Bellydance Beauty

Some of my friends who take a bellydancing class asked me to do some photographs for them so they can make some advertisements because their class is at risk of stopping as there are too few participants. I haven't had the time to properly go through all of them, but here are a few including some that can serve advertisement-purposes without much effort as they already have space for text-additions. 

Reds, Pinks and Golds

On the 20th of December, friend and photographer Erik Jansen  asked me if I knew any make up artists who would be able to come to his shoot last minute. My reply was no, but as he made clear that without one the shoot would probably not happen, I asked him what he was looking for and offered to much about a bit myself. I sent him some google images, and mentioned I still had some gold leaf laying around the house. 


And so it began. 


On the 21st of December, I met Erik and his Model at the DNA (De Nieuwe Academie) Midwinter Fair, which unfortunately, due to bad planning on their part and a lot of cancellations from others, wasn't really a "fair" as much as it was one single food vendor, a DJ, some very bad bands performing (most people thought it was a random jam-session, the music really wasn't very good) and one lone photographer: Erik. 


We decided to make the best of it, set up our things and got to work. In the end, quite a few people showed up, looked around and showed interest. It's a bit funny how many people were hoping to take advantage and get their own photo taken for free for all kinds of personal and commercial reasons. 

All photographs and the associated rights belong to Erik Jansen

We got to playing around a bit, and I found myself functioning as his make-up artist, gopher, extra tripod and all round assistant, this is some of what we produced one rainy night in a tent outside an old factory. 

All photographs and the associated rights belong to Erik Jansen

All photographs and the associated rights belong to Erik Jansen

Christmas Spirits and Winter Demons

So, Christmas has come and gone and everyone is celebrating, coming together or complaining incessantly about how much they hate Christmas, how alone they are, or how it's all just a conspiracy to make us consume more things we don't need. 


For me, it's been a little bit of everything. Although I don't consider myself the complaining type, there were times where I was unhappy with the situation. Not being the aggressive, risk taking type, there's always a change of falling through the cracks and not getting invited to any New Years Eve parties, and there's always that moment where you're not sure if your mother and grandmother are on the edge of drunk of if you can get away with pouring them another drink. 

In the spirit of giving, the Dutch people collective raised 8.621.004 Euros for charity. 

National radio station 3FM locked 3 DJs in a glass house with no food and barely and sleep for a week in Leiden, organised several actions around the country, invited people to do the same, and allowed people to come see the DJs at the house and request songs in exchange for a donation. Naturally, I went to see the house with some friends. We almost managed to get to the front of the crowd, but gave up around dinner time. It's pretty amazing to think that when the Mother's in war zones in Africa this money is going to have so little, we have 8.6 million euros to spare, that we can just GIVE away, without eating any less for it. It's also pretty impressive to think, that despite the economic crisis, and the fact that the government is spending less and less on international aid we're atill capable of raising more money than last year, and the year before that and the year before that. 

Coming together, we did. First I spent 2 days cooking with my dad and eating with my family. It was a 4 course masterpiece. As always. Unfortunately, I no longer own a nice macro lens, and I only had a phone with me. I want to get back into food photography. 

 Duck Breast with Red Port Sauce

 Coquilles st Jaques with a Gruyere Gratin

 Home Made Forest Fruit Sorbet with Champagne

 Stoofpeertjes!

 Beef Wellington with Paté and Wild Mushroom filling.

 Roasted Potatoes with fresh Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, and Oregano

 Espresso Panna Cotta with Pistachio Nuts

Coffee with Leonidas Belgian Chocolates

The next day, I got together with some friends for another dinner, which was cooked for me. 

Unfortunately there is also the constant reminder that you are single around Christmas and New Years. I don't mind being single, but when everyone else seems to be in a relationship, and is spending every waking second together it can become quite frustrating. Especially when you stop to think when you were last kissed under the mistletoe or at new years midnight and decide it was atleast 7, maybe 8 years ago... Holidays are always two-sided. They're both lovely, and confronting. Did you fulfill all your resolutions this year? Have you achieved anything since last January 1st?

Fortunately, I have achieved a bit this year, and I am in a better place than this time last year. Unfortunately, I would have liked to lose another 5 to 10 kgs (not complaining about the 12 lost though), would have liked to meet some more interesting people, taken up a new hobby, been a bit richer and a tad more successful. Then again, I'm only 24, and have a whole other year to keep achieving my goals.

In the end, I didn't consume much more than usual (I spent a few Euros on a box of chocolates for my parents) and I wasn't spoiled with lavish gifts from anyone else either. I had a nice time with family and friends, I can ignore people who complain on facebook to the point where I want to strangle them and make them realize how much they effectively have. And, optimistically, I still have 2 whole days to find someone to kiss at midnight. 

My Affective Relationship with Useless Junk

Working on my Research Proposal for my MA thesis, I have read a few theories, articles, mongraphs and volumes that talk about photographs as objects, and specifically how objects become smeanignful through the relationship people form with them. In light of the upcoming week, which may just be the most exciting week of the entire year, if not of the last 5 years, I have collected a few objects that I have kept for almost a decade (well, 6 years so far, but I'm not going to throw them out anytime soon). 


To others, it's just a bunch of junk. I have a plastic toy katana that's only about 80cm long and houses batteries and lights up. It's the best katana I could ever own. I have some tiny, and very cheap, glass vases that I once bought for Rp.1000 (about 8 cents) to use as shotglasses for vodka. Worst way to get drunk, ever. Best memory of vodka, ever. Here's a few more objects that are extra special to me as I count down to next week. 

Varsity Letter from IASAS Art. 

This is special because it reminds me more of Eline than of IASAS. Eline and I would always get mixed up by people, and on the IASAS Art page, our senior yearbook says that my painting is hers, but I love her anyway. I don't really mind that soemtimes people thought we were one and the same person, because without her, I wouldn't be complete anyhow. 

 Empty jar of moisturising cream...

This is a weird one, maybe. Merribel brought me back this face-cream from Australia once (7 years ago...) to use on my butt. Yes, really. It's really concentrated and works really good on stretch-marks and other skin imperfections. Merribel saved my ass many times. Really. This cream doesn't only remind me of our perfect asses though, it reminds me of sharing clothes for clubbing, and sneaking out at night. Actually... I just remembered something else I have kept over all these years.... 

brb.

...

 Yes. Really. My original Harry Potter Hogwarts polo! It doens't even come close to fitting anymore. It's a boys size 10 (which I think goes by age). That makes me a bit sad actually, because it means that when I was 17, I fit a childrens T-shirt. Now, It just manages to cover up my boobies. Merribel and I really wanted diner-shirts. With our names on them and everything. I think James Graciano used to have one, and I still look out for them all the time. If I ever do find a good American diner work-shirt, I'll get two and send one down under. 

This hat is awesome. Merribel knows it. She has one too. We took pictures of eachother with them once. 

*digs through the internet* 

...

 Awesome. I also have a plushy Marvin the Martian looking hat. We took pictures with those too, in the middle of the mall. People must have thought we were crazy. Good times. There's a pillow covered in photos on my bed too. I'm a sucker for memories.

Lastly, our prom pictures. I love seeig everyone together, that Saran and Merribel went to prom together, and that now he's with Eline. It's a shame he's not going to be here.


I still have my dress too, and the left over pieces of lace from the dress-making. If we substitute Lary for Merribel, we can reproduce the top photo next week. That, to me, is amazing. The odds of us all coming together int he same place like this were always tiny. We've done it though, and now I am determined to make it happen more often in the future. When we all have our Dr. titles and jobs, I'm sure it'll get easier. (Eline already has hers! GO Dr. Appelmans, I'm so proud of you!) Besides, Canada and Australia aren't that far apart anyways. 


Things and stuff are important, and not usually because of their function or intention, but because of the meanings and functions they are attributed by the people that keep them, and by the reasons they are kept in the first place. I don't need an ampty jar af Australian moisturizing cream, but I wouldn't trade this one for a million full jars.

Anthropology is everywhere. Embrace it, it feels good. 
(And no making fun of what I look like when I write blogs at night, and how mushy I get about my girls.)

Photography, Printing and Pretty Awesome.

They're Here....

They're Gorgeous...

And they're mine.

The first original Eveline Marian photo-prints are a fact
and I can hardly contain my excitement. Go me!

Traditional Traditions and Modern Traditions

Tradition? What do we even mean by that, and, why is it the opposite of modern? Obviously, it isn't. The Tradition/Modern dichotomy need to be, and has been, rejected. But somehow, it still seems to apply in everyday life. The thing is, in order to have traditions, we need to start doing something at some point before we can start repeating it and forge a tradition. On the other hand, we need traditions in order to be able to come up with new things, to break with the old, and to be different.Tradition and innovation, what we consider one of the cornerstones of modernity, are not at all seperate but depend on eachother in every way. 

Now, I can go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about the interconnectedness of modernity and tradition, but that's not really my point. Instead, if you want to better understand what I am rambling on about, read (the introduction, at least) James Ferguson's "Expectations of Modernity" and you might start to understand that Anthropology is not really about finding answers to anything, but about nuancing theories until one becomes equal to two, and a circle is really a square, only different. 

So, Tradition = Modernity. Or something like it. 

Sinterklaas. It's an old Dutch tradition based on the Patron Saint of Children, who is celebrated on the 6th of December. Originally a Greek Bishop from Turkey, he has been reduced mostly to a white man with a long grey beard that rides a white horse over the roof tops and brings presents who lives in Spain. He still wears his red bishop robes, but he is not associated so much with the church anymore, but rather with happiness, full moons and wind blowing through trees, presents in shoes and his merry helpers "Zwart Piet" (Black Peter). 

In recent years, with increased immigration and the multi-cultural Ducth population, these black Peters are more and more often discussed in the public sphere. Some say Sinterklaas is a racist holiday because the black Peters are slaves (granted, they do have red lips, afro-hairdos and gold earrings), others claim the Peter's are black from the soot in chimneys because they climb up and down so many to bring presents. In fact, the term "Zwarte Piet" used to mean evil doeër in general back in the Middle Ages (like Black Sheep in English?) and didn't become racially loaded until the 19th century, which is also when the Steamboat, the horse on the rooftops and the songs were invented. 

Although these racial connotations can still be heard in the songs, which are still widely sung today, they are no longer prevalent whatsoever, and not noticed by adults unless pointed out, let alone children. I don't think Sinterklaas or the Zwarte Pieten are something we as a multi-cultural society need to worry about in terms of racism and slavery. If anything, the holiday has become so commercialized that we should worry about out children's capitalist upbringings. Few children still worry about the consequences of behaving badly when the holiday comes nearer. They seem to leanr quickly enough that no matter what they do, they still get presents, and if not, they'll notice when the class bully doesn't get taken to Spain in a bag three years in a row, but can somehow brag about his xbox, PS3 AND his new iPad. 

Yes, really. Whereas I remember being extactic over a box of 64 coloured pencils, or a barbie doll, kids nowadays are demanding Kinects and 3D televisions, and when they finish unwrapping their gifts (piles of them, bigger each year), they are not only thoroughly dissapointed if the Segway on their list of desired presents wasn't among them, but they will speak up and say "it that all?".

White and black childen alike have higher expectations of the kinds of gifts they should recieve. Sure, when I was 5 I asked for a pony too, b ut when I got a pony for my barbie, that was good enough too. I understood that Sinterklaas couldn't work miracles. Besides, in the poem that Zwarte Piet wrote for me, they explained that we didn't have a barn to house the Pony, and that he couldn't live with us in the house. Now, it seems, kids don't only ask for rediculous things, they expect to get them, and parents actually buy them too. 

Whereas I, as a proud member of the Dutch community and nostaligic fan of Sinterklaas, have always named Christmas as the Coca-Cola defined, North American, capitalist, commercialized (and inferior) version of our so very honest St. Nicholas, I have to admit that even our local tradition has become a shell of what it used to be. Few of the original motivations to have such a holiday remain. I don't feel obligated to behave, and I don't see many children who do. Come New Years Eve, there will be another post about the 10 year-ols living in my appartment building that play with fireworks, lighting them with cigarettes, in the elevators, I'm sure. 

Now, don't get me wrong. Although I despise capitalism and what it does to people, I am full-heartedly participating in the Sinterklaas celebrations. I have even been a Zwarte Piet myself, back in the day. Tomorrow, I am hosting a very modest get-together at my house for 25 or so friends. We're all 25 - 35 (yes, except me, I know, I'm 24.), and we've all known for yars that Sinterklaas isn't real, but we still like presents, good company, and healthy reflection on just how good we've been this year, and if maybe next year, we should be better. 


I suppose modern Dutch society calls for a new tradition. One where we protest the racial connotations of a holiday that is no more than a good excuse to get together with family and friends, eat loads of chocolate and exchange gifts. And if all we really care about is the extra "koop-avonden" and "koop-zondagen" anyway, then we might as well shop till we drop. And we should most certainly never combine Christmas and Sinterklaas into one holiday. Not only because two commercial holidays will stimulate the economy more than one will, but for nostaligias sake. Most of all we need to hold on to the past like our lives depend in it, afterall, Tradition IS modernity, and the Dutch have a tradition of innovation. And because, lets face it, new things are only fun while they're still really, REALLY new. Then they become boring untill they become really, REALLY old. Then we call them vintage, and vintage is like, totally, the new modern.