magic, fiction, art, africa, karen blixen
There is – or was – a hotel on the coast of Quintana Roo in Mexico, I don’t know whether it’s still there. I never went back. It overlooked the Blue Lagoon, near Bacalar. I was coming from the north of the Yucatán Peninsula, from Cancún, driving south towards Chetumal. I wanted to cross the…
Chapter 1: The Jungle Book I clearly remember my sixth birthday. December 1959. In the “first house” in Conakry, Guinea. We’d arrived in Conakry, on the West coast of Africa, in September. Guinea had obtained its Independence from the French a year before, on October 1958. Africa. A land of magic. I remember the colours…
Previously on “Warhol”. At the end of a mildly disappointing expo at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris, last September, I stumbled on Warhol’s “Ten portraits of Jews in the XXth century.” First top five have been commented on in a previous post. Bottom row now, l. to r.: Recognise him? I hadn’t. (Thanks to…
It was a somewhat disappointing expo in Paris, last September. “Gertrude Stein and Picasso” at the Musée du Luxembourg, at the back of the Palais du Luxembourg where the French Senate is housed. I’d been “had” before in the same place. Only a couple of rooms with “non-essential” works. For the price of a ticket…
“Hi everyone. We’ve come to the party.” “Aunt Jezabel left her bike on the street. Is it safe?” “Ah! There she is! Auntie! Auntie! Over here!” “Wow! Azraela has really outdone herself this year.” “Don’t talk to us. We’re grounded.” “Aunt Adela brought her gun. She still thinks the Revolution is on. She might be…
1 Oh watch, stop your ticking Make this night infinite… May dawn never come (Roberto Cantoral) It all started with a watch… Very similar to this one. A Tissot I’d had for years. It had never failed me before. Once in a while I’d change the battery, the strap. A very reliable watch… Until that…
“Hold on a sec, will you? I have a customer.” Day of the Dead, Mexico. Ventana. Window. Tlalpan. Mexico city. Fenêtre. Window. Taverny. North of paris. Catrina on a date. Saturday Bazar. Mexico city. (Catrinas were invented in 1912 by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Loeza) “Hairstylist wanted.” By Manuel Alvarez Bravo. c. 1968? Alvarez Bravo…
I discovered Brazil in 1973. I was in College in France. Made new friends there who were French but raised in Brazil. Since I was brought up in Africa, connections were made. First trip to Brazil in 1973. Second in 1975. Overall I spent six months in Brazil. Picked up Portuguese “na rua” (on the…
It’s a story roses tell. When night comes, once humans have gone home. The old roses tell the young ones in murmurs and whispers laced with the wind. They tell the story of a rose. The rose who wanted… It is a story that roses tell in the nurseries of C… The largest and oldest…
Some of you may have read Snowball, a “re-constructed” tale of my first few years in Pakistan. How I learnt Urdu before French or English and other details. I you haven’t read it, or feel like refreshing, here’s the link: Now, as I am almost done digitizing (and “post producing” my mother’s 8mm movies), There…
Equinoxio 