Cartier: the Bangle

Cartier, by Atelier Henri Lavabre

'Soudanais' Bangles

circa 1919 (t) and 1920 (b)

(coral, onyx, ivory, enamel and diamond)

     Classic, spectacular Cartier pieces. Each has a swag of its own, with one dancing to its own bouncing dots, wiggling lizard tails and berries of popping coral while the other sways to the deep drum of its echoing, domed mosque and to the wedding dance taking place below its arch, patterned with swirling skirts, dried leaves and pattering feet. Tinges of African rhythm and Oriental charm snake through the bangles' cores, loud and playful and colourful. They carry the sweet and rough scents of the Sudan. They mime facets of an equatorial culture. They shed the native songs they have been taught to hum against the skins of their wearers. But while these bangles are meant to be inspired fragments of a country seen as foreign and exotic by Cartier's clientèle (and by its mere admirers), it is most likely the represented country itself which would find such fragments as most foreign.

Louis 'Masai' Michel

Louis 'Masai' Michel

Madagascan Lemur (Frenchman's Cove, Jamaica)

circa 2012

   Today there are countless examples of crude and usually talentless works of graffiti scarring not only the surfaces onto which they are painted, but also our impressions of what truly good street art may achieve, and whether it really exists at all.

     Among the few contemporary artists, however, whose work always compliments or beautifies in some way its public surroundings, there is Masai. Seen crouching near the tip of this giant lemur's tail in order to refine its furry African print pattern, Masai is a consistent master of sewing into his works a subtle melding together of animal-as-human and human-as-animal motifs, perhaps with the intention to artistically enhance and question our awareness of just how crucially one's existence affects that of the other. As with this jaunty lemur, he imbues into its identity - its affinity with the wild - the synthetic design of a human-made cloth and of what the lemur holds in its completed state, the Jamaican flag in the form of a kite. This brings to mind a simultaneous expression of patriotism and of the inevitable imprint a superior civilisation can leave on one that is weaker or fewer in numbers. Animals, unequipped with the same level of intellect as humans, are those who unfortunately feel the slow sting of man-kind's revolutionary, polluting 'evolutions' the most. And this is Masai's message: notice that which is going un-noticed, and do something about it.

     On a slightly similar note, Masai's latest beauty of a boxer deserves a, 'Rest in peace, Lola'.

19th Century Photography: the Brothers Zangaki

the Brothers Zangaki (Constantine and George)

Egypt 

circa 1870-80

     This is most likely an Arabian (or dromedary) camel, equipped with just one hump on which this particular rider sits. The pose of both the animal and the human is, in this case, one in the same: stationary, almost statuesque - lifeless. They merge into one thing; they host the shape of a foreign decorative object representative of a contemporary country - a lost kingdom - that at the time, any late nineteenth century traveller could purchase as a flat momento meant to remind them of the dusty, mysterious Egyptian peoples once back in the comforts of their home. The sandy and colourless, dull sheen of this photograph makes it possible even now to imagine how the dirt and rock and dry air that surrounded both the sitters and the Greek photographers on the very day this photograph was taken felt and tasted. Unseen, they perhaps affected this little scene as they were not intended to. Or were they?

     Is the sitter's face - a gaping black hole - meant to be hidden? Is there supposed to be such harmony and apparent ease in the chemistry of the sitters as there is in the actual way they are positioned, calmly and perfectly centred? The Brothers Zangaki specialised in creating images of easily understood motifs of the past, of places seen as emblems of antiquity. But therein lies the irony: antiquity, even in the 'present day', is and never will be easily or fully understood. History is riddled with facts that, even if they appear to be as simple and clear-cut as the very camel and rider whom we see in this photograph, are in fact quite the contrary. Only the naïve eye may see solitude in this photograph.

the African Weave

Democratic Republic of the Congo (Africa)

Yarn Mpu (hat)

circa late nineteenth century

     It is doubtful that this kind of mpu was worn as a casual piece of clothing. Probably more of a ceremonial or even status-bearing symbol than, say, a rather over-intricate device for just keeping one's head warm at night, it is reasonable to assign this type of hat to an important figure, perhaps male or female. Its height is not just a coincidence of too much yarn at hand, but a signifier of one's importance.

     Just as with the varied dress uses of exotic plumes in such periods as the Baroque and the Rococo (where something as large as an ostrich feather, for example, would not only display the wealth and 'taste' of any wearer but would also indicate their promising fertility, especially in the case of a male), this, too, can be assumed for the mpu. Perhaps an abundance of hair able to fit into its tall cavity was a sign of dominance, a communion between a human and art. Or perhaps the skill required to keep such a hat from looking a bit dowdy on one's head was only learned by a select few, therefore making them worthy of praise and admiration; or maybe it was the simple extension of height given to the wearer that denoted them as not only bigger than others, but also as the so-called 'carrier' of a message, as if the mpu were a talisman of communication.

     Lastly, notice that the hat's character lies in its décor of pattern and handiwork rather than on any sort of colourful element (or so far as we know). This makes the quality of its texture and the physical contact it made with the wearer all the more important than had it been coloured, too. So it is simple, and in a way - beautiful.