BATHING IN CULTURE

I haven't posted in a while because I had some final exams the week before Christmas, and I left for Sacramento right after! I've been busy seeing family members I haven't seen in two years, and some new ones have been born since then too. I like family holidays, but after a while I want to go out and do something. I've gone running a couple of times, and we went shopping with the family, but yesterday we did the most fun thing since we got here: we-- my parents, my sister and myself-- got on some bikes and rode to downtown Sacramento, where we had a sushi lunch and then went to the Crocker Art Museum. After that, we went on to 'Old Sac' which is a part of town with an old-western feel. There's a beautiful yellow bridge there (Tower Bridge) which is lit up a bit when it gets dark.

I liked the Crocker a lot, and I might post some more pictures I took of the artworks there. In the meantime, here are some pictures of Sacramento. (They're not great quality: I only brought my iPhone to take photos..) It's still strange to have such a sunny December. At least the bikes reminded me of my hometown Amsterdam! :)

How was your Christmas? I hope it was happy and peaceful, whether sunny or white!
Pictures by me, taken in Sacramento (Old Sacramento, Tower Bridge, Crocker Art Museum).

I live in the part of Amsterdam called 'Oud-Zuid' (the Old South). It's near Rijksmuseum, the Concert Hall and Vondelpark, and is known for its decadence and wealth. When I mention that I'm from there, I sometimes get asked if I've played hockey or the violin as a kid, or if I love horses, or if my parents have an art studio at home, or if my mother wears pearls and I grew up with lots of money. I didn't. I do know that lots of neighbours of mine meet at least one of those requirements.

What I've noticed lately is that the people, and especially the elderly, have a very distinguished sense of style here. Some of it is due to the money that supposedly is predominant in this neighbourhood, but some of it also stems from a certain idea of elegance. And yes, maybe this elegance is related to the wealth. But it's also related to a certain way of thinking that belongs to people born and raised in a big city. I actually wrote a piece on this, and set out to take pictures of typical 'city people' but then I came across all these wonderful elderly people in my neighbourhood wearing classy, sometimes strikingly bold winter outfits. The men walk with their hands behind their backs and their heads held high. The women walk determinedly and with quick, big paces. And all of them have an attitude that could be seen as cockiness, but I prefer confidence. 

And oh my god, those Dalmatians are too beautiful.

Huis Marseille is the epitome of Amsterdam: a high and narrow building on the Keizersgracht where you can see the typical facades on the other side of the canal through every window, and get lost along the many staircases. On the 4th of December I went to catch the last day of the exhibition Shores Like You by Dutch photographer Scarlett Hooft Graafland.

I don't like art to be too political, or at least I don't like to pay attention to it. Mostly, when I go to a museum, I stare at the works that fascinate me and walk past the ones that don't. The fascination is mostly based on colour and composition, or maybe a certain ambience the whole thing exudes, or maybe I have a very clear thought connected to it that comes up like sudden inspiration. I used to never read the explanations with the works, because I'd like to give it my own.

However, when the idea behind a photograph (or painting) is political and it results in something beautiful in colour or shape or all of it combined, I do get curious. Obviously, the work that adorned the posters for this exhibition (Dunes Like You) has some political meaning. And what I got from it was that the men were almost 'undone' of their manliness. Their heads were composed together to resemble the womanly, round dunes in the background-- everything in the picture is soft, feminine, without any sharp points or edges: nothing to get hurt with. It provided me a whole new angle of thought on all that is going on concerning the Middle East.

I loved Graafland's use of colour. Everything was so bright. I have had a thing for blue shades all my life-- my middle name is Indigo: that might have something to do with it-- so I was especially fascinated with works like Fish and Rock. However, I noticed that I was drawn to the pink colours as well. And then I thought that it might be because pink is very much in style at the moment. I'm wearing a peachy pink new sweater as I'm writing this. It's a weird thought: our opinion of something as aesthetic and possibly timeless as an artwork can also be influenced by fashion, and trends, and what we see around us. I think it's true. Though, of course, beauty in itself is something people will always be drawn to, and Graafland found it in unique places. If you have a chance to see her work somewhere, I recommend you take it!

Pictures by me, taken at Huis Marseille, Amsterdam.