Bruegel prints include a series of artists from the Bruegel family. They all had an exceptional impact on the direction of art over several generations. Their distinguished skills passed on through and the talents were developed and encouraged.
Backdated? Conservative? Tortured, you would think. But to a lot of women, a full burqa and a veil would mean freedom. Freedom from expressing themselves. Freedom from being seen. Described beautifully in the book "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, about the lead character Mariam’s feelings who wore the burqa: "the burqa, she learned to her surprise, was also comforting. It was like a one-way window. Inside it, she was an observer, buffered from the scrutinizing eyes of strangers. She no longer worried that people knew, with a single glance, all the shameful secrets of her past.”
I spent last week as a flower child living in harmony with nature, or as some people call it – camping. Obviously not in Paris, but Blaye a lovely little medieval town in SW France, where things are greener and slower.
Our contemporary Western society promotes expression of individualism as the ultimate vehicle for taking a stand and proclaiming to the rest of the world, “Look at me – I am so unique and special!” From piercing odd parts of our bodies, to bumper stickers on our Lexuses (for those of us lucky enough to afford such extravagant purchases), to the make up and clothes we put on every day, we strive to differentiate ourselves from our neighbors. God forbid, the woman in the office next door wears the same pair of shoes as us. It’s the end of the world as we know it.
