Inc. or INSIGHT.
FOKUS uses the arts to help people understand their innate creativity and develop their own talents to maximize their potential. INSIGHT magazine provides insight into the artists who are shaping our culture today. This magazine is based on the concept that mankind often looks to art to define civilizations and cultures of the past.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Issue 32
Ground and Water is the theme of this issue of INSIGHT magazine. Ground and water are key parts of the fabric of the world and all of its animals (including humans). If you are a believer of the evolution process, we evolved out of water to walk on land and create our future. If you don't ascribe to that science, you still must acknowledge that these two elements of life are essential to life and were pivotal in the first things created. In one literal sense, ground is the foundation that provides us sustenance to live life and also the foundation on which we stand and build upon. Water keeps the world and its beings alive and going without we will die. What is your ground? Your water? Ground can also be the intricate system that helps shape our life. Its topography comes in many different forms ranging from family and friends and the respective love and loss of both to failed relationships, ventures to obstacles and the highest and lowest moments of life. All of the above and more constantly shape the ground we stand on, sometimes pushing us in directions we question as they happen. Eventually, we are able to look back and understand they were supposed to occur. Everything happens for a reason and there is a reason for everything to happen. Water can be a frightful thing because it has no set shape since it assumes the container that holds it. Water constitutes a large percentage of the human body and it is no coincidence that we tend to take the shape of the people, places and things that form us, that hold us. This can be friends, family, expectations from society that are imposed on us and that we impose on ourselves. Life is a fluid journey. The fluidity of our lives is ever changing with the ebb and flow of our relationships. Occasionally it give us a drowning or lost at sea feeling, but also feelings of growth and direction. Be water, flowing at times and standing still at others. We always give our artists creative license with their interpretation of the theme. Turn the pages and see how artists from across the globe respond to the call for Ground and Water art work for this issue of INSIGHT magazine.
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Cover Art BY ELEANOR BENNETT
"The image was taken in Manchester Museum in 2012. I really wanted to create a gallery of natural crystals as I love the way the light is captured and dispersed. I thought in this image the red and green blends well with the light blue base." To view more of Eleanor's work, visit http://eleanorleonnebennett.zenfolio.com/ INSIGHT | 3
SEASCAPES BY ÖMÜR KAHVECI
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All images are digital photographs taken in Turkey in 2012. Ă–mĂźr Kahvec is a hobby photographer from Turkey. For more images, visit his website: http://www.omurkahveci.com/
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WATER AND EARTH BY NELSON "CHIEF69" SEDA
Water and Earth, 2012. Acrylic paint. Nelson "Chief69" Seda is a 21-year old avid practitioner of the arts and a community leader. His work is currently displayed across the world in various homes, business and community centers that do grassroots youth outreach programs. To see more of his work, visit http://www.chief69frc.blogspot.com 14 | INSIGHT
DECOMPOSITION, IN HONOR OF DENNISSÉ BY JOZI ZWERDLING Cheap tie blow in sunshine.
Moved by moons.
Saunter aside
Not afraid of rot,
tracks.
or the worms that come with her.
Small beautiful monsters
Hungry and calling,
ring around rosie.
we lay the flat discs of old pains
Braille kneads pressure points
on our tongues,
in the souls of my feet.
to disintegrate.
This morning, there were:
We are open mouths,
Newspapers,
gentle pant.
Eggs benedict, French toast, With maple syrup, Pineapple; My sister-lover, cattycorner, heart beating questions about underground worlds, the health of our friend. We are tribe: Sunshine fueled and tweedle-dee swagged. Jozi Zwerdling hails from the DMV but lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She is concentrating in Community Organizing at Hunter's Silberman School of Social Work. Her passions are working with youth to achieve social justice through education and the arts, collageing and loving as an act of freedom. Stay updated via her Twitter: @jolillyz INSIGHT | 15
ORGANICS BY PIERRE DAVIS
Large water drop in a cavernous enclosure. Our minds are capable of filling the space. Oblong, 2012. Plywood. 37 x 12 x 12 in. 16 | INSIGHT
Pierre Davis is a Warrenton, VA based artist exploring organic forms through wood. He was recently awarded the Renwick recognition of excellence award for his work at this year's Artomatic (Crystal City, Viginia). To see more of his work, visit http://www.pierredavis.net
Fluid movement that unifies and works together in its mission. The Creation of Maude, 2012. Mahogany and Yellow Wood. 45 x 11 x 9 in. INSIGHT | 17
SWAY IN MOVEMENT BY ALEX PURYEAR With most of my pieces I exclude a title only to give the viewer the power to tell the story, but for this piece I tapped in on my experience in the medical field. I took the anatomy of the human heart and reconstructed it into a form of organic movement.
Sway In Movement, circa 2012. Mix medium, oils,spray paint,ink, and resin, 18 x 24 in. Alex Puryear has always used art as an escape. “Painting is my own personal Never Land.” the up-and-coming Chicago artist explains. “As a Surrealist stuck in reality, escape is my only option.” And Puryear’s work is nothing if not a fantastical break from a humdrum reality. Utilizing dazzling colors and bold strokes lines, Puryear’s paintings tend to focus on dream analyses and outlandish interpretations of his own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. 18 | INSIGHT
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SLUGGO'S PERSPECTIVE AN INTERVIEW BY JORDAN KIFER PHOTOS COURTESY OF JORDAN KIFER AND DAVID ZINN Jordan Kifer caught up with David Zinn, an Ann Arbor, Michigan based artist that specializes in chalk illustrations. She gained insight into his art and the world of one of his most famous characters, Sluggo. Jordan Kifer: You work in a lot of different medias in your career, so what about chalking appeals to you? David Zinn: The chalk was solving a problem of modern commercial art being very electronic. Even though everything would start out as a pencil sketch, it eventually got scanned into a computer. I’ve even had some jobs where they never existed as anything but pixels. It was created on a computer and was going to be used on a computer, so it never really existed except as light on a screen. I feel pretty strongly, and I bet this is a shared thing, that part of wanting to be an artist is wanting to get your hands dirty. Also, since I work at home, it’s hard, especially in Michigan, to ignore a really nice day. So having the sidewalk chalk handy and going outside to draw something on the ground, then I’m still technically kind of working and I’ll get my hands dirty and be outside. JK: We recently talked about a time when you were asked to stop halfway through drawing on a wall, for which there’s much less legal love… DZ: I have to admit I did not do my homework because I was mostly wandering around town with chalk, waiting for inspiration to strike. There were a couple of occasions where that inspiration, the thing I suddenly wanted to make exist, involved a wall. One of them is one of my favorite drawings, about a year or two ago down on Liberty Street. It was this very cool low wall that holds in the gardens by the post office. It’s a perfect place for doing the kind of thing I like to do because it’s not in anyone’s way, and it was just this desire to show a door with a typical nightmare monster standing, looking very drowsy holding a teddy bear, and Sluggo hidden around the corner having just rung the doorbell, looking very mischievous. So when we had a warm day this past spring, I ended up down by that same wall wanting to do a very specific Sluggo holding out the container for a snow cone, waiting for snow to fall. I’d gotten just as far as one of Sluggo’s eyes, best Sluggo eye I’d ever drawn…and I was so absorbed in it I didn’t notice until I heard him speak, the tall man behind me, saying “What do you think you’re doing?”
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He didn’t really want to know what I was doing, he wanted to know why I hadn’t stopped yet. He was a security guard for the Federal building, on whose property I was drawing, and to his credit we had a very pleasant and civil and thorough discussion of why I had to stop, why he was not allowed to make a judgment call between my clearly childish and temporary art and someone spray painting a big penis (in fact I think he specified those as the two extremes). When I stopped that drawing, I figured I would just go home but that unfinished drawing was stuck, in a way I hadn’t felt very often before, this silly idea that I had wanted to bring into the physical realm, but when it didn’t happen there was this horrible feeling of unfinished, unexpressed creativity that I couldn’t shake. I walked home and kept changing direction trying to find a wall where maybe I could still do this and hadn’t realized until I started looking for one that there is not a wall in this town that doesn’t belong to somebody. So I found myself looking for walls that might belong to somebody but where no one would see me drawing on them and realizing in that moment, especially when I found those walls, that’s where all the graffiti happens, because it’s a place where you won’t get caught. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea that I was now trying not to get caught, because that suddenly ladled this illegitimacy on something I didn’t feel needed to be illegitimate in any way. 22 | INSIGHT
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JK: Going back to Top of the Park [an Ann Arbor, MI outdoor summer festival], and how that was a slightly different experience than just chalking anonymously? DZ: Top of the Park is one of the best things that happens in this town. Once I was addicted to carrying the chalk everywhere, it seemed natural to chalk at Top of the Park.. Again, it hadn’t occurred to me yet to worry whether I was on anybody’s property. Even though this is a university town, there’s reason to investigate what the university thinks about this kind of thing. So one evening last summer I was drawing Sluggo and a band was playing and I had just enough space not to be underfoot, which is the problem because there’s a lot of people and I don’t like to make them walk around me because that’s a very aggressive thing for art to do. As though saying, “Oh I’m sorry, go over here because I’m creating art." I was eating caramel corn and drawing Sluggo and a flying pig facing the other way watching the band and then some kid knocked over my caramel corn which was great because then it was like I was drawing really realistic caramel corn when in fact it was just real caramel corn in a fake bag. Then a guy walked over, who I did not realize was the director of the entire Ann Arbor Summer Festival, and if I had known I would have been much more worried about what he was going to say. He didn’t seem to mind at all and we traded some contact information and over the winter we arranged this summer I would actually show up at the Top of the Park with a purpose and do some drawings. When we first met to talk about it, I confess now that I was worried he would want to hire me to do some huge thing, “like you see on the internet” because I hear that a lot and those are great, but they take planning and math and a crew and it’s just terrifying to consider. But, to his credit and to the credit of the festival, he wanted me to come down there and do officially what I had been doing anonymously the year before.
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JK: We talked a bit about how Sluggo likes to show up when he wants to, can you explain? DZ: Well he’s kind of a nuisance because he really does just show up when and where he wants to and a lot of the times when I come down here with the chalk, it really feels a lot like I’m looking to see where he might show up. There’s very rarely any planning or preparation. A lot of the time the drawing is intending to be something completely different and then he’ll show up and want to be part of it. Other times I’ll come down here foolishly thinking “I’m going to draw Sluggo because people love that Sluggo guy,” and then he doesn’t want to show up, so he can be kind of a jerk. People call him an alien but I don’t know why. I’ve never shown him in a spaceship but because he’s not a human being and I’m always guessing the whole perspective thing, his head and body proportions tend to come and go and elongate. Having a degree of perspective, having things look like they’re actually there is an important part in what I’m trying to do, even aside from keeping things small enough to be spontaneous. Even the pigs, the flying pigs change shape far more than they should. One of these days I‘m going to learn how to draw pigs but in the meantime I just need a nice lump with four trotters on it and boom you’re done.
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JK: Complete the phrase "Art is..." DZ: I’ll give Sluggo's answer along with this drawing but I think it’s a little fluffy so I’m going to have to explain. “Art is… the sky beneath your feet." The reason Sluggo has been pushing this answer is that I feel a lot of pressure to try and come up with new and interesting things that no one’s ever done before, which is why I’ve always been a little nervous about doing art. There’s that push to be the first person rather than just enjoying the things you like to do. But I feel a real push to keep drawing holes in the ground that aren’t really there and filling them with blue sky. I don’t know why necessarily but it just makes me really really happy to do it. Jordan Kifer is a 21-year old student at the University of Michigan. Shaping her world view is the belief that everyone is an artist and has something beautiful to share. Visit her blog at http://lavidaesuncarnaval.tumblr.com/ 26 | INSIGHT
VIGOROUS SERENITY BY MARIAMA RAFETNA
Vigorous Serenity, 2012. Digital Photograph. Mariama Rafetna Primus is a writer, artist and web producer from Brooklyn, NY. Mariama presently runs her own media shop called 5ive30 Media, where she produces websites, offers copy writing and design services to local businesses and brands. To view more of her work, visit http://helloblu3bird.tumblr.com INSIGHT | 27
THE GREAT BY MARIAMA RAFETNA her spirit's
love
alive in the trees
her heart beats
her soul
from tree trunks
seeped deep into the roots
grounded
up under the concrete
in forever
of every step taken her breath
her truth
floating off leaves
loud and free
dancing wisdom
she's been here
in the wind
long before us
her strength branched out
she is
arms,
everything
open wide
we need.
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The Great, 2012. Digital Photograph (right).
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LOST LOVE BY JORDANA RUBENSTEIN-EDBERG I am watching her. I’ve had my eye on her all day. Holding her cold, empty wine glasses for hours, I wait to hear her laugh. I can only offer her trays of mini ham and cheese sandwiches, glasses of fresh wine, I wait to pull out her chair or pick up her fallen napkin. Her skin is a deep mahogany. She is Indian and wears a gold and fuchsia sari. Her hair is long and dark and strong. She dances out the door. I hold the door for her and press my palms flat against the floor she touched. I leave behind her but she doesn’t notice. The memory is with me at all times. It is all that I can see. As I pull in to the darkness of the apartment parking lot I twist a forgotten strand of her hair between my fingers. I turn off the ignition and sit in the cool loneliness for hours with this piece of her. I enter my apartment. There is one brown untouched leather chair I purchased 5 years ago. I sat in it once on the day I bought it. The day I got my first paycheck in the mail. I watch the dark strand of hair spiral on to the white wall-to-wall carpet. It is the most beautiful thing I own. I walk to the bedroom. There is a mattress with one pillow and one navy down blanket. I bought these the same day as the leather chair. The day after I bought them she was pronounced brain dead. A drunk cab driver crashed into a street lamp. As I fall captive to sleep I wonder—is it possible to miss what never existed?
Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg lives outside of Washington, D.C. but wants to travel all over the world. She loves writing, reading, cats, and chocolate! 30 | INSIGHT
UNTITLED BY JESSIE LEVANDOV
Untitled, 2010. Ink on paper. 8 x 10 in. Jessie Levandov is a visual artist and filmmaker. She divides her days between filmmaking, community/youth arts education and making things with her hands. What she makes are little altars that represent a commitment to recognizing beauty in the things we discard, their decay, and the sacred process of their transformation. She resides in Brooklyn, NY and believes in magic. INSIGHT | 31
ARMED WITH A CAMERA BY BERYL BENBOW
Rockaways, 2012. Digital photograph. The Rockaways' scenic view of ground and water. A reminder of the simplistic beauty found in nature. Summer playground and ocean water with a supply of nourishment. Beryl Benbow has her B.A. in Fine Arts from Brooklyn College. She carries her digital camera at all times. In creating art, she utilizes her digital photographs. Sometimes her drawings are scanned or created with her digital drawing pad, then skillfully recreated into a new work of art. To see more of her work, visit http://beezebest.wix.com/photofolio 32 | INSIGHT
Manhattan Bridge Reflections, 2009. Digital photograph. Historic cobblestones and trolley car tracks, the ground we walk on with a puddle’s reflection of the Manhattan Bridge. Seeing images where there would be none, if not for the rain. INSIGHT | 33
Reflections taken from Queens, 2011. Digital photograph. Gotham city's silhouette skyline, play ground of the rich and poor, denotes the ground of New York City. Long Island City’s shoreline, ground on the other side, allows the capture of the glass-like mirror image of the city in its waterway. 34 | INSIGHT
SMOKING LINES BY ROSE JAFFE
Smoking Lines, 2012. Digital photograph. Rose Jaffe is an illustrator and portrait artist born, raised and currently residing in Washington DC. She studied print making and drawing at the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. She works at a local gallery and teaches comic art and illustration, as well as taking freelance gigs across the country. INSIGHT | 35
FIREFISH, A PHOTO STORY IMAGES BY THE EARTH WARRIOR WORDS BY ASHLEY RUSSELL
New Yorker by birth & Dominican by bloodline, the Earth Warrior studied sustainable & international development at NYU and serves as Project Coordinator for the Culture of Creativity. See more of her work at http://www.theearthwarrior.com Ashley Russell is a wildlife major concentrating in conservation biology and applied vertebrate ecology with a minor in zoology at Humboldt State University in California. Originally from NYC, Ashley is a science geek but when inspiration in the arts strikes, she chases it. 36 | INSIGHT
Transcend Freely Brooklyn, New York, USA
Floating on the waters edge Entranced towards unknown ahead, I bow my head And face the deep abyss Of love past, Love missed, Love undying. She dwells in parts unseen, Faces a future unknown, A future undetermined. But concrete circumstance and rippling time Lay flat within an earthly plane, and Paired birds with wings Transcend freely. INSIGHT | 37
Silhouette
Mbigua, Asuncion, Paraguay
Beyond the water’s depth She rides horizons Far in breadth. Ablaze in brilliance, She shines on the wet Dweller of oceans emerging To bask in silhouette.
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Flood Glowing Flame Manhattan, NY, USA
Wild tryst, City Mistress? I’ll course and crash, You’ll flare and blast, Into one furious Flood glowing flame, And conquer these streets again.
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Fish on Fire
Alexandria, Egypt, Africa Below the waves of pristine blue Riding the pushing and pulling current Shy fish turns to, Strikes, then burns in ascent Alight, they rise Surface, fly, and sink. What magic! A fish on fire swims, Baffling logic And other earthly things. Too true, beyond capture, Beyond paradise, I think. Fish on Fire, swimming pyre: Rapture.
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Intertwined
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
We thrive, Come alive intertwined, Blurring lines, Twisted mimes. Grounded soaked, Burning drowning stoked Expanding coiling growth For love of her light, That high vibrant Fire who riotously fights For her earth, for her leaves, for her rings, On fire upon golden luminous wings, Ever soaring toward that swimming seeker Of growth, of life a bit deeper Denser and wetter, Where dimensions distort. Swimming Fish Of the combustible sort. 44 | INSIGHT
Flame Water
Brooklyn, New York, USA Fret not in the deep We alike wear this green Though we clash in our stripes, Mine deep and yours bright. In the murk if you sink Burn passion, be brave Ride the wave! We’ll both sail on the brink. I assure you, Like flame water radiates virtues Of freedom, of flight, Of fervor and might. Green flood, breathe deep, let it stir you. INSIGHT | 45
I Grew Gills
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Why drown on dry land? I grow where few can. I grow roots intertwined Dispersed roots, but all mine Dispersed down under Ethereal wakeless water. Swaying steady, I reach for the light Breathing rays, I bathe, basking in delight. The union of life, harmony, Reflects upon moving medium rippling in the breeze.
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A BRUSH WITH INSPIRATION BY MILES "RESKEW" WICKHAM My paintings are inspired by each moment I am painting, from the first stroke coming from within, expressing through the movement of the brush. I decide each following stroke and color in an instinctual manner based on the feeling of a need to balance what is there and create anew something that will affect another feeling, which guides the next action. This continues until there is a feeling of completion and satisfaction. My pieces are not literal. They are left for the viewer to be affected in their own way, so as to evoke a wider array of experiences evoked, and allow for freedom of the imagination to go where it will, unbounded by any presented ideas. I believe visual art should connect with the viewer and allow something already within them to blossom and bloom with the light of the life present in my creation.
Untitled, 2012. Acrylic on paper, 36 x 48 in. (page 48) Untitled, 2008-2009. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 20 x 30 in. (page 49) Untitled, 2012. Acrylic on paper, 30 x 40 in. (page 50) Untitled, 2012. Acrylic and sand on canvas, 36 x 48 in. (page 52) Reskew is a self-taught artist, and reformed graffiti-tagging felon, learning and exploring painted forms of self-expression through skills acquired as a graffiti artist for 12 years, and sharing this through online tutorials. To see more of his work, visit http://www. flickr.com/photos/mileswickham INSIGHT | 47
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LOOKING FOR A MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP BY STEPHANIE WINBUSH Looking for a meaningful relationship, Tired of the same old same, Feel like I’m ready to fall in love again but I know that it takes time for these things to happen, Feel like I’m ready for that one special guy in my life to hold me tight all through the night through the good and the bad, Have met different people in my life but no one has made an impression on me except for this one person but not sure if he is the one for me or not, I’m still weighing my options on that one but hope and pray that he is because we’ve spent a lot of time together, Feel like we vibe so much when we are together it’s crazy, Everything happens for a reason so I’m wondering why God put you in my life and we reconnected, Thinking that I want you to be the one for me but I can’t make someone be something that they don’t want to do, They have to be willing to put the time and effort into this thing like myself, If I feel like I’m not getting that then I might have to keep it moving regardless of how I feel about someone, Feel vulnerable at times but have a learned a lot from past experiences and don’t want to be the same person I used to be, See different changes in me because I surprised myself by not making a decision the other day, Feel like everybody in my life got nothing on you boo, Feel that our feelings that we have for each other are the same, Had the best time with you just spending the day with you and looking at you makes me smile and laugh,
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Feel that something has been going on with you because haven’t heard from you today, Know that you will be alright because God always works everything out in his own time, Feel like I’ve been through so much lately I need a ride or die guy someone who can be there for me when I’m going through anything, Need someone to just listen to me sometimes someone who can see my through all of my good, bad, and ugly, Need a God fearing man for sure, Need someone who is going through some of the same things I’m going through, Need someone to hug me when I need to be hugged, Need someone to kiss me when I need to be kissed, Need someone to know what I need even when I don’t say anything about it, Just need someone to be there for me regardless, Need someone to be so understanding like myself, Know everyone has problems but definitely need someone who is going to be able to help me with mine listen to me and just give me advice when I need it, Sometimes just need to be listened to or just cuddle with me, Need someone who really knows me or is able to get to know me to see where this thing will go.
Stephanie Winbush is from Havelock, North Carolina. She loves writing poetry and taking pictures.
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AN OCEAN OF ANSWERS BY A. ESPINOSA My brother recently had heart problems and needed surgery and since he lives on the other side of the country, I was left to wonder and wait. I am in no way a religious man, but I find it funny that when people face troubles, they look for some signs of divinity and I'm no different. So when I went to Coney Island with a friend who knows someone dying of cancer, we talked about our "troubles" and then I saw the clouds part and these light beams shining down on the water. I stopped the conversation immediately and captured my "sign of divinity."
All images are digital photographs taken in 2012 Photographer and designer for Brooklyn Born Productions. Focusing on photographing urban life in New York City. To view ore of his photography, visit http://www.bkborn.com 56 | INSIGHT
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TOMORROW BY CANDICE DANIELLE As a child
Death
I was taught that toothpaste
I’m sure that morning
Was used to clean soiled teeth Lest I waste and eat the
Thoughts wandered furthest from future stolen
Bubble gum flavored crest tube
From under feet
For kids
Stolen from underneath sturdy dreams of
God forbid the day has come
Tomorrow
A child in Haiti found one use far
What pride we have in
Greater. Slathered nowhere
Tomorrow
Near the tongue clean white paste
Didn’t know our plans would be
Is placed beneath desperate nostrils
Followed
To block the dirt of a mournful stench
By life disaster that god allowed amid
Beyond mere morning breath
Daily routine
Of bodies who no longer exhale Death Death
Dark and unexpected amid the glow
Where the ground that once seemed
Of sunlit hopes but only gleams through
Most certain and promised, seemed to be promised land exodized
Tears and panic and failed regime cause Things aren’t what they seem anymore
Concrete becomes quick sand
Don’t know what’s safe to lean on
And left behind are bloody hands stretched
Anymore
Out from in between broken sidewalks
Infant bodies covered in asphalt and
And used-to-be streets
Carcass fluid cover floors in Piles like dead fish along loading dock Once hooked on an easily lost life
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Amiri
I guess this really means
I can not grow accustomed to the ground
Our values need new placement
Enveloping we, It has opened up and slowed everything I guess this means our values need new Placement Cause the pavement That once stretched across neighborhood Is now bunched together like Pushed back work uniform sleeves Sans the crisp dry clean And Haiti Its years of rich independent history now stripped With one day of unexpected Calamity undeserved Shifts of homes has broken brown bones And injured thousands of families Of tomorrow What pride we have tomorrow Didn’t know our plans would be followed by life disaster That god allowed Amid daily routine
Candice Danielle is a 25-year-old creative writer and emerging teaching artist from the Midwest. She strives to step beyond walls of communal silence and engage in a life of independent thought and open conversation. INSIGHT | 61
THE FLOOD RECEDES IN WINDHAM COUNTY BY HALL MCCANN I lived in Windham County, Vermont for 8 years and these photos depict the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which reconstructed the landscape of Southern Vermont. This was especially true in areas that had been shaped by human hands, for example, where rivers had been diverted to better suit industry, agriculture, and habitation. Within a few hours, the swollen rivers reclaimed their original course and redefined what we know as ground and water. All of the following images are untitled and were taken in 2011 using 35mm film.
Hall McCann is an artist from New England who aims to share her perception of the subtleties of time and space on film. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and attends Hunter College School of Social Work. To see more of her work, visit http://www.flickr.com/slip-or-beets 62 | INSIGHT
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BEYOND MATTER ART BY HASSAN ABAROU WORDS BY DAVID LEBLANC Combining heavy and light, empty and full, opaque and transparent, Hassan Abarou’s paintings present and represent aquatic paradoxes on the effects of chaos and motion through space-time. From the vitality behind these waterscapes emerges a lyrical abstraction both spontaneous and controlled. Proposing a new approach to form and spirituality, Abarou’s work echoes this puzzling quote by French writer Georges Perec: “I seek at once the eternal and the ephemeral.”
Untitled, 2012. Mixed technique on canvas, 18.1 x 21.7 in. (left) Untitled, 2012. Mixed technique on canvas, 13.2 x 17.9 in. (right) Untitled, 2012. Mixed technique on canvas, 63 x 39.4 in. (page 64) Born in Morocco in 1978, Hassan Abarou was selected by the Moroccan Ministry of Culture for two exhibitions in 2010 and 2011. Teaching visual arts since 2003, he currently lives in Paris as an artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts. To view more of his work, visit http://goog.la/Hassan_Abarou 68 | INSIGHT
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WATER AND GROUND BY ANGELES VERA
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Untitled, 2012. Digital Photograph. Angeles Vera is a Paraguayan architect and digital photography-enthusiast based in Asuncion, Paraguay. Her interests include portraiture and macro photography. INSIGHT | 73
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Untitled, 2012. Digital Photograph. INSIGHT | 75
Thank you to all of the contributing artists in this issue: Hassan Abarou / Eleanor Bennett / Beryl Benbow / Pierre Davis / Candice Danielle / The Earth Warrior / A. Espinosa / Ă–mĂźr Kahveci / Rose Jaffe / Jordan Kifer / David Leblanc / Jessie Levandov / Hall McCann / Alex Puryear Mariama Rafetna / Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg / Ashley Russell / Nelson "Chief69" Seda / Angeles Vera / Miles "Reskew" Wickman / Stephanie Winbush / David Zinn / Jolilian (Jozi) Zwerdling The theme of Issue 32 was Ground and Water. Ground is the foundation that provides us sustenance to live our life and also the foundation on which we stand and we build upon. Water keeps the world and its beings alive and going. Without it we will die. What is your ground? Your water? The next issue of INSIGHT magazine will be released in February 2013.
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