Archive for Project

Health & Migration Webinar at United Nation City

August 10, 2017 Art, Project, research, United Nation, World Health Organisation Comments Off

I am honoured to be in the panel for Migration and Health called ‘True Stories’ by World Health Organisation at the United Nation City in Copenhagen on Tuesday 8th of August.

Speakers:

Bernadette Kumar, Associate Professor – Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, University of Oslo, Norway
Domenico Sergi, Curator and Community Engagement Coordinator, Horniman Museum and Gardens, United Kingdom
Mahboobeh Rajabi, Digital Artist, Community Arts North West, United Kingdom

Moderator:

Dr Erinma Ochu, Lecturer, Digital Science Communication, School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, United Kingdom

The webinar focus was the importance of responsible, meaningful and compelling communication efforts to evoke positive change for migrants, refugees and host communities. During the course of the discussion, we hope to provide some food for thought about the importance of telling compelling stories in order to connect and
engage with audiences, while at the same time staying factual and reducing sensationalism.

Key Objectives:

To offer insights into the way narratives (stories) can be constructed and communicated in order to positively impact on public opinion and government policy.
To explore ways of effectively dispelling public health myths regarding refugees and migrants.
To promote social inclusion and respect for diversity via formal and informal means.

I talked about Community Arts as one of the most important Social Model, Intercultural Communication and the importance of the arts and what healthcare professionals can learn and offer to effective advocacy around migration and health.

I also focused on the importance on creating opportunities for Refugees and Asylum Seekers to respond to Media to create the communication that will show their true identity and not only the traumatic image of the force leave. I explained the different methods of the responds which are the creative ways of making video, animation and theatre that both give opportunity to refugees and asylum seekers to improve their confidence and an educational tool to raise awareness to the public around their situation.

The importance of empowering the individuals was also one of the main parts of the discussion that I discussed. I mentioned the value of the support through community Arts that helps Refugee and Asylum Seekers to reconstruct their identity which is the most important key to help them to engage to society and building their lives.

I believe there is a huge need to speak up about the issues that is not getting resolved around migration and especially Refugees and all caught up to the paper works based on the structures that needs to be changed. So many organisations across the world are working on same old actions which needs a risk to change. These webinars starting by global organisations is a great start and I will be a part as much as it needs to see the change. There are so many evidence on some great projects that took risks and made changes.

It was also amazing to hear the important points from Dr Bernadette Kumar around the understanding of the myth around migrants and refugees health and what needs to be done. Also the experience of the works of Dr Domenico Sergi in the Horniman Museum and what he mentioned regarding engaging public to these works to understand migrants and refugees was the key points to take more actions.

You can watch the full webinar here soon …

An other Stop Motion Animation

January 14, 2015 Art, Community Art Northwest (CAN), Manchester, Project, research, Social Media, video project Comments Off

Happy New Year Universe!

It’s been a great year 2014 beside all the problems that I don’t want to go on my year review AT ALL, I am alive and healthy!

What’s better than that 🙂 is actually my new stop motion animation for second year of DO I.T. course at CAN (Community Art Northwest) in Manchester that i finished last year and it’s online.

And greater news is that it will be shown in Motion North that is a cool event to show case motion design and animation works but in a professional level and mine there is an unexplainable feeling.

I know I am still learning as a trainee in animation and graphic design but it means a lot to me and I will work on better animations in the future soon.

and here you go with its video:

Let’s go to P.S of the life:

Beside being sick in the holidays and missing Christmas lunch that became an other tragic story on the top of all the tragic stories of my life, I am out of my studying schedule that need a good planning and I am in a “Ookey, let’s begin” mode that you still didn’t fo the first step and a good planning.

because when ehat is left and stays for you to survive protect it and … I have no idea what I just wrote but that means I have to survive some how .. in life … yeah …

Wish everyone an amazing 2015 with lots of good GOOD news

Productive Japan Day

November 9, 2014 Art, Community Art Northwest (CAN), Far East of Asia, Japan, Japanese, Literature, Manchester, Mythology, Project, research, stop motion animation, video project Comments Off

Hello to the universe and all the creatures inside!

By the changes that comes up for “Goddess of the sun, Amaterasu” Next week is taking to completing in CAN and it’s all for good.

Finishing the second year of my Japanese course till the end of November and passing by 85 out of 100 for the one before the main exam is a ” You are AWESOME” to my forehead.

I finished a draft video for the graphic and animation works I want to do for Heart’s core and it made me being on track and I felt SO good on Friday.

The week a head gonna be super busy too but all good and productive and I am getting good skills in the tech course in contact theater that was again a better point to the projects I am working on.

And the website and focusing the works is again a priority.
IT NEEDS TO BE DONE!

The meeting today with Yuko Howes the amazing Japanese lady from JSNW (Japanese Society of North West) was made me think of I forgot to add the photo of Japan Day!

So The Japan Day in Manchester was on 25th of August 2014 with lots different activities from showing martial arts to the costume contest mostly from animation and manga characters and information about the Japanese art (like craft and paintings and etc.) and culture.

And Yuko invited me being as the guest of fantastic tea ceremony of Japan and I absolutely LOVED it.

The adventure was cool and the venue “Midland Hotel” was great, and I think bigger venue was even better because LOTS of people came and yeah! … it was full with people who were interested in Japan and it made me super happy 🙂

Here are some photos:

And finally me as a Japanese warrior … Kind a … ^_^

Power of music

October 30, 2014 Art, Community Art Northwest (CAN), Far East of Asia, History, Japan, Japanese, Manchester, Mythology, Poem, poet, Project, stop motion animation, video project Comments Off

Power of Music

Like a piece of ice

Melting on a boiling lava

Drop by drop …

I drip to the music notes

I can’t stop listening

And as much as it melts me

I listen … over & over again

Then I become a part of lava

In a place that knows me the most

When I’m a stranger to all

I put my heads down

And I melt again …

I listen again …

And Its the lava that start melting

By the power of music

Words by Mahboobeh88

(Mahboobeh Rajabi)

P.S Amaterasu “Goddess of the sun” animation finished!

I had a dramatic day because of some important things that needed to change at the last moment but I trusted my editing skills and VICTORY!

This is the first step of visualizing my research as part of Japanese mythology that again is the part of my research.

Hopefully by the beginning of 2015 I can came up with more focus research pattern and draft so I can step up for bigger projects.

Specially with starting working on my website it will get all better place.

It’s like giving the works a nice home and it feels good.

But now for the moment lots of projects is going on.

one big digital and graphic video for a massive performance project for the next 5 month

Digging on digital and social media world in DO I.T. this year

beside getting on Business networking

Life couldn’t be much better.

🙂

My First stop motion video, Introducing my Research :)

May 29, 2014 "Do it" Storify, Art, China, Chinese, Community Art Northwest (CAN), Earth Dragon, Far East Asia, Far East of Asia, History, Japan, Japanese, Manchester, Movie, Project, research, stop motion animation, studying, video project Comments Off

My first stop motion video is on line now.

The video introducing artists in Do I.T. project by Community Arts North West and of course introducing me and my research and I am so excited about.

Have a big performance tomorrow beside my other works and videos with “Young Producers” that are on line too and will write more soon.

Japanese Mythology

February 4, 2014 Art, Earth Dragon, Far East Asia, Far East of Asia, History, Japan, Japanese, Manchester, Mythical creatures, Project, research, studying, Uncategorized Comments Off

Japanese Mythology

[I really like reading and studying the mythical creatures that had the great effect on every artistic field such as painting, movies, animation and etc. So I would like to share some of them in here that helped my research too:) ]

Japanese Mythology contains a wide variety of unique and bizarre monsters. Yet others are counterparts to creatures in the neighbouring mythologies of Korea and China. Many are seldom known in the Western world, even today.Below is a list of Japanese creatures collected:

– Akamataa

– Akki (Oni)
– Gashadokuro
– Ghidorah
– Gojira
– Kappa
– Mothra
– Ningyo
– Rodan
– Sennin
– Shishi
– Tengu
– Yokai
– Yurei

Akamataa

The Akamataa is a serpent spirit in the Japanese folklore. It is a mix of a woman and a snake.

Oni (鬼^?) are a kind of yōkai from Japanese folklore, variously translated as demons, devils, ogres or trolls. They are popular characters in Japanese art, literature and theatre.^[1]

Depictions of oni vary widely but usually portray them as hideous, gigantic ogre-like creatures with sharp claws, wild hair, and two longhorns growing from their heads.^[2] They are humanoid for the most part, but occasionally, they are shown with unnatural features such as odd numbers of eyes or extra fingers and toes.^[3] Their skin may be any number of colors, but red and blue are particularly common.^[4]^[5]

They are often depicted wearing tiger-skin loincloths and carrying iron clubs, called kanabō (金棒^?). This image leads to the expression “oni with an iron club” (鬼に金棒 oni-ni-kanabō^?), that is, to be invincible or undefeatable. It can also be used in the sense of “strong beyond strong”, or having one’s natural quality enhanced or supplemented by the use of some tool.^[6]^[7]

Gashadokuro

A Gashadokuro according to Japanese folklore is a giant skeleton many times taller than a human. It is though to be made of the bones of people who have starved to death. After midnight the ghost roams the streets making a ringing noise that sounds in the ears. If people do not run away when the Gashadokuro approaches it will bite off their heads with its giant teeth.(Source – A Little Lesson in Japanese Ghost Lore: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/691563/a_little_lesson_in_japanese_ghost_lore.html?cat=10)

Ghidorah

Ghidorah (Ghidrah, Ghidora, King Ghidorah, the three-headed monster, Monster Zero) is a fictional three-headed dragon-like monster featured in severalGodzilla films. It is often depicted with two wings, two feet, three heads and a tail. It always appears as an antagonist to Godzilla and Earth at large. Originally it arrived by a magnetic meteorite before being repelled into space (proving it can survive in a vacuum). Aliens return with Ghidorah as their mind controlled slave. Its havoc is again stopped, even killing the creature in the 1968 movie.The monster returns in several resurrected forms thereafter.

Gojira

Gojira monsters are huge sea monsters that are longer than the blue whale. They are extremely muscled and lean. The muscles make up at least 80 percent of its body weight. Its skeleton weighs nearly nothing but is sturdy enough to hold all of the muscle. These monsters have small eyes and usually use smell and hearing for tracking down food and enemies. Their thick tails with fringed fins make it very very fast. Its claws are longer than a bus. If you see a Gojira, do not get anywhere near teeth, because they are sharper than glass shards. The tongue has a gooey liquid on it that makes prey stick on. Its slitted nostrils are admirable to Voldemort or gorillas. It is at least 90 times bigger than the blue whale and the blue whale is what it eats. Extremely dangerous. Do not come in contact with a king of Gojiras, or it will swallow you whole in a second. Try to kill it somehow. Its most sensitive part is the underbelly.

Kappa

The Kappa (Kawataro, Kawako) is a dwarf-like water demon of Japan, sometimes listed as one of the Obake. They resemble shrivelled old-men, with webbed hands and feet, sporting a tortoise shell. Skin colour ranges from green to blue to yellow, and even red. Their face can contain a beaked nose or else look like a monkey. Crowning their head of page-boy style hair is a circular depression filled with water. A kappa covered in hair is known as a Hyosube. They are known to speak Japanese fluently.An origin for the demons could be they are the ghosts of drowned souls. Any pond or river may have one. They possess immense strength and can easily overpower a human. Although the source of this power comes from the stored water within the dish on their head. Emptying the dish reduces the kappa to frailty. This may be done by bowing to the kappa upon encounter. In a show of manners the creature will bow back and thus pour out the contents of its might.

Activities from this demon can range from mischievous to deadly. It enjoys passing gas and forever gives off a fishy odour. It may also try to look up women’s kimonos and swim down the plumbing to stroke a persons bottom as they defecate. Else they will overpower a person or animal to drown them. Once drowned they remove a person’s entrails through their backside, favouring the liver or something the Japanese call the shirikodama.Besides fresh flesh, the kappa also partakes in vegetarian cuisine. It enjoys eggplants and cucumbers. It is said carving your name and age into a cucumber, then throwing it into the water for a hungry kappa, will ensure that kappa cannot harm you. Though it is also dangerous to swim soon after eating a cucumber.Kappa also loved contests. They would challenge passersby to such games as pull-my-finger and sumo wrestling. Should the demon win, they usually drowned and ate you. One tale tells of a samurai who accepted a kappa’s request for tug-of-war. Fortunately he outsmarted the kappa and used a horse to pull in his stead. The outmatched demon fell, spilling the contents of its head upon the ground. Now too weak to get away, the kappa promised to teach the samurai the trick of bone-setting if it could be released.

Many kappas have proven to be quite knowledgeable on subjects of medicine and irrigation. In a case where one kappa lost its arm to a frightened horse, it petitioned the villagers for the limb’s return. The community forced the kappa to sign a contract with its webbed hand. From then on the kappa delivered to the village piles of fish, and warned of other kappa passing through the area.

Source: Myths and Magic Encyclopedia – http://mythsandmagicencyclopedia.wikifoundry.com/page/Kappa

Ningyo

Ningyo is a Japanese water fairy who cries tears of pearls. Some say that Ningyo has the head of a human and the body of a fish. Other believe it is clad in sheer silk robes that move about it, like waves. Ningyos dwell in gorgeous palaces beneath the sea, and are very seductive.

refrence: http://www.mythicalcreaturesguide.com/page/Japanese+Mythology

East Asian Arts

December 19, 2013 Art, China, Chinese, Far East Asia, History, Japan, Japanese, Korea, Painting, Poem, poet, Project, research, studying Comments Off

East Asian arts

Visual, literary, and performing arts of China, Korea, and Japan. Painting and calligraphy are considered the only true fine arts in China because they alone require no physical labour and have no physical function. Sculpture is considered to be a craft, as are bronze casting, carving, and the making of pottery, textiles, metalwork, and lacquerware. Chinese architecture is characterized by timber buildings, and a building typically consists of a platform, a post-and-lintel frame, a system of roof-supporting brackets, and a heavy, sloping roof. Japanese visual arts have been strongly influenced by three elements: Chinese visual arts, indigenous themes and traditions, and Buddhist iconography.

The Horyu Temple (7th century) initiated the distinctive Japanese architectural approach: asymmetrical layouts following the contours of the land. Japanese artists’ fascination with abstraction from nature is most notable in screen and panel paintings of the 16th–18th centuries and the polychrome woodcut, which evolved into the popular ukiyo-e print. Among the remarkable features of Korean art might be noted the use of stone in architecture and sculpture and the development of an outstanding celadon glaze.

Chinese literature has the longest continuous history of any literature in the world (more than 3,000 years). It is inextricably bound to the development of the characters of the written language it has shared with both Korea and Japan. Korean literature includes an oral tradition of ballads, legends, mask plays, puppet-show texts, and p’ansori (“story singing”) texts and a strong written tradition of poetry (notably hyangga and sijoforms).

Like Korean literature, Japanese literature owes a debt to Chinese, since neither country had its own written language (though Japanese syllabary systems emerged about 1000, and Korean Hangul was developed in the 15th century). The earliest Japanese literature dates to the 7th century; in addition to its several literary monuments such as The Tale of Genji, Japanese poetry (particularly in the haiku form) is known throughout the world for its exquisite delicacy. Despite a different basis for its establishment, the East Asian music system, like Western music, developed a pentatonic scale based on a 12-tone vocabulary.

The preferred size of the East Asian ensemble is small, and compositions emphasize melody and rhythm over harmonics. In the related categories of East Asian dance and theatre, it is noteworthy that in the East Asian countries, music, dance, and drama are typically linked, and there is little evidence of separate evolution of form.

The several forms of East Asian performing arts include both masked and unmasked dances, masked dance theatre (as in Japanese no and Korean sandae), danced processionals, dance opera (jingxi, or “Peking,” and other forms of Chinese opera), shadow theatre, puppet theatre, and dialogue plays with music and dance (e.g., Japanese kabuki). See also Fujiwara style; ikebana; Jogan style paper folding; scroll painting; shinden-zukuri; shoin-zukuri;sukiya style; Tempyo style; Tori style; as well as individual artists such as Basho; Bo Juyi; Du Fu; Hiroshige Ando; Lu Xun; Murasaki Shikibu.