Marroni Caldi (Roasted Chestnuts)

As I posted my artwork "Interconnected" on Instagram, the thought crossed my mind to contact @verbonnet and ask him to write an accompanying story. Stephen Paré and I have been friends on Instagram for many years now, and our discussions have, I believe, been mutually inspiring.  Mobile art is only one of Stephen's many talents, and I am delighted that he agreed to my request. What follows is the result of our collaboration.   

Marroni Caldi

(Roasted Chestnuts)

I’ve had I guess two mystical experiences in my life. I am not going to try to explain to you what I mean by that - anyway, I’m pretty sure that I can’t. Neither of them lasted more than a couple of minutes, although I’m really not too sure – otherwise, they were completely different. The first one took place in 2009. If I ever figure out how to talk about it, I will. 

The second one happened the day before Christmas, about a month ago. 

We’re not particularly rich but we’ve got a talent (by which I mean my wife has) for being invited into beautiful homes as guests. Christine does trading online and I’m writing a novel so we might as well be anywhere; we took an extended vacation last year, working our way from the Arctic Circle in Norway at Summer Solstice south to Italy and finally Athens, where I’m writing this.

We had Thanksgiving in Lyon (duck instead of turkey, petits pois instead of green beans) and then three weeks of grey weather in Geneva with an affectionate elderly couple who were early to bed; I finished a chapter and then some, gazing out at the lake, feeling excitement and accomplishment despite a head cold that had me sleep a lot. 

And then on to Rome for Christmas, to see the Pope in the basilica, the shepherds at Santa Maria in Aracoeli, and this year’s weird and controversial crêche, which I find ugly but which I’m defending anyway because it’s under attack by the right-wing self-appointed guardians of our culture.  

Christine’s uncle has an apartment in the San Saba district, and he was lending it to us for twelve days while he was ‘in Italy’, by which he means literally anywhere away from Mamma Roma, including New York. For me, too, Rome is the center of something both momentous and familiar; but it is as though I’d discovered I had a different birth mother at age 31 - there’s no regret and no rewinding, not even the wish to rewind - only wonder and whatever heightened moments you can find to spend together while your lives continue on in their settled course. 

The first night I was in bed early and slept immediately, only waking at 9, bedsheets soaked with sweat, the way you do when the illness leaves you. I felt good again. Christine was long gone so I set off walking toward the Pantheon, thinking of cappuccino. 

There’s a piazza in front of Santa Sabina, and as I approached it I could see a street vendor with a chestnut roaster (why are they always men?). After a few steps I could smell the sweet aroma and decided to get some.

That's when it happened.  

"Interconnected" ©Linda Hollier

As I looked toward him I saw another figure, also walking toward him from my direction. It was a bearded man, young, congenitally deformed, with an odd spiraling, laborious, start-and-stop sort of walk, supported by two sticks. The chestnut vendor was turned the other way, talking vividly with someone, a customer, gesticulating as he did with that tool they use to pierce the shells.

I’ve always been interested in the ways that people match their postures and gestures as they talk; there’s a dance that goes on. I was watching the chestnut vendor ‘leading’ as his customer nodded and tilted his head and turned slightly in response to each of the extravagant gestures. Then I noticed something else: the bearded man with the sticks was ‘leading’ the vendor. It was unmistakable. He would pause, and the vendor would pause; he would start up his exaggerated spiraling movement, and then the vendor would gesticulate. But the vendor couldn’t see him! His back was turned.

I was looking, observing, trying to sort all of this out, when I saw something impossible. That crippled fellow, with his stopping and effortful starting, was leading the wind that moved the trees in the little park behind him. The trees were following him, starting and stopping with him. 

An old Fiat came along, and stopped in the street when the man stopped, moving along again when he did, its clutch jerking with his laboring walk.

He stopped, and I sneezed. He moved, and stopped again, and I sneezed again.

I must have come to a halt as I watched all of this, for it was only after the crippled man had disappeared into the park that I realized I was just standing there. The chestnut vendor was looking at me curiously. I sneezed again, roused myself, walked up and got some chestnuts from him. I will never forget the deep compassion I felt for him - well, it was love. That’s the real word, isn’t it. We had taken part in an extraordinary moment together, however unconscious of it he might have been, however ordinary it might have seemed. 

As he handed me the paper cornetto of nuts, time was slowed, the elegant turn of his hand and the crinkle of paper and his mischievous amused eyebrows arching as I grasped the bag - all a slow inevitable unfolding, an orchestral music whose every sound of every instrument I could hear.

I was about to start crying so I hurried off with my nuts and turned down the pedestrian street, tears streaming down my face in the Roman sun and north wind, appetite gone, but every twenty feet stopping, smelling the chestnuts, filling myself with the odor over and over, receiving a blessing, the grace of an ordinary day. I left them on the fountain in front of the Pantheon as a kind of offering.

---oOo---

After writing the story, Stephen let me know that he was writing music for it as well. Listen to Stephen's reading of "Marroni Caldi" set to the music he has composed to accompany it.

lindahollier · Marroni Caldi

Letting in the Light

In photography, shutter speed refers to the length of time a camera’s shutter remains open.  The faster the shutter speed is, the faster the shutter will close, creating a sharp image. This is perhaps one of the camera’s most amazing attributes. It has the ability to freeze a split second, often capturing details which the human eye can so easily miss.  

The slower the shutter speed is, the slower the shutter will close, resulting in an unsharp image.  Slow shutter speed thus captures movement, in the scene, or on the part of the photographer, as motion blur.  At the same time, the longer the shutter remains open, the more light it lets in. 

The more light it lets in. This concept has always fascinated me on many levels. Whilst the slower closing of the shutter can obviously bring about a light trail, I often wonder how much more of the essence of a subject, how much more Light, can be captured in this way.

By nature, I am very sensitive to the energies of both people and places. With this is mind, I began to photograph people using the Slow Shutter Cam app on my iPhone, focusing on the energy I sensed around them.

Strolling ©Linda Hollier

To artistically portray the people in my works, I set myself the challenge of using only my iPhone for capturing and editing, No laptops, no iPads or other devices come into play.  Using various apps, I create my own textures and blends and at times paint by finger on my iPhone screen.

I soon noticed that I was photographing not only movement, where past, present and future were being depicted in one photo as it were, but that the figures I captured were often surrounded by a distinct light. By letting in more light with the slow shutter app, perhaps, I am capturing energy! I feel this adds to the sense of Presence I am aiming to portray.

Radiance ©Linda Hollier

Shortly after I began experimenting with the Slow Shutter Cam app, I attended a Whirling Dervishes Sema Ceremony in Istanbul. This inspired me to focus on discovering new ways in my art to portray the whole concept of rootedness and movement occurring simultaneously, bringing about an even stronger sense of Essence and Presence.  The individuals in my artworks appear to be rooted in a moment but at the same time appear to be moving in an other-worldly realm which is beyond space and time. The viewer is invited to follow them to discover the story that is waiting to unfold.

Noor (the Arabic word for light), ©Linda Hollier

The famous photographer Minor White believed that whether the photographer was consciously present or absent at the moment the shutter is released shows up very subtly in the photograph. My iPhoneart flows out of my mindfulness practice but in a sense has become a practice in itself. My whole creative process is becoming more and more intuitive and this requires me to be very much in the moment. 

It is interesting for all who love photography to note that Minor White also believed that when the photographer is in resonance with the subject at the time a photograph is made, the photograph will also seem to radiate the photographer’s presence. I interpret this as yet another form of Light being captured when the shutter is released.

On the Way ©Linda Hollier

The Mobile Art Movement has taken off in the age of social media.  LIght plays a very interesting role in media.  Light can shine on something, or light can shine through something.  Marshall McLuhan, a communications theorist, used the terms “light on” and “light through” to highlight the media that went hand in hand with various cultures throughout the ages.

In the Middle Ages, in the west, light had shone through.  The stained glass windows of many cathedrals are testimony to this. The windows and the way the light was being let in, told stories to the beholder and were meant to point the one looking to a Presence beyond. The dominant belief at the time was that the light of Spirit was shining through all that was taking place.  

The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in the 15th century had ushered in the Renaissance, an age of “light on”.  The printed word had to be looked at.  Light had to be shone on the printed word so that the eye could read it.  

What excites me as an iPhone artist, is that the digital age has once again ushered in “light through”, and the gadgets we currently use are like electronic stained glass. Their high resolution makes them luminous and beautiful, with light shining in from behind. Each artwork created on a mobile device can be instantly shared and viewed on such an interface. It is in this milieu of luminosity that the Mobile Art community has been established. 

Eggshell ©Linda Hollier

The dark side of the current state of media in the digital age is that social media can blind us to what is actually happening. Users can become trapped in their own filter bubbles, hearing only from likeminded people. Fake news is becoming common and can easily spread. There is a great lack of transparency. 

To further explore the concepts of light through, filters and transparency, I have created a series of six gauze-like veils titled #interact2connect, which I am currently photographing around the world. Six of my iPhone artworks are printed onto these veils. By interacting with people I meet or with strangers, we connect. When the veil is held up in the light, the veil also interacts with the individual and the surroundings. 

#interact2connect ©Linda Hollier

Next time you are out photographing or creating mobile art, I invite you to become aware of the ways in which you are “Letting in the LIght”. 

This blog post first appeared as a Guest Blog Post on the website of Rad A. Drew Photography.

Zoom, We-Spaces of Ubuntu

When I initially set up my website in 2011 and called my blog here2here, I wanted the term here2here to include two messages - the need to be fully present in the moment instead of acting on autopilot; and the call to mindfully use technology in a special place which was beyond the normal realms of time and space. 

Besides being a wonderful hashtag, the term suggests connectivity, interconnectedness and interdependence, calls us to acknowledge the other, invites us to widen our embrace and encourages us to broaden our perspectives.

When we meet online and communicate in here2here, perhaps another name for cyberspace, we are meeting in a special place where distance does not separate us. 

Over the years, since my blog here2here came into being,  we have seen an exponential increase in the availability of connectivity and data, and all that means for the world of apps.

Communication has evolved from the spoken word between peoples physically present, to the written word via letters with time delay, to the immediate spoken word via telephone, to emails with immediate delivery, to instant messaging via word or audio, to being able to see each other via media such as Skype and FaceTime.

This has been followed by video conferencing with apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, which make it possible for many of us to communicate and see each other simultaneously. Special we-spaces now exist online. 

And how timely this development has proven to be.   

We currently find ourselves in an unprecedented time in history.  The world is currently experiencing a global pause, brought about by a virus.  Covid-19 has resulted in the majority of the world’s population being in either quarantine or lockdown.  Streets are empty. We find ourselves at home with workplaces and services, except the essential, shut down.  With schools closed, families negotiate new experiences where the average day includes working from home and doing online schooling.

Much of the day for many of the world’s population is currently being spent online in here2here space. 

Although in isolation and totally separated by distance, individuals are using virtual space and apps like Zoom to not only participate in meetings or attend school, but to also sing together, meet with their loved ones and friends, offer online classes, coaching and therapy sessions, meditate together  and even create art. Each of these online encounters take place in these very special we-spaces. 

Over the past years, I have explored the architecture of cyberspace through word and image.  Now more than ever before, we need to pay careful attention to the mindful use of the communication apps at our disposal and the we-spaces we are creating online. 

Before entering the we-spaces created by using video conferencing apps, it is a good idea to get in touch with oneself by becoming aware of the breath, the sensations in our bodies, our emotions and current mental activity.  That way we will be better able to be present to the others online and to connect with them. 

Upon entering these we-spaces we soon become aware that it is not only the mind which is engaged as is the case when we message or email.  The ability to see faces and expressions means that emotions are involved as well. As we begin to resonate with each other, a field is created which involves all present in the video call. A flow of positive energy can be cultivated. 

The visuals of the we-spaces where we meet contribute to the experience, and are created by each individual participating.  People are realizing that these spaces invite creativity. Zoom virtual backgrounds, for example, are proving to be  highly popular.

Dr. Helen Papagiannis writes in her article “Zoom and Digital Fashion”,

“They’re a means to hide the real background in your home, serve as an icebreaker, and are a way to express yourself and be creative in these stressful times..”

Helen also suggests that while we are spending all these hours in front of the camera we might need something digital to wear and this could lead to the rise of digital fashion! 

Each one of us, whether we realize it or not, is a co-architect in the new social worlds being created.  

There is a wonderful Southern African philosophy called “ubuntu” often translated as “I am because we are”, or “humanity towards others” which speaks to the fact that we are all connected. 

Archbishop Tutu, who led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 says, “We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world.” 

here2here incorporates the concept of ubuntu, and as I use modern technology to create and send out my iPhone artworks into borderless realms, these words are always close to my heart.

The philosophy of ubuntu is gaining ground in the current global crisis. Earlier this month the Nonprofit organization Ubuntulovechallenge came into being encouraging #loveoverfear.  The concept is beautifully introduced in this video. Opportunities abound to advance humanity.

here2here also shouts out the message of ubuntu from the rooftops of Zoom spaces and rooms, and people all over the world are rising to the occasion. Despite the sadness and fear being experienced by so many, incredible acts of humanity fill the news during these trying times.

Placing some of the figures in my iPhone artworks into a Zoom meeting I was confronted with the following: 

I like to think that I chose not to screenshot  the moment when they were all looking at the camera and at it each other, but rather to capture that fraction of a second when simultaneously by chance, each one turned briefly away from the screen to catch a glimpse of something, before coming back to share it with the rest of the group. I choose to believe too that what they glimpsed were humans in all their beauty, performing acts of love and kindness. Diverse, but fully aware of unity and a shared humanity.

As of April 2020, 4,57 billion people of the 7,8 billion global population (59%) have access to the internet.  As we continue to explore the options and potential of video conferencing apps may we carry with us the philosophy of ubuntu. 

The world will never be the same again. We have moved fully from the Information Age into the Transformation Age. The “normal” some wish to return to never existed. Humanity as a whole is now being given the opportunity to co-create we-spaces of peace, unity and love.

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MPA Awards, 9th edition

I am very happy to share that four of my iPhone artworks received honorable mentions in the 9th edition of the Mobile Photography and Art Awards - two in the Digital Fine Art category and two in the Visual FX category.

The MPA Awards is the longest running international competition for Mobile Art and Photography.

I am very grateful to Daniel Berman and all the jurors. 

IPPA Awards 2018

I am very happy to share that my iPhone photograph of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi was awarded an honorable mention in the Architecture category of the iPhone Photography Awards 2018.

Congratulations to this year’s @ippawards winners! Take a look at some of the best #shotoniPhone photography from around the world.https://t.co/sW6Uew7VYZ

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) July 20, 2018