I wish you...

My 2011 has been a year of transition!!

Transition from a state of acceptance to a state of dissent. From the visible to the invisible. From the conscious to the unconscious. From dragging what’s left of the past to closing and making space to newness. From taking it for granted to gaining it every day. From the known to the unknown and everything that this carries: responsibilities, fears, challenge in confidence, excitement and stimulation…

It’s been intense and this is still work in progress, and probably it will still be when the 365 will transit into the 01! I feel, though, that the 2012 will be the year of the harvest. It has to be…! Well, I hope so!

This year’s best wishes go to all those that have been beside me in this motion towards something new, even just for an instant, even just by listening to my long palavers, or patiently assisting to the sometimes-incomprehensible dramas, with a smile…And to those that, like me, feel like little fawns: naked and fragile, vulnerable and tender, but sure to be on the right path...

...and to those that are raging against something wrong and corrupted, a special thanks for making us dream and hope for a better future! Stay safe...

Merry Christmas and peaceful 2012, my dearest friends and sidekicks!

Unconditional Love

Photo by Maria Teresa Salvati

“Nothing you become will disappoint me; I have no preconception that I'd like to see you be or do. I have no desire to forsee you, only to discover you. You can't disappoint me” 
Mary Haskell


Unconditional love is the foundation for a strong character, a person that will face the world with an inner sense of strength and peace.
Those who miss that, will search for it in other people for the rest of their lives...

How Laura Hynd learned to Let Go

When I first heard Laura Hynd presenting her work ‘The Letting Go’, I felt a shiver down my spine. I was particularly touched by the sincerity, the naked soul coming through her eyes and the vulnerability of her voice as she talked about relationships with family, friends, lovers, siblings, people and especially herself.

I could see what she was voicing in all the beautiful photos she was presenting.

This is a beautiful story of photography as a form of healing, new discovery and self-awareness.

Laura started by saying “my life had unraveled and I needed to knit it back together… to understand and see with new eyes in order to move on.”

Photo by Laura Hynd

I have been thinking of her work for a while; it was extremely fascinating, together with the story behind it. I could empathize with that story too, so I wanted to discover more. When I met her again we immediately connected and decided to talk further about the whole project.

This is the story of every woman, if not person, who at a certain point in life has doubts. Questions life and events, and wants to discover the reason of many things: why lovers have left, disappointments, things that don’t always go as planned, why people hurt others and why we are not satisfied with what we have and who we are.

Often these questions are left unanswered, but Laura wanted to explore further and decided to embark on this journey of discovery.

The idea behind this project came from a need to explore her notions of photography alongside a desire to explore a much more personal side of her creativity.

’The Letting Go’ stemmed from wanting to focus on perceptions of women, which soon led to others' perceptions of me and my own self-perceptions. The difference is quite extreme.”

“I wanted to really celebrate women, and so started working on my own bodily self esteem, which I should have been celebrating but instead had spent years worrying about.”

“Since beginning this series I have also photographed many men, and a lot of them have photographed me…I can look back at all of the shoots with men and women and identify my role in the relationship... sister, muse, lover, friend, mentor, daughter etc.”

Photo by Laura Hynd

The journey of photographing was as amazing and inspiring as the result: “The feelings of liberation and trust resulted in an overwhelming amount of bonding in a very short time. It cemented many friendships, healed past problems and gave me an extreme amount of faith in people.

‘I wanted to let go of my control of a shoot, so at the beginning of the series, thought it would be fascinating to start each one with the same set up, take a couple of photographs and then allow the sitter/collaborator to do whatever they wanted. There were no rules.”

When you photograph someone, they put a huge amount of trust in you. You can explore, investigate and see their personalities with no filters or preconceptions.

Perception and self-perception are at the centre of this beautiful story. Laura has always been fascinated by ones self-perception in contrast to the way they are perceived by others.

She says she grew up being insecure and unsure of herself. When being photographed (from childhood, right through her twenties), by family and friends she always disliked the results. Now, looking at those old photos, she wonders why.

I look at her and see so much beauty coming from her deep soul and her eyes, and wonder why too. Though at the same time I understand and empathise with that feeling.

“Often, social pressure, upbringing and personal experiences leave us with a warped or unfair view of ourselves” says Hynd. It’s only when you reach a level of maturity or when you really touch the bottom that you feel a push inside that forces you to investigate, do something, clean up and discover that no one has the right to let you down or make you feel insecure.

We all have something amazing inside – or outside - it’s just a matter of baring your soul, seeing with honest eyes and letting go.

Laura’s piece of advice to other people that may feel a connection - even with a little part of this story - is: “take risks, be brave! The worst that can happen is that you’ve learned something new…”

And, in this amazing journey of self-discovery, you might learn that sometimes it’s just a matter of acceptance of faults…and, as Leonard Cohen says:  “there’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in”!

A conversation with eclectic artist Tiziana Salvati

I've know her since she's born and we have a blood connection, but I truly believe she's a very interesting and eclectic artist. I interviewed Tiziana Salvati and here it is what we conversed about.

In the past years she's been experimenting and focusing on animations in stop-motion, playing in Naples, Bari and Berlin as VJ.  Here there is a short demo:

Maria Teresa (MT): Your artwork is often dark. What's behind it?
Tiziana (T): Yes it is. And the reason is that it's rooted in the actuality. They reflect the times we live in today, and doubtlessly the human being is living a very difficult condition from many points of view.
Individulity is crashed, cities are not made for people, rather they become some kinds of shopping windows, in which many of us feel isolated and lonely.
The lost of humanity and the discomfort of living in this modern times are very dark.
Plus I live in a context that has many dark sides, Naples. Despite the sun, the mozzarella and the Vesuvio, it's a tough city.

MT: What or who inspires you? From a medium and-or content point of view?
T: I'm inspired by concepts, real life and the willingness to realise them visually, regardless of the medium, which can be photography, painting or multimedia.
I like to experiment. Most of the times I'm inspired by psycoanalysis, for example.
Good part of my work has been inspired by the concept of dualism of the human being and the I, in which two parts of the same personality are confronted.
Dualism in my work is completely gutted, for example through the long exposure photograps, in which I shoot actions and self-portraits in different positions.
The starting point is always introspective. Two figures are put in opposition, two I's that represent the components of the same person, sometimes come out, other times are dormant.
It's always the same body, but different parts of the mind communicate with one onother.
These parts can be introversion and extroversion, for example. We are used to think that we are either introverted or extroverted, so one excludes the other. On the contrary, I believe in the idea of  human beings as dynamic and subject to the time that passes by fluidly, so you can be both at different levels. Carl Jung is the psychoanalyst that I'm inspired by.

"I enjoy me" - Photo by Tiziana Salvati, Matera 2006

MT: what's the project that best reflects this concept of dualism?
T: The project that I've been working on since 2000, it's called "the cube", where I analyse content and container. The container is the body and everything in it, it's the content.
Though my work has changed a lot recently, I moved from long expsure photographs to animation in stop-motion.

MT: what has influenced the passage from these types of medium?
T: Maybe the need of evolving. I've always been interested in scanning the time. The long exposure is also about time and space; in fact, in those 6 seconds, there's something that happens and the body moves in a space that is scanned.

MT: What's your favourite medium? Why?
T: My favourite is painting. I think paint is a very intimate and therapeutic way of expressing what's inside, at least for me.

MT: Your last work it's a self-portrait paint - do you want to tell me something about it?
T: That's an excercise, a moment of therapy with myself, something very intimate.
Again, Carl Jung comes into the frame: he says that what distinguishes artists from nevrotics is the fact that artists are able to let it out, as opposed to nevrotics.
A self-portrait can be mystic process with yourself. Everybody should try it.

MT: What's your dream as an artis?
T: To make video installations in public spaces, streets and urban environments. I'm very interested in working with architects beacuse I love the concept of containers, spaces and urban developement as a way to make those spaces new, different. Cities that re-born and live in a different way, in a more human way, in which people interact with spaces and other people.

Contact: salvatiziana@tiscali.it
More work: http://www.giovaniartisti.it/salvati-tiziana?page=1

Looking at things from outside

Sometimes you are too close to things to see them clearly.
For a moment you feel the urgency of extracting these things from the inside and try and see them with a colder sight.

It's not easy, especially if you are used to listen to your warmer and soft side. Sometimes you have to see things objectively, shut these sides down, see life with a pinch of objectivity and evaluate the opportunity of this or that choice.
It's like, paraphrasing a friend of mine "when everything seems confused, freeze".

Seat in the dark. Look, from the quiet of this place, at the confusion, the things moving fast, the light too bright inside and, somehow the context of peace in which you momentarily seat, helps to feel more peaceful inside too.

Self-Portrait by Maria Teresa Salvati

Sometimes you just need to breath, immerse in the quiet, see from the outside and that beautiful candle light will come back to warm you up and quietly suggest the right path...

Try.

The Beauty of Breaking Perfection

I don't know you, but watching birds moving in surprising synchronicity and seemingly making unanimous decisions in perfectly shaped patterns is a phenomenon that I've always found fascinating. I always wondered what's the motivation behind these beautiful, perfectly symmetrical bird-flight patterns? They sometimes resemble a ‘V’ shape, other times a ‘W’, but definitely never seem just casual...

Photo by Maria Teresa Salvati                               

When I was in Costa Rica, I was looking at them more often than I was looking at the surfers in the ocean! Lucky me, I spent part of my journey with a lovely lady from Maryland - Kim - who teaches avian history and behaviour. She taught me what’s behind those perfect shapes: hierarchy. 
Yes, the eldest one flies in front and creates air paths that ease the followers’ flight... and so this helps the next one, and so on. I could immediately relate to that behaviour: every eldest child knows what that means. The behaviour is like brotherhood: that sense of responsibility (right or wrong) you feel towards your younger brothers, the "sacrifices" to set up rules with parents that inevitably makes your younger brothers’ lives easier, ‘till you leave and the next eldest takes the lead… 

I must admit, there is something beautiful in having this leading role, even with the attached responsibilities: you see the world with different eyes; you enjoy the pride and the adrenaline in trying something for the first time, sometimes you succeed and if not, you learn from failure… and potentially you are an example for the youngest. At the same time, being younger carries a bit of guilty pleasure in having less pressure, together with that sense of laziness you can let yourself into, till you lead the game and the rules change again. 

I couldn’t help but wonder, what if the oldest is not happy with his pre-assigned role of leading and flying regularly according the rules of nature? What if he has an inner need of flying higher towards new pastures and discovering something more idyllic? I wondered if amongst these leading birds there was someone like Jonathan Livingston. Remember the “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” novel by Richard Bach? He’s a seagull who is bored with the daily squabbles over food. So, seized by a passion for flight, he pushes himself, learning everything he can about flying, until his unwillingness to conform results in his expulsion from his flock. As an outcast, he continues to learn, becoming increasingly pleased with his abilities as he leads an idyllic life.

Photo by Maria Teresa Salvati                 

I like to believe that amongst these breaks, there are some Jonathan Livingston birds that have bravely decided to discover something new and to rebel. Bach’s story is a metaphor about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe, neighbourhood or family finds your ambition threatening. By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate pay-off: transcendence and freedom. 

I think there is something beautiful in breaking these perfectly symmetric bird-flight patterns: either you’re helping your younger siblings to survive or you’re seeking something extra-ordinary.

The happiest place on earth, Costa Rica

When my friend Bepi Constantino published a book called "Costa Rica, il paese piu' felice del mondo" (Costa Rica, the happiest place on Earth), I got very curious about it and started wondering why. So, as soon as I started to think where to go for a short, hot break, Costa Rica jumped up the list of options and I booked right away.

I did a bit of research trying to get an understanding about Costa Rica's superlative position, so I was a bit prepared before going, but I wanted to hear from real Ticos (that's how Costa Rica inhabitants are called). I wanted to know if a) they knew it and b) they agreed and why.

I wasn't sure where to go, so I started with Nosara and ended up spending almost all my time there, so I can't claim to have visited most of Costa Rica, but I talked with many ticos that were there, and they were from all over the country.

It was very interesting to learn that all the people I talked to, knew about this research and proudly confirmed that it was true.

The reasons given to me were diverse but 90% of them said that it was related to the fact that they don't have a military army.

Starting with the taxi driver that took us from the airport to the hostel in Liberia, he said: "because of Pura Vida! Quality of life is great, we love our nature and respect our lands. This attracts tourists and we love having foreigners here, we are very welcoming and friendly"...He was a very happy person, he started singing 'O' Sole Mio', when I told him I was Italian!

Moving on, and having to deal with a bank issue, I started talking with the bank employee (a tico) and he said that surely being the happiest place on earth had to do with the fact that Costa Rica is a very peaceful region; they refused to have a military army and - except for some dispute at the Nicaraguan border over land ownership - they don't really have any enemies. This is surely a reflection on the population's attitude to life in general, but in practice this has other advantages. The government invests money in sustainability, education and health, rather than the Army and defence. (Clever!)

Myriam - the owner of a lovely hotel set in the jungle, moved to Nosara over 15 years ago and took a more personal approach, stating that Costa Rica is safe, peaceful and "it's my paradise"... I had to agree with her.

Photo by Maria Teresa Salvati

Many foreigners have moved here in the past years, so how not to ask one of the gringoes I met? Casey left his studies in journalism and moved to Costa Rica to have a quieter and happier life… and he's indeed happy. Reasons: there is a sense of community and belonging that simply don’t exist in big cities like NY (where he's from). This is something recurrent in a few of the people I talked to.

Moved by the will to do horse riding, I booked a tour with a tico, so I met Juan, 26 years old, originally from Nosara and lucky me, there was only him and I during the three hours riding, so I got to ask him a few questions.

He's married with an American lady - it's very common here to find ticos and gringoes married to each other - so I asked what he thinks of the fact that many Americans are buying big parts of the Costa Rica land? Is he content with the fact that more tourism will bring more work and so more money and things to do for local people? Juan didn't seem to care of the "more" options. He said that he's been horse riding since he was 6 years old and, the road that we were riding, used to be all mountain in the middle of the jungle, while now there are roads and private properties. He said, "what I don't like about this, is that fact that the land that they buy becomes private and so we have to change our habits."

Photo by Maria Teresa Salvati

He took me to Playa Pelada, were ticos go on holiday, camping and mainly looking at the stunning sunset while drinking an Imperial cerveza.

While Sebastian (my horse) and Leo (Juan's horse) were having a break, I met Victor, a Tico friend of Juan, businessman from San Jose'. He was very friendly and happy to talk with an Italian lady, so he was very generous with comments and points of view to explain why they are a happy country. He talked about the lack of the army and their willingness to be peaceful as being the reasons. Additionally, they love nature and are very respectful of the environment, making them one of the greenest countries too...(maybe related?)

Apparently it is law here that for every tree cut they have to plant a new one.

Another couple of interesting chats with Ticos were about the fact that people here have a really strong family bond, and they never stray too far away from their families even when they get married. Life expectancy here is one of the longest in the world, and apparently this has to do with the water they drink, the strong family connections and the reasonable work - it's not too hard, which is reflected in the pay: just enough to sustain the family and be able to buy a beer sometimes...they are not too demanding here!

Coincidentally, I was reading “The Paradox of Choice” by Barry Schwartz, during the trip.

The connections I kept making between my Costa Rican study and the so-called first world or "more advanced" economies were unavoidable. "Paradox of Choice" is about Consumerism and how it has impacted on the happiness of people living in modern countries in a negative way; increasing levels of stress and reducing the level of satisfaction due to the overwhelming number of choices available.

The link with the following fact cannot be only a coincidence: "Britain is only halfway up the Happy Planet Index (HPI), calculated by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), in 74th place of 143 nations surveyed. The United States features in the 114th slot in the table." (The Guardian)

This quote from the book seemed to stay with me for a long time:

"Perhaps most important, if you limit the number of choices you make and the number of options you consider, you are going to have more time available for what's important, than people who are plagued by one decision after another, always in search of the best. You could use that time wisely by getting to know more deeply your lovers, your children, your parents, your friends, your patients, your clients, your students. The real challenge in life is doing the right thing in social interactions. [...] in a hurried world that forces you to make unlimited options, it's hard to find the time. You may not always be conscious of this, but your effort to get the best car will interfere with your desire to be a good friend. Your effort to get the best job will intrude on your duty to be best parent. And so, if the time you save by following some of my suggestions is redirected to the improvement of your relationships with other people in your life, you will not only make your life happier, you will improve theirs. It's what economists call "Pareto efficient", a change that benefits everybody"

The only person that was really skeptical about Costa Rica being the happiest place on earth was a gringo from San Diego. He said: “the only ones that complain here are the locals!”

Guess what? he was a property developer.

Maybe we have more to learn from Costa Rica than from America, at least if we aim to reach happiness - it’s up for grabs!