[ video ] Never late!

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.


End of the holidays... beginning of a new year.
But never late, folks!

Click the photo to watch the video.

***A very special thank you for the followers!

Photo: El Afronte - Orquestra Típica playing at San Telmo street (Humberto 1º, 343), as they usually do on Sundays afternoon.

whistles and snakes

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

A Photographer Showcase about my work was presented by the Culturazzi Website some time ago. At the time, I was leaving to China and didn't published it here. So, just wanted to share here their link, images were a bit distorted from the original, probably to fit their layout, but I appreciated the selection of images they did:

Beauty, Truth, and Sensitivity

I chose this image I took at Nairobi, Kenya, during the VII World Social Forum. A Tanzanian tribal sorcerer and his assistant, playing a traditional dance with a python, at the Moi International Sports Complex.
More dancers and drummers were coming playing whistles .
I can still hear their sound, their magic.

Health and Happiness Project at the Amazon

Open publication

Plateform published a selection of images from the series I took at the Health and Happiness Project (Projeto Saúde e Alegria) during a few days in the Amazon region. There's also an interview. The link above is for the English pages of the essay (for the French pages, click here).

Use this link to see more about the Health and Happiness Project published at this blog.


> Info:
▪ Projeto Saúde e Alegria
▪ Plateform Magazine
"PLATEFORM est un magazine pour exposer, s'exposer, se raconter et raconter. PLATEFORM ouvre le regard et s'ouvre aux talents. PLATEFORM apporte une double vision sur un thème, un lieu, une émotion, une idée."

Chinese memories

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

Walking at Fuli Ancient town alleys, I heard a music coming from an open door.
It was a small shop at a home, selling lighters, soap, cigarettes, candies... little things of everyday life of the village.
I though it was a radio playing an old Chinese song. Curious, slowly, put my head inside. I discovered that the beautiful song was coming from the her, the owner.

No spoken words, but a body language talk, the lady allowed to shot her portraits while I was fascinated with the magic sound of her handmade erhu, the scenery, it's particular smell, and well... her Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan's 23 t-shirt.
Relaxed, concentrated on the music, almost ignoring my presence, she didn't stop a second.
It was impossible not start wondering about how the fast Chinese development will affect these people, the town, their culture.


The Erhu
The story tells that during the decades of 30 and 40 of the last century, at the Chinese city of Wuxi, a blind street musician was always seen playing an instrument with two strings and begging on the streets. Passers-by delighted with those tunes, stopped to listen.

The artist began to be known as "the Blind ABing". The instrument he played was the famous Erhu, also known as Chinese violin. Even today, whenever people talk about the erhu, they also speak of the Blind Abing, the two are inseparable in the minds of many Chinese.





Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

Fuli is a Ming Dynasty town built on the Li River's northern banks.
The village has a history of 800 years, narrow, winding cobblestone streets and ancient temples.

> Alley at Fuli Ancient Town, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China.

Happy Chinese Tiger New Year!

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

Local Opera at the village, around Guangzhou, China.

charming smile

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

Fans enjoy a long history of about 3 thousand years in China.
The Chinese Fan is the part of the principal section of traditional Chinese folk custom that became part of the social status for the Chinese people.

> Village on the suburban area of Guangzhou city, China.

daily talk beside ghost catchers

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

It was a clear feeling that the worlds of myth and reality
have never demanded a clear separation in China.

Red is everywhere in Chinese culture and is the color of celebration. Red banners, from the past Spring Festival, hanged on each side and top of the door, creates the symbolic gateway on the house and add meanings of joy, luck and passion, with written messages that are usually intended to keep the bad spirits away and bring luck into the house.

Some also stick directly on their door the image of the “door god” (men2 shen2 / 门神 ), as ghost catchers, to make sure that bad spirits could not get into the house.

> Village on the suburban area of Guangzhou city, China.

wishes

Copyright © Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.
Reprodução proibida. © Todos os direitos reservados.

China colorized my imaginary world for a long long time. Mythic dragons, ancient history, tea, exotic spicy food, red lights, wisdom, yin yang, Taoism, Buddhism, golden signs, all beside a strong social/political regime, sustainable environmental quests, a still sexist society, human rights hard challenges, and a huge economic development of a massive population... in many ways so different, so complex, and so new for me.

2009 was such a rushed year, Chinese year of the Bull, meaning the prosperity that comes from the strong and the hard work, and luckily I got some of that.
In 2010 I hope to have better chances to share much more experiences here, with old and new friends, and I wish you all a great year of Tiger, with courage and passion on your purposes.

> village's temple around the suburban area of Guangzhou (Canton), China.