Faces of Brazil | Gabriel Wickbold

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:50 PM EDT, 27 December 2009

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Gabriel Wickbold is a young Brazilian Photographer whose images are intriguing and captivating. This post features his 'Faces of Brasileiros' series.

[slideshow]

Related articles

• Putumayo Celebrates Carnival in Rio with Brazilian Beat (wholefoodsmarket.com)

• Totalmente Brasileiro (cortez.wordpress.com)

• Carnaval Brasileiro Austin 2012 (worldculturesaustin.com)

• New Brazilian millionaires on the rise (helpinyourhomes.wordpress.com)

• Diane von Furstenberg's Best of Brazil (online.wsj.com)

Liu Xiaobo | The Power of Words

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 14:07 PM EDT, 27 December 2009

CHINA - This blog addresses many issues regarding human rights and seeks to encourage the reader to act even if it is through sharing a post or video. Somewhere in the world today, some person or group of people are being treated inhumanely. We blithely read about such abuses, but we live in a society where we can insulate and anesthetize ourselves to their suffering.

It is true that sometimes all of the evil and hatred in the world seems ubiquitous and insurmountable, and the natural human reaction is to shrink away and adopt a protective sphere around family and personal friends, or to remain silent and bury one's head like the proverbial ostrich. These however are not the only choices available to us.

In Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the spoken word is accorded with reverence because of the creative power inherent in thought, which leads to spoken communication, which leads to action otherwise known as creation. It is a simple concept, but in our current world where spiritual, faith-based, intangible concepts are under attack as being childish and atavistic, the need to control our thoughts and words and thus what we creatively manifest is of the utmost importance and urgency.

In the recent past, we have had many great souls stand up on behalf of humanity, however, just as many quietly but effectively work in the shadows and are never elevated onto the world stage. People like Nelson Mandela, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. are notable and internationally recognized figures. Now Liu Xiaobo joins their ranks as one who is less known today, but who may in the future be the defining face of freedom of speech in China.  Because of this Xiaobo was  sentenced this past Friday to 11 years imprisonment by the Chinese government.

The video below was disseminated to Amnesty International supporters with instructions to share it with as wide an audience as possible. Although I am not an ardent supporter of the United Nations, because I feel it has not lived up to the ideals for which it was created; I also recognize that its ineffectiveness lies in its membership, which is composed of individuals who are representatives of governments and corporations with interests that are often contrary to human dignity and well-being.  This does not, however, diminish the power of the dream, for in dreams are the realities of tomorrow.

The poem by Martin Niemöller, a Protestant pastor and social activist sums up the essence of this post, and will I hope provide you with a reminder that tyranny and abuse does not stop with its intended victim.

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter

Twitter: @nahmias_report Editor: @ayannanahmias

Idan Raichel Project

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 01:46 AM EDT, 18 December 2009

Idan Raichel Project # 3

ISRAEL - "The Idan Raichel Project is the self-titled debut album by Idan Raichel. Raichel composed and arranged many of the tracks, performs vocals and plays the keyboard, while collaborating with other vocalists and musicians. Hit singles include Boi (בואי / "Come"), Im Telech (אם תלך / "If you go") and M'dab'rim B'sheket (מדברים בשקט / "Speaking Quietly").

Idan, the group's founder, had long been fascinated with the diversity of Israel and sought to celebrate his appreciation and respect for different cultures through his music. Because of its open door to immigrants from Jewish communities around the globe, Israel is home to a stew of cultures and traditions, including people of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Latin American and Eastern European roots.

Yemenite Jews offer traditions that reflect thousands of years of living in the country of Yemen on the southern edges of the Arabian Peninsula. Israel’s Sephardic community consists of people who had incorporated the traditions of Spain, North Africa and the Mediterranean region where they had lived for centuries. The largest immigrant population in Israel consists of Ashkenazi Jews, who had come mostly from Russia and Eastern Europe (Idan’s is himself of Eastern European descent). More recently, over 85,000 Ethiopian Jews now call Israel home after efforts to naturalize this so-called “lost tribe of Israel” through dramatic airlifts in the 1980s and 90s. In addition, there is a large Arab community, which makes up almost 20% of the official total population of Israel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iG3hNkBAxc]

While the majority of Raichel's songs are in Hebrew, a few are entirely in Amharic, while others include small passages in Amharic, by male and female voices, setting traditional-sounding tunes to modern music. Love-songs predominate in his Hebrew lyrics, including Hinech Yafah (הינך יפה / "Thou art Fair") based on the Song of Songs, while the opening track also reaches into the depths of Jewish liturgy, with B'rachot L'shanah Chadashah (ברכות לשנה חדשה / "Blessings for a new year") sampling voices reciting traditional Jewish blessings.  (Source: Wikipedia)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axCT1a_M0lc]

Related articles

• A Taste of (Second) Home (elytebarzilay.wordpress.com)

• CONCERT REVUE: Opening Doors to Acceptance and Unity: India.Arie and Idan Raichel at the Strathmore (therogersrevue.wordpress.com)

Gabriel Wickbold | Brazilian Photographer

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefUpdated: 12:36 PM EDT, 22 November 2012

SAO PAULO, Brazil - By now readers are familiar with tone and focus of this blog, and how art, music and photography are used to augment the posts.

As a writer and painter, it is my belief that we are charged not only with translating the ethereal, insubstantial, and unconscious into a form that individuals who are not similarly wired can receive; but we must also help them to re-engage with that energy source from which all creativity flows.

The ability to render through imagery and language, products that evoke visceral reactions that inspire viewers to engage, if only momentarily, with the unconscious world from which all reality flows, is the primary responsibility of our griots and shaman. An an example of this, is Surrealism, which holds an attraction for most individuals, even those who are not art connoisseurs.

Gabriel Wickbold is a young Brazilian Photographer whose images are intriguing and captivating. There are many links to photographers and other artists on this blog, and when possible their works are featured with a direct link to their websites.

It is the responsibility of all artists and writers to promote the work of other talented individuals. Please feel free to submit up and coming artists and their work. Of particular interests are the works of Africans on the Continent and in the Diaspora, South Americans, Europeans and other cultures. If the proposed artist's work is deemed appropriate, it will be featured on this blog.

If you are an artist or photographer who would like to submit your work, please provide at least three photos and a link to your website for consideration.

[slideshow]

Follow Nahmias Cipher Report on Twitter

Twitter: @nahmias_report Editor: @ayannanahmias

Related articles

• 5 Brazilian Photographers You Should Be Following on Shutterstock (shutterstock.com)
• Surrealist Art and the Unconscious Mind (mangosalute.com)
• 5 Russian Artists You Should Be Following on Shutterstock (shutterstock.com)
• Man discovers artistic talent in his sleep (time4sleep.co.uk)

Goya | Social Commentator