Artful reader book 5

Earth Elders ... The Wisdom of the World's Oldest People.

Interviews and Photographs of 50 Supercenternarians by Jerry Friedman.

Published 2005

ISBN 0-976910-0-2

In 2006 I was lucky enough to visit New York and whilst I was there I went to the United Nations building. There was an exhibition of photographs on display there, it was an amazing collection of photos that were taken by Jerry Friedman.

Jerry Friedman is an internationally known advertising and fine art photographer, he conceived the idea for this project back in 2000. It became the focus and passion of his life to photograph and interview the supercentenarians of the world. He travelled all over the world sometimes travelling to some of the remotest places on earth!

Every photo had such incredible detail of the faces of people he had interviewed about their lives. Seeing the exhibition made me want to find out more about the stories behind the faces.

I had this book on my wish list since seeing the exhibition and finally received it as a gift from my husband last Christmas so I was really looking forward to reading it.

The book is broken down into 3 parts.

Part One : Reflections. This part includes essays by various academics and goes into some detail about the role of the elderly in our societies past and present.

Part Two : The journey. This explains just how the lives and memories of the elders impacted on the author and how sometimes it was a race against time to visit the people he wanted to interview and photograph. In fact on some occasions he was too late! The chapters in part two reveal some of the finer details in some of the elders stories, some of which are quite moving to read.

Part Three : The Elders. Comprises of the photographs that I saw at the exhibition in New York alongside each individuals story. Some of the stories are longer than others but they are all interesting to read, by the very nature of the book every person was born in the late 19th century. They had lived through some of the most life changing experiences you could imagine and Jerry Friedman writes in such a way that you feel you are actually meeting the person and reliving some of those experiences with them.

I found the book to be as good as I had hoped for it to be and I really enjoyed revisiting the photos. It is does have the feel of some of the more academic books I have read in the past when I was studying the Social Sciences and Psychology, however, it does not go into such detail that you feel bogged down when reading it.

If you enjoy photography alongside social history then I would recommend this book as one to read.

As a result of this project Jerry Friedman founded the Earth's Elders Foundation a non-profit making organisation. All proceeds from the book sales go to this foundation. You can find more information at The Earth's Elders Foundation Earth's Eldersite.

For my artwork I have chosen one of my own photographs. If you have looked at some of the other posts on my blog you will have seen that one of my many hobbies is photography, therefore, I thought using a photograph for this book review would be really appropriate. The gentleman in the photo is obviously not a Supercentenarian but was certainly a great subject to photograph. He is wearing very appropriate head gear for watching a group of Morris Dancers welcoming in May.

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Artful Reading Book 2

The Tin Ring ... Author - Zdenka Fantlova

The Tin Ring starts off very gently with Zdenka Fantlova recounting her childhood in Czechoslovakia. Painting a vivid picture of country life spent with her family, although her childhood has some sad moments she was obviously happy and enjoyed her life. Things changed rapidly for her when she, along with the rest of her family, were sent to Terezan concentration camp. Her first love Arno was also sent to the camp but sadly they were soon parted and on the day that Arno gave Zdenka a home made tin ring he was sent to a penal colony in the East. That day was the last time they would be together.

The book is Zdenka's memories of her years spent in a number of different concentration camps. She spent the final days of WW2 in Bergen-Belsen where she was found by an unknown British soldier. Throughout the time she spent in the camps she managed to keep Arno's tin ring, often risking death by keeping it with her. It is this ring and the hope that one day she would meet Arno again that gave her the strength and will to live.

This book is obviously not going to appeal to everyone but having seen Zdenka Fantlova being interviewed on TV I was motivated enough to read her book. She does share many of her harrowing experiences but not in a sensational way. It is an easy read as far as the style it is written in and can be read in quite a short while but that maybe because you just want to keep reading the book anyway. I did find at the beginning of the book the chapters seemed a little short but once I overcame that slight irritation I was fine with it! I can not say it is a book that I enjoyed reading because of the subject matter but it is a book that I am glad I have read. I would certainly recommend it if you are comfortable reading about this era in history.

For my artwork inspired by the book I have roughly drawn the ring to give the impression of the tin ring. I then made a light background using Tim Holtz distress ink and stamped and embossed the heart image. I wrote Arno's name below the heart and then masked off the circle. I proceeded to make a darker surrounding background with the distress inks and a red Dylusions mist. My choice of stamps for the background were selected to depict various moments in the book. The numbers are to indicate the endless times Zdenka had to be counted by her prison guards. The butterflies are my addition for hope and remembrance as there was a butterfly project a while ago to commemorate the victims of the holocaust. The other images are self explanatory. I drew the barbed wire frame using a silver gel pen.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

 

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Artful Reading Book One

A Street Cat Named Bob written by James Bowen. I first came across James Bowen and Bob when they were being interviewed on Breakfast TV. The way they interacted then gave me the desire to read more about them.
Reading this book was like entering a whole new world to me.
The journey that they have been on together is heartwarming and inspirational. James is honest about just how low his life had become, sinking into drug use and living on the streets of London. Meeting Bob the street cat gradually changed James's out look on life and gave him something to live for.
Bob is a cat in a million and really does amaze you when you read about him.
On finishing the book I have learnt quite a few new facts of life about a world that I suppose I have been sheltered from.
James chronicles with feeling the life that he and Bob have shared together over the years.
The writing style is more conversational than a work of literature, however, it is a good read and one I would recommend..
My artwork inspired by the book is below:

Page size 7" x 10”

Bob is a ginger cat, therefore, I have used mainly the red/orange colour palette. For the cat itself I have used mixed colours of gold leaf to show what a very special cat Bob is. The man's silhouette has a heart gem to depict James's love for Bob.
Darcy who is running the Artful reading group, will be linking in all the other Artful Readers reviews and artwork on her blog.
Thanks for visiting my blog.

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