The Art in Our Lives

After spending a great deal of time and some money buying knickknacks and traveler's kitsch, I decided to largely stop and instead just buy local art. You can probably think of some explicit reasons why this may be a good thing: 1. Supports local artist. 2. Supports the arts. 3.Unique "souvenir".

Some may not think there is much room for art in RLSs. Few would argue that life essentials (food, water, shelter, security) should not be prioritized, but life moves dynamically and asynchronously. Picasso's quote after seeing the ~17,000 year old cave paintings of Lascaux, "We have invented nothing", is instructive, i.e. art is universal and ancient, and it can allow us a moment of higher reflection in the midst of the mundane and even tragic.

Photo: Painting by Sudanese artist, Abusharia Ahmed, currently residing in Kampala, Uganda.

Is This World Flat?

I have returned to Africa (and to blogging). Some light reading during my down time is The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. This book makes an interesting argument that the world has been “flattened” through technology so that more individuals from around the world can take part in the global economy than ever. However, one of the fundamental requirements for flattening is the internet. As I try to blog from a continent with shamefully low bandwidth, it seems obvious that Africa has been left out of the flattening.

Attempts are being pursued to bring more bandwidth to Africa, but are still years away. So, most of the continent, while increasingly filled with connected individuals eager to be part of the internet age, is forced to crawl along at monotonous speeds.

The Living Space

But if we believe that architecture serves a society as well as reflects its values, then we must provide for those with the most need and the fewest options. -Sam Davis, UC Berkeley architect.

Why do poor people live in ugly houses? The answer to this question may seem rhetorical and sound condescending. But, Architecture, or should I say good architecture, may be defined as much by creativity, ingenuity, and empathy with the persons it is meant to live with, as with financial resources. Naivete aside (of course, many architectural masterpieces could not have been built without profuse funds), but the fundamental values of architecture would seem to be ones which could be adaptable to resource-limited environments.

Does it matter though? As it turns out, there is a fascinating relationship between housing and health which can be thought of holistically and spacially (do I live near a toxic dump?, do I live far away from jobs?, etc.) or down to the personal level of human interacting with designed space. An interesting take on this is a relatively recent increase in interest in designing health care facilities in ways to promote the healing process rather than make one feel deathly uncomfortable (a feeling doctors are not immune from).

What can I do?

A difficult question for anyone to answer, and perhaps also for someone to ask in the first place, is “What can I do?” Someone who answered that question quite well is my friend, William Harlan. He is editor-in-chief of Blue Ridge Outdoors and an ultramarathoner. Leveraging his skills, interests, and passions, he helped found www.runforafrica.org, a wonderful example of grass-roots connecting with high flyers connecting to the work on the ground. Check it out, sign up, get more fit in the process, and answer that challenging question posed above for yourself.