INSIGHT magazine: Ground and Water

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CHIEF CURATOR / LAYOUT & DESIGN: ATIBA T. EDWARDSAtiba is a perpetual visionary that likes to do art in the dark since it is easier to see the true light.

CURATOR: ALLISON MARITZA LASKYAllison believes that children are the best artists—they are individual universes of infinite creativity.

CURATOR: ANDREW MILENIUSAndrew has always been on the fortunate side of the fence thinking about how the people on the other side of the fence feel, and he wants to break down that fence.

CURATOR: Emily WenEmily enjoys the pleasure of aesthetics and in contemplating the meaning of life.

CURATOR: JOLILLIAN (JOZI) ZWERDLINGSince even you and I are made of dying stars, Jozi finds inspiration in those who understand timelessness and travel in alternate dimensions.

CONTRIBUTORS: Hassan Abarou / Eleanor Bennett / Beryl Benbow / Pierre Davis / Candice Danielle / The Earth Warrior / A. Espinosa / Ömür Kahveci / Rose Jaffe / Jordan Kifer / David Leblanc / Jessie Levandov / Hall McCann / Alex PuryearMariama Rafetna / Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg / Ashley Russell / Nelson "Chief69" Seda / Angeles Vera / Miles "Reskew" Wickman / Stephanie Winbush / David Zinn / Jolilian (Jozi) Zwerdling

www.fokus.org/insight Questions, comments and submission inquiries can be sent to [email protected]

INSIGHT magazine is published by FOKUS, Inc.All rights reserved on entire contents. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FOKUS, Inc. or INSIGHT.

INSIGHT magazine: Ground and Water CONTENTS 02 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR03 COVER ART04 SEASCAPES14 WATER AND EARTH15 DECOMPOSITION, IN HONOR OF DENNISSÉ16 ORGANICS18 SWAY IN MOVEMENT21 SLUGGO'S PERSPECTIVE27 VIGOROUS SERENITY28 THE GREAT30 LOST LOVE31 UNTITLED32 ARMED WITH A CAMERA35 SMOKING LINES36 FIRE FISH, A PHOTO STORY47 A BRUSH WITH INSPIRATION54 LOOKING FOR A MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP56 AN OCEAN OF ANSWERS60 TOMORROW62 THE FLOOD RECEDES IN WINDHAM COUNTY68 BEYOND MATTER72 GROUND AND WATER

VISUAL ART ARTICLES PHOTOGRAPHY POETRY SCULPTURE

FOKUS uses the arts to help people understand their innate creativity and de-velop their own talents to maximize their potential.

INSIGHT magazine provides insight into the artists who are shaping our culture today. This magazine is based on the concept that mankind often looks to art to define civilizations and cultures of the past.

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Ground and Water is the theme of this issue of INSIGHT magazine. Ground and water are key parts of the fabric of the world and all of its animals (including humans). If you are a believer of the evolution process, we evolved out of water to walk on land and create our future. If you don't ascribe to that science, you still must acknowledge that these two elements of life are essential to life and were pivotal in the first things created.

In one literal sense, ground is the foundation that provides us sustenance to live life and also the foundation on which we stand and build upon. Water keeps the world and its beings alive and going without we will die. What is your ground? Your water?

Ground can also be the intricate system that helps shape our life. Its topography comes in many different forms ranging from family and friends and the respective love and loss of both to failed relationships, ventures to obstacles and the highest and lowest moments of life. All of the above and more constantly shape the ground we stand on, sometimes pushing us in directions we question as they happen. Eventually, we are able to look back and understand they were supposed to occur. Everything happens for a reason and there is a reason for everything to happen.

Water can be a frightful thing because it has no set shape since it assumes the container that holds it. Water constitutes a large percentage of the human body and it is no coincidence that we tend to take the shape of the people, places and things that form us, that hold us. This can be friends, family, expectations from society that are imposed on us and that we impose on ourselves. Life is a fluid journey. The fluidity of our lives is ever changing with the ebb and flow of our relationships. Occasionally it give us a drowning or lost at sea feeling, but also feelings of growth and direction. Be water, flowing at times and standing still at others.

We always give our artists creative license with their interpretation of the theme. Turn the pages and see how artists from across the globe respond to the call for Ground and Water art work for this issue of INSIGHT magazine.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Issue 32

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MELDCover Art

BY ELEANOR BENNETT

"The image was taken in Manchester Museum in 2012. I really wanted to create a gallery of natural crystals as I love the way the light is captured and dispersed. I thought in this image the red and green blends well with the light blue base."

To view more of Eleanor's work, visit http://eleanorleonnebennett.zenfolio.com/

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SEASCAPES

BY ÖMÜR KAHVECI

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All images are digital photographs taken in Turkey in 2012.

Ömür Kahvec is a hobby photographer from Turkey. For more images, visit his website: http://www.omurkahveci.com/

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WATER AND EARTH

BY NELSON "CHIEF69" SEDA

Nelson "Chief69" Seda is a 21-year old avid practitioner of the arts and a community leader. His work is currently displayed across the world in various homes, business and community centers that do grassroots youth outreach programs. To see more of his work, visit http://www.chief69frc.blogspot.com

Water and Earth, 2012. Acrylic paint.

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Jozi Zwerdling hails from the DMV but lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She is concentrating in Community Organizing at Hunter's Silberman School of Social Work. Her passions are working with youth to achieve social justice through education and the arts, collageing and loving as an act of freedom. Stay updated via her Twitter: @jolillyz

Cheap tie blow in sunshine.

Saunter aside

tracks.

Small beautiful monsters

ring around rosie.

Braille kneads pressure points

in the souls of my feet.

This morning, there were:

Newspapers,

Eggs benedict,

French toast,

With maple syrup,

Pineapple;

My sister-lover, cattycorner,

heart beating questions

about underground worlds,

the health of our friend.

We are tribe:

Sunshine fueled

and tweedle-dee swagged.

Moved by moons.

Not afraid of rot,

or the worms that come with her.

Hungry and calling,

we lay the flat discs of old pains

on our tongues,

to disintegrate.

We are open mouths,

gentle pant.

DECOMPOSITION, IN HONOR OF DENNISSÉBY JOZI ZWERDLING

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ORGANICS

BY PIERRE DAVIS

Large water drop in a cavernous enclosure. Our minds are capable of filling the space.

Oblong, 2012. Plywood. 37 x 12 x 12 in.

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Pierre Davis is a Warrenton, VA based artist exploring organic forms through wood. He was recently awarded the Renwick recognition of excellence award for his work at this year's Artomatic (Crystal City, Viginia). To see more of his work, visit http://www.pierredavis.net

Fluid movement that unifies and works together in its mission.

The Creation of Maude, 2012. Mahogany and Yellow Wood. 45 x 11 x 9 in.

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SWAY IN MOVEMENTBY ALEX PURYEAR

With most of my pieces I exclude a title only to give the viewer the power to tell the story, but for this piece I tapped in on my experience in the medical field. I took the anatomy of the human heart and reconstructed it into a form of organic movement.

Sway In Movement, circa 2012. Mix medium, oils,spray paint,ink, and resin, 18 x 24 in.

Alex Puryear has always used art as an escape. “Painting is my own personal Never Land.” the up-and-coming Chicago artist explains. “As a Surrealist stuck in reality, escape is my only option.” And Puryear’s work is nothing if not a fantastical break from a humdrum reality. Utilizing dazzling colors and bold strokes lines, Puryear’s paintings tend to focus on dream analyses and outlandish interpretations of his own thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

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SLUGGO'S PERSPECTIVE

AN INTERVIEW BY JORDAN KIFERPHOTOS COURTESY OF JORDAN KIFER AND DAVID ZINNJordan Kifer caught up with David Zinn, an Ann Arbor, Michigan based artist that specializes in chalk illustrations. She gained insight into his art and the world of one of his most famous characters, Sluggo.Jordan Kifer: You work in a lot of different medias in your career, so what about chalking appeals to you?

David Zinn: The chalk was solving a problem of modern commercial art being very electronic. Even though everything would start out as a pencil sketch, it eventually got scanned into a computer. I’ve even had some jobs where they never existed as anything but pixels. It was created on a computer and was going to be used on a computer, so it never really existed except as light on a screen. I feel pretty strongly, and I bet this is a shared thing, that part of wanting to be an artist is wanting to get your hands dirty. Also, since I work at home, it’s hard, especially in Michigan, to ignore a really nice day. So having the sidewalk chalk handy and going outside to draw something on the ground, then I’m still technically kind of working and I’ll get my hands dirty and be outside.

JK: We recently talked about a time when you were asked to stop halfway through drawing on a wall, for which there’s much less legal love…

DZ: I have to admit I did not do my homework because I was mostly wandering around town with chalk, waiting for inspiration to strike. There were a couple of occasions where that inspiration, the thing I suddenly wanted to make exist, involved a wall. One of them is one of my favorite drawings, about a year or two ago down on Liberty Street. It was this very cool low wall that holds in the gardens by the post office. It’s a perfect place for doing the kind of thing I like to do because it’s not in anyone’s way, and it was just this desire to show a door with a typical nightmare monster standing, looking very drowsy holding a teddy bear, and Sluggo hidden around the corner having just rung the doorbell, looking very mischievous.

So when we had a warm day this past spring, I ended up down by that same wall wanting to do a very specific Sluggo holding out the container for a snow cone, waiting for snow to fall. I’d gotten just as far as one of Sluggo’s eyes, best Sluggo eye I’d ever drawn…and I was so absorbed in it I didn’t notice until I heard him speak, the tall man behind me, saying

“What do you think you’re doing?”


He didn’t really want to know what I was doing, he wanted to know why I hadn’t stopped yet. He was a security guard for the Federal building, on whose property I was drawing, and to his credit we had a very pleasant and civil and thorough discussion of why I had to stop, why he was not allowed to make a judgment call between my clearly childish and temporary art and someone spray painting a big penis (in fact I think he specified those as the two extremes).

When I stopped that drawing, I figured I would just go home but that unfinished drawing was stuck, in a way I hadn’t felt very often before, this silly idea that I had wanted to bring into the physical realm, but when it didn’t happen there was this horrible feeling of unfinished, unexpressed creativity that I couldn’t shake.

I walked home and kept changing direction trying to find a wall where maybe I could still do this and hadn’t realized until I started looking for one that there is not a wall in this town that doesn’t belong to somebody. So I found myself looking for walls that might belong to somebody but where no one would see me drawing on them and realizing in that moment, especially when I found those walls, that’s where all the graffiti happens, because it’s a place where you won’t get caught. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea that I was now trying not to get caught, because that suddenly ladled this illegitimacy on something I didn’t feel needed to be illegitimate in any way.

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JK: Going back to Top of the Park [an Ann Arbor, MI outdoor summer festival], and how that was a slightly different experience than just chalking anonymously?

DZ: Top of the Park is one of the best things that happens in this town. Once I was addicted to carrying the chalk everywhere, it seemed natural to chalk at Top of the Park.. Again, it hadn’t occurred to me yet to worry whether I was on anybody’s property. Even though this is a university town, there’s reason to investigate what the university thinks about this kind of thing. So one evening last summer I was drawing Sluggo and a band was playing and I had just enough space not to be underfoot, which is the problem because there’s a lot of people and I don’t like to make them walk around me because that’s a very aggressive thing for art to do. As though saying, “Oh I’m sorry, go over here because I’m creating art." I was eating caramel corn and drawing Sluggo and a flying pig facing the other way watching the band and then some kid knocked over my caramel corn which was great because then it was like I was drawing really realistic caramel corn when in fact it was just real caramel corn in a fake bag.

Then a guy walked over, who I did not realize was the director of the entire Ann Arbor Summer Festival, and if I had known I would have been much more worried about what he was going to say. He didn’t seem to mind at all and we traded some contact information and over the winter we arranged this summer I would actually show up at the Top of the Park with a purpose and do some drawings. When we first met to talk about it, I confess now that I was worried he would want to hire me to do some huge thing, “like you see on the internet” because I hear that a lot and those are great, but they take planning and math and a crew and it’s just terrifying to consider. But, to his credit and to the credit of the festival, he wanted me to come down there and do officially what I had been doing anonymously the year before.


JK: We talked a bit about how Sluggo likes to show up when he wants to, can you explain?

DZ: Well he’s kind of a nuisance because he really does just show up when and where he wants to and a lot of the times when I come down here with the chalk, it really feels a lot like I’m looking to see where he might show up. There’s very rarely any planning or preparation. A lot of the time the drawing is intending to be something completely different and then he’ll show up and want to be part of it. Other times I’ll come down here foolishly thinking “I’m going to draw Sluggo because people love that Sluggo guy,” and then he doesn’t want to show up, so he can be kind of a jerk. People call him an alien but I don’t know why. I’ve never shown him in a spaceship but because he’s not a human being and I’m always guessing the whole perspective thing, his head and body proportions tend to come and go and elongate. Having a degree of perspective, having things look like they’re actually there is an important part in what I’m trying to do, even aside from keeping things small enough to be spontaneous. Even the pigs, the flying pigs change shape far more than they should. One of these days I‘m going to learn how to draw pigs but in the meantime I just need a nice lump with four trotters on it and boom you’re done.


JK: Complete the phrase "Art is..."

DZ: I’ll give Sluggo's answer along with this drawing but I think it’s a little fluffy so I’m going to have to explain. “Art is… the sky beneath your feet." The reason Sluggo has been pushing this answer is that I feel a lot of pressure to try and come up with new and interesting things that no one’s ever done before, which is why I’ve always been a little nervous about doing art. There’s that push to be the first person rather than just enjoying the things you like to do. But I feel a real push to keep drawing holes in the ground that aren’t really there and filling them with blue sky. I don’t know why necessarily but it just makes me really really happy to do it.

Jordan Kifer is a 21-year old student at the University of Michigan. Shaping her world view is the belief that everyone is an artist and has something beautiful to share. Visit her blog at http://lavidaesuncarnaval.tumblr.com/

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Mariama Rafetna Primus is a writer, artist and web producer from Brooklyn, NY. Mariama presently runs her own media shop called 5ive30 Media, where she produces websites, offers copy writing and design services to local businesses and brands. To view more of her work, visit http://helloblu3bird.tumblr.com

Vigorous Serenity, 2012. Digital Photograph.

BY MARIAMA RAFETNA

VIGOROUS SERENITY

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THE GREAT

BY MARIAMA RAFETNA

her spirit's

alive

in the trees

her soul

seeped deep

into the roots

up under the concrete

of every step taken

her breath

floating off leaves

dancing wisdom

in the wind

her strength

branched out

arms,

open wide

glowing green

with

infinite

love

her heart

beats

from tree trunks

grounded

in forever

her truth

loud and free

she's been here

long

before us

she is

everything

we need.

The Great, 2012. Digital Photograph (right).

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The Great, 2012. Digital Photograph (right).


BY JORDANA RUBENSTEIN-EDBERG

I am watching her. I’ve had my eye on her all day. Holding her cold, empty wine glasses for hours, I wait to hear her laugh. I can only offer her trays of mini ham and cheese sandwiches, glasses of fresh wine, I wait to pull out her chair or pick up her fallen napkin. Her skin is a deep mahogany. She is Indian and wears a gold and fuchsia sari. Her hair is long and dark and strong. She dances out the door. I hold the door for her and press my palms flat against the floor she touched. I leave behind her but she doesn’t notice. The memory is with me at all times. It is all that I can see. As I pull in to the darkness of the apartment parking lot I twist a forgotten strand of her hair between my fingers. I turn off the ignition and sit in the cool loneliness for hours with this piece of her. I enter my apartment. There is one brown untouched leather chair I purchased 5 years ago. I sat in it once on the day I bought it. The day I got my first paycheck in the mail. I watch the dark strand of hair spiral on to the white wall-to-wall carpet. It is the most beautiful thing I own. I walk to the bedroom. There is a mattress with one pillow and one navy down blanket. I bought these the same day as the leather chair. The day after I bought them she was pronounced brain dead. A drunk cab driver crashed into a street lamp. As I fall captive to sleep I wonder—is it possible to miss what never existed?

Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg lives outside of Washington, D.C. but wants to travel all over the world. She loves writing, reading, cats, and chocolate!

LOST LOVE

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BY JESSIE LEVANDOV

UNTITLED

Untitled, 2010. Ink on paper. 8 x 10 in. Jessie Levandov is a visual artist and filmmaker. She divides her days between filmmaking, community/youth arts education and making things with her hands. What she makes are little altars that represent a commitment to recognizing beauty in the things we discard, their decay, and the sacred process of their transformation. She resides in Brooklyn, NY and believes in magic.

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BY BERYL BENBOW

Rockaways, 2012. Digital photograph.

The Rockaways' scenic view of ground and water. A reminder of the simplistic beauty found in nature. Summer playground and ocean water with a supply of nourishment.

Beryl Benbow has her B.A. in Fine Arts from Brooklyn College. She carries her digital camera at all times. In creating art, she utilizes her digital photographs. Sometimes her drawings are scanned or created with her digital drawing pad, then skillfully recreated into a new work of art. To see more of her work, visit http://beezebest.wix.com/photofolio

ARMED WITH A CAMERA

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Manhattan Bridge Reflections, 2009. Digital photograph.

Historic cobblestones and trolley car tracks, the ground we walk on with a puddle’s reflection of the Manhattan Bridge. Seeing images where there would be none, if not for the rain.

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Reflections taken from Queens, 2011. Digital photograph.

Gotham city's silhouette skyline, play ground of the rich and poor, denotes the ground of New York City. Long Island City’s shoreline, ground on the other side, allows the capture of the glass-like mirror image of the city in its waterway.

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BY ROSE JAFFE

Rose Jaffe is an illustrator and portrait artist born, raised and currently residing in Washington DC. She studied print making and drawing at the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. She works at a local gallery and teaches comic art and illustration, as well as taking freelance gigs across the country.

SMOKING LINES

Smoking Lines, 2012. Digital photograph.


FIREFISH, A PHOTO STORYIMAGES BY THE EARTH WARRIOR WORDS BY ASHLEY RUSSELL

New Yorker by birth & Dominican by bloodline, the Earth Warrior studied sustainable & international development at NYU and serves as Project Coordinator for the Culture of Creativity. See more of her work at http://www.theearthwarrior.com Ashley Russell is a wildlife major concentrating in conservation biology and applied vertebrate ecology with a minor in zoology at Humboldt State University in California. Originally from NYC, Ashley is a science geek but when inspiration in the arts strikes, she chases it.


Floating on the waters edgeEntranced towards unknown ahead,I bow my headAnd face the deep abyssOf love past,Love missed,Love undying.She dwells in parts unseen,Faces a future unknown,A future undetermined.But concrete circumstance and rippling timeLay flat within an earthly plane, andPaired birds with wingsTranscend freely.

Transcend Freely Brooklyn, New York, USA

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Beyond the water’s depthShe rides horizonsFar in breadth.Ablaze in brilliance,She shines on the wetDweller of oceans emerging To bask in silhouette.

Silhouette Mbigua, Asuncion, Paraguay


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Wild tryst,City Mistress?I’ll course and crash,You’ll flare and blast,Into one furiousFlood glowing flame,And conquer these streets again.

Flood Glowing Flame Manhattan, NY, USA

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Below the waves of pristine blueRiding the pushing and pulling currentShy fish turns to,Strikes, then burns in ascentAlight, they riseSurface, fly, and sink.What magic!A fish on fire swims,Baffling logicAnd other earthly things.Too true, beyond capture,Beyond paradise, I think.Fish on Fire, swimming pyre:Rapture.

Fish on Fire Alexandria, Egypt, Africa


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We thrive,Come alive intertwined, Blurring lines,Twisted mimes.Grounded soaked,Burning drowning stokedExpanding coiling growthFor love of her light,That high vibrant Fire who riotously fightsFor her earth, for her leaves, for her rings,On fire upon golden luminous wings,Ever soaring toward that swimming seekerOf growth, of life a bit deeperDenser and wetter,Where dimensions distort.Swimming Fish Of the combustible sort.

Intertwined New Orleans, Louisiana, USA


Fret not in the deepWe alike wear this greenThough we clash in our stripes,Mine deep and yours bright.In the murk if you sinkBurn passion, be braveRide the wave! We’ll both sail on the brink.I assure you, Like flame water radiates virtuesOf freedom, of flight, Of fervor and might.Green flood, breathe deep, let it stir you.

Flame Water Brooklyn, New York, USA

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Why drown on dry land?I grow where few can.I grow roots intertwinedDispersed roots, but all mineDispersed down underEthereal wakeless water.Swaying steady, I reach for the lightBreathing rays, I bathe, basking in delight.The union of life, harmony,Reflects upon moving medium rippling in the breeze.

I Grew Gills Brooklyn, New York, USA

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A BRUSH WITH INSPIRATION

BY MILES "RESKEW" WICKHAM

My paintings are inspired by each moment I am painting, from the first stroke coming from within, expressing through the movement of the brush. I decide each following stroke and color in an instinctual manner based on the feeling of a need to balance what is there and create anew something that will affect another feeling, which guides the next action. This continues until there is a feeling of completion and satisfaction.

My pieces are not literal. They are left for the viewer to be affected in their own way, so as to evoke a wider array of experiences evoked, and allow for freedom of the imagination to go where it will, unbounded by any presented ideas.

I believe visual art should connect with the viewer and allow something already within them to blossom and bloom with the light of the life present in my creation.

Untitled, 2012. Acrylic on paper, 36 x 48 in. (page 48)

Untitled, 2008-2009. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 20 x 30 in. (page 49)

Untitled, 2012. Acrylic on paper, 30 x 40 in. (page 50)

Untitled, 2012. Acrylic and sand on canvas, 36 x 48 in. (page 52)

Reskew is a self-taught artist, and reformed graffiti-tagging felon, learning and exploring painted forms of self-expression through skills acquired as a graffiti artist for 12 years, and sharing this through online tutorials. To see more of his work, visit http://www. flickr.com/photos/mileswickham

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LOOKING FOR A MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPBY STEPHANIE WINBUSH

Looking for a meaningful relationship,

Tired of the same old same,

Feel like I’m ready to fall in love again but I know that it takes time for these things to happen,

Feel like I’m ready for that one special guy in my life to hold me tight all through the night through the good and the bad,

Have met different people in my life but no one has made an impression on me except for this one person but not sure if he is the one for me or not,

I’m still weighing my options on that one but hope and pray that he is because we’ve spent a lot of time together,

Feel like we vibe so much when we are together it’s crazy,

Everything happens for a reason so I’m wondering why God put you in my life and we reconnected,

Thinking that I want you to be the one for me but I can’t make someone be something that they don’t want to do,

They have to be willing to put the time and effort into this thing like myself,

If I feel like I’m not getting that then I might have to keep it moving regardless of how I feel about someone,

Feel vulnerable at times but have a learned a lot from past experiences and don’t want to be the same person I used to be,

See different changes in me because I surprised myself by not making a decision the other day,

Feel like everybody in my life got nothing on you boo,

Feel that our feelings that we have for each other are the same,

Had the best time with you just spending the day with you and looking at you makes me smile and laugh,

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Stephanie Winbush is from Havelock, North Carolina. She loves writing poetry and taking pictures.

Feel that something has been going on with you because haven’t heard from you today,

Know that you will be alright because God always works everything out in his own time,

Feel like I’ve been through so much lately I need a ride or die guy someone who can be there for me when I’m going through anything,

Need someone to just listen to me sometimes someone who can see my through all of my good, bad, and ugly,

Need a God fearing man for sure,

Need someone who is going through some of the same things I’m going through,

Need someone to hug me when I need to be hugged,

Need someone to kiss me when I need to be kissed,

Need someone to know what I need even when I don’t say anything about it,

Just need someone to be there for me regardless,

Need someone to be so understanding like myself,

Know everyone has problems but definitely need someone who is going to be able to help me with mine listen to me and just give me advice when I need it,

Sometimes just need to be listened to or just cuddle with me,

Need someone who really knows me or is able to get to know me to see where this thing will go.

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BY A. ESPINOSA

My brother recently had heart problems and needed surgery and since he lives on the other side of the country, I was left to wonder and wait. I am in no way a religious man, but I find it funny that when people face troubles, they look for some signs of divinity and I'm no different. So when I went to Coney Island with a friend who knows someone dying of cancer, we talked about our "troubles" and then I saw the clouds part and these light beams shining down on the water. I stopped the conversation immediately and captured my "sign of divinity."

All images are digital photographs taken in 2012

Photographer and designer for Brooklyn Born Productions. Focusing on photographing urban life in New York City. To view ore of his photography, visit http://www.bkborn.com

AN OCEAN OF ANSWERS

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TOMORROW

BY CANDICE DANIELLE

As a child

I was taught that toothpaste

Was used to clean soiled teeth

Lest I waste and eat the

Bubble gum flavored crest tube

For kids

God forbid the day has come

A child in Haiti found one use far

Greater. Slathered nowhere

Near the tongue clean white paste

Is placed beneath desperate nostrils

To block the dirt of a mournful stench

Beyond mere morning breath

Of bodies who no longer exhale

Death

Where the ground that once seemed

Most certain and promised, seemed to be promised land exodized

Concrete becomes quick sand

And left behind are bloody hands stretched

Out from in between broken sidewalks

And used-to-be streets

Death

I’m sure that morning

Thoughts wandered furthest from future stolen

From under feet

Stolen from underneath sturdy dreams of

Tomorrow

What pride we have in

Tomorrow

Didn’t know our plans would be

Followed

By life disaster that god allowed amid

Daily routine

Death

Dark and unexpected amid the glow

Of sunlit hopes but only gleams through

Tears and panic and failed regime cause

Things aren’t what they seem anymore

Don’t know what’s safe to lean on

Anymore

Infant bodies covered in asphalt and

Carcass fluid cover floors in

Piles like dead fish along loading dock

Once hooked on an easily lost life

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Candice Danielle is a 25-year-old creative writer and emerging teaching artist from the Midwest. She strives to step beyond walls of communal silence and engage in a life of independent thought and open conversation.

Amiri

I can not grow accustomed to the ground

Enveloping we,

It has opened up and slowed everything

I guess this means our values need new

Placement

Cause the pavement

That once stretched across neighborhood

Is now bunched together like

Pushed back work uniform sleeves

Sans the crisp dry clean

And Haiti

Its years of rich independent history now stripped

With one day of unexpected

Calamity undeserved

Shifts of homes has broken brown bones

And injured thousands of families

Of tomorrow

What pride we have tomorrow

Didn’t know our plans would be followed by life disaster

That god allowed

Amid daily routine

I guess this really means

Our values need new placement

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THE FLOOD RECEDES IN WINDHAM COUNTYBY HALL MCCANN

I lived in Windham County, Vermont for 8 years and these photos depict the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, which reconstructed the landscape of Southern Vermont. This was especially true in areas that had been shaped by human hands, for example, where rivers had been diverted to better suit industry, agriculture, and habitation. Within a few hours, the swollen rivers reclaimed their original course and redefined what we know as ground and water.

All of the following images are untitled and were taken in 2011 using 35mm film.

Hall McCann is an artist from New England who aims to share her perception of the subtleties of time and space on film. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and attends Hunter College School of Social Work. To see more of her work, visit http://www.flickr.com/slip-or-beets

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ART BY HASSAN ABAROU WORDS BY DAVID LEBLANC

Combining heavy and light, empty and full, opaque and transparent, Hassan Abarou’s paintings present and represent aquatic paradoxes on the effects of chaos and motion through space-time. From the vitality behind these waterscapes emerges a lyrical abstraction both spontaneous and controlled. Proposing a new approach to form and spirituality, Abarou’s work echoes this puzzling quote by French writer Georges Perec: “I seek at once the eternal and the ephemeral.”

Born in Morocco in 1978, Hassan Abarou was selected by the Moroccan Ministry of Culture for two exhibitions in 2010 and 2011. Teaching visual arts since 2003, he currently lives in Paris as an artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts. To view more of his work, visit http://goog.la/Hassan_Abarou

BEYOND MATTER

Untitled, 2012. Mixed technique on canvas, 18.1 x 21.7 in. (left)

Untitled, 2012. Mixed technique on canvas, 13.2 x 17.9 in. (right)

Untitled, 2012. Mixed technique on canvas, 63 x 39.4 in. (page 64)

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WATER AND GROUND

BY ANGELES VERA

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Angeles Vera is a Paraguayan architect and digital photography-enthusiast based in Asuncion, Paraguay. Her interests include portraiture and macro photography.

Untitled, 2012. Digital Photograph.

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Untitled, 2012. Digital Photograph.

Thank you to all of the contributing artists in this issue: Hassan Abarou / Eleanor Bennett / Beryl Benbow / Pierre Davis / Candice Dani-elle / The Earth Warrior / A. Espinosa / Ömür Kahveci / Rose Jaffe / Jordan Kifer / David Leblanc / Jessie Levandov / Hall McCann / Alex PuryearMariama Rafetna / Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg / Ashley Russell / Nelson "Chief69" Seda / Angeles Vera / Miles "Reskew" Wickman / Stephanie Winbush / David Zinn / Jolilian (Jozi) Zwerdling

The theme of Issue 32 was Ground and Water.

Ground is the foundation that provides us sustenance to live our life and also the foundation on which we stand and we build upon. Water keeps the world and its beings alive and going. Without it we will die. What is your ground? Your water?

The next issue of INSIGHT magazine will be released in February 2013.

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INSIGHT magazine is published by FOKUS Inc.All rights reserved on entire contents. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FOKUS, Inc. Or INSIGHT.

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INSIGHT magazine: Ground and Water