Domestic abuse

Individuals that have experienced the harsh blows of domestic violence walk through life without notice with a dark shadow underlining their past or worst their present situation. One of the reasons domestic violence is silent and disregarded over communities maybe because the victim feels they deserve the treatment and are constantly though they are worthless by their partner. Why has domestic violence become a taboo issue, shouldn’t our community be warned and protected.

Statistic show that women who have been victims of domestic abuse are more exposed to misusing alcohol and drugs as a form of escapism. In the UK alone statistic shows that at least two women are killed in a week because of domestic violence. Overall one in four women experience domestic abuse and are victims of violence from their partner or a close relation. Domestic violence can effect anyone from young people to old, men and women different races and different classes from rich to poor various religions. Recently we have been following the tragedy of the R&B singer Rihanna who was physically abused by Chris Brown her boyfriend and also an equally popular singer. The story shocked the world simply because it was something that has not been publicised before, what happen after days also interested and shocked the public.

Victims of domestic abuse fade in the background as they have trouble sharing their problems due to their partner control over them. Women affected by domestic violence are sensitive when it comes to discussing relationships and domestic issues. More often their abusive partners can have a controlling nature and will have access to their privacy anything from bank card details, email passwords, mobile privileges or anything that she may use on the daily basis.

Women in serious relationship maybe inclined to hide their private life by smiling and acting as if all is well. The victim can feel pressured by the abuser to cut out close relation and only give more attention to the partner than to friends or family. The abuser often tries to persuade the victim in thinking that other people do not care about her, and the only person she can trust is the partner. Finding a person to share their feeling can become even harder, close relations to the victim such as friends and family may also be driven away by the partner by stopping communication between family and friends or even being present at every phone call or conversation to stop anything slipping out. Abusive partner can be manipulative and obsessive, in the Eritrean community it might be hard to measure a relationship from outside as we all know it is within our culture to hide our flaws and make everything seem fine even if the situation at home going from bad to worst we are forced to smile and shine through our problems tirelessly.

Victims of domestic abuse show signs that can be picked up by friends easily, physical signs include injuries such as cuts and bruises or stiffness when moving are primary. These signs should raise suspicion especially when the victim is reluctant to discuss or gives irrelevant explanations. Less obvious signs include the emotional stability of the individual things to look out for include; feeling down, crying or seeming disturbed or appearing less confident than before also breaking away from social scene.

Women who are victims of domestic abuse are in danger of attempting suicide as they are more likely to be effected mental. Home office shows that 75% of domestic abuse victims result in physical injury and mental health. A women abused by her partner may develop depression faster than women in stable relationship. Statistic shows that abused women are five times more likely to attempt suicide. This can be during their abusive relationship or even afterwards as the memory can have a lasting effect mentally. It is important to remember that woman in difficult relationship are sensitive and should be helped in anyway possible. If you know or suspect somebody in an abusive relationship make sure you do not judge him or her or intervene in their relationship as you could put them in deeper problem with their partner. Show them an open arm and listen to them as they will need somebody they can trust who will not simply tell them to leave their partner. It is easier to slowly try to show them the true colours of their partner.

In the Diaspora Eritrean women may feel less able to communicate with the police or any organisation that may be able to help them. As an ethnic minority they may not feel strong enough to communicate with the police due to language barriers or immigration status. However, Women’s helpline should be approached either by phone or by visiting the nearest women’s aid centre. In some centre they may have different language available if the centre lacks translators it may be ideal to take somebody who speaks your language. Women’s Aid is an international organisation committed to the aid of women who have experienced abuse. The women’s Aid organisation also work to bring awareness to the public by distribution of leaflet and video campaigns. Hot Peach Pages are a collective source page on he internet, leaflet in 82 language including Tigrinya are found and can be printed for distribution.

Sexual violence is also a sensitive issue, especially in the Eritrean community women are advise from a young age not to discuss private matter. The question of sex outside of marriage is a taboo topic in our society, this should not be the case as we see that young women get into more trouble and are stuck with unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases due to lack of education and awareness. Additionally our community can learn more from western society by showing openness and impartiality as opposed to judgemental decisions that leave the troubled individual in a deeper and problematic situation without a solution to solve any problem.

In the UK almost half of the women who have experienced domestic abuse are sexual abused by the same partner. 48% of women are forced to have intercourse with their partner and this is ignored as some may think it is normal for women to have intercourse some may also think they are obliged to carry out to their partners ever need. Off course most women do not share these details as they feel ashamed and embarrassed so it is important to be impartial when talking to a victim. Making emphais on legal action is important as the victim need to press charges or else he could do it to other women. In most cases this is the situation, as so many domestic abuse go unnoticed and unreported it is likely that the abuser will leave his mark at every relationship, after all a tiger never changes his spots.

portobello

portobello
Originally uploaded by lydia1987

handball

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Originally uploaded by lydia1987

candy color

candy color
Originally uploaded by lydia1987

time sitting down

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Originally uploaded by lydia1987

portobella

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Originally uploaded by lydia1987

Metaphysical art:: Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978)

 Throughout his life de Chirico lived in Greece, Italy, Germany and France. In his work the most influential themes seems to be the recurrence of classical Greek sculptures. The heads torso and even building of Greek civilisation show up in his works. De Chirico paints with many reoccurrences of the same building from different perspective. No doubt this is his own developed style. The buildings are repeatedly painted in various pieces as thought the artist is painting his dreams much like that of recurring dream. This may have been influenced by the popularity and the rise of psychology theorises, as Freudian interpretation were highly influential in avant-garde movement such as Surrealism and Metaphysical art. When analysing this painting we cannot help but read it like a dream because we know it is a surrealist painting and the theories surrounding surrealism are mainly connected with dreams and Freudian analysis. However, one philosopher de Chirico showed interest in and read often was Friedrich Nietzsche, during his time the German city of Munich he read Nietzsche’s philosophy but de Chirico’s art does not show any signs of influence from the philosopher nor does it show any influences from Freudian theories that much of Surrealist artist such as Salvador Dali have shown in their work.

This new style of painting now known as Metaphysical painting that was developed by de Chirico and Carlo Carra whom he met during his stay in Ferrera from 1915 to 1918, the main idea was to use dream-like painting and with the use of various images and figures. This was one of the first paintings to break away from the traditional or even modern paintings that gave birth to the art of Surrealism. Evidently, the Surrealist leader Andre Breton was not a fan of the new Italian movement that was now breaking away from the ideas of Surrealism, this lead him to cancel de Chirico’s membership because he believed he was abandoning the ‘Manifesto of Surrealism’ which Breton wrote himself at the formation of the Surrealism movement in October 1924.

When looking at the piece I saw that a female torso is twisted from the waist up with no arms nor any legs and on the side right the torso was a bunch of bananas. The figure is placed in unrealistic scenery with a large building and unrefined composition. The shape of the building is rather symmetrical and is stretched along the canvas. A train is seen passing afar from the main figures. The dreamlike state is emphasised by the surreal figure of the torso, the train and bananas close to the suspicious dark colonnade stretched out magnificently through the painting. The torso was identified, as Aphrodite the classical Greek goddess of love also knows as Venus in classical Roman literature. When looking at the central figure that is the torso we immediately think of classical Greek and antiquity, the ideal body that was often used in renaissance art. It could be suggested that the artist used the figure as a reminder for his trans-European background. His knowledge of a wider European culture and history is seen in his art as he was born in Greece and travelled to Venice, Florence, Turin and Milan and studied art in Munich for three years. The antiquity style such as the statuesque figure are in connection with his parents background as they lived in Greece before the death of their father in 1906 , the renaissance architectural style is very similar to the small Italian town of Turin, he showed this in some of his paintings as he was becoming more interested in the architecture of Italian towns. The influence over his art is very clear and the element of nostalgia can be seen with the composition he uses within the spacious dreamscape and the Greco-Roman figures and buildings.

 The train that is a recurring aspect of his painting is one of the most significant nostalgic object, the train is a representation of Giorgio’s father who was a train engineer during the time they had lived in Greece. The recurrence of this train in his work maybe because he was unable to let go of his father’s death and because of this situation in the young artist life he constantly attached his painting with themes of the distant train and the surrounding reminder of his life when he had complete family in Greece. The train in The uncertainty of the poet is seen passing from right to left, the torso in the foreground is facing away from the background as it is twisted to face the viewer although there is no head for the spectator to look at. The body on its own is the focal point of the painting in conjunction with the mysterious building and the questionable bananas still attached to their branch. As usually the solemn and rather mute colours are a way to activate the artist emotional state of mind, he may have felt easier expressing his feeling through his paintings. He used dark colours to trigger the emotional outburst that is his bereavement with the loss of his father.  The colour he used for the statue figure is a pale mix to complement the shape of the female figured statue, he used dark colours to outline slightly and give a darker shade where light falls to create shadow. The use of crosshatching technique is particularly noticeable in this painting, along with the matt dark grey coloured colonnade and equally glum blue sky is contrasted together to create the overall muteness of the painting. Moreover, the bananas seem to be the only aspect of the painting close to a realistic representation of the object by the colour the artist used and the way the bananas have been positioned still in their natural habitation simply laid there  beside the torso with their branch.

The metaphysical painter did not have a manifesto like the surrealist followed, for the metaphysical artist their art did not need explanation or reason because it was simply art on its own ground and the foundational base was that the artist must be able to create his work with total freedom and without any constructed or excessive planning of their painting. Giorgio de Chirico in the past declared that ‘If a work of art is to be truly immortal, it must pass quite beyond the limits of the human world, without any sign of common sense and logic. In this way the work will draw nearer to dream and to the mind of a child’. De Chirico’s idea of an art work in terms of surrealism or metaphysical is that the artist must be able to turn his conscience off and allow his body to create a sense of free hand to draw and paint their imagination despite the fact that this technique did not work similarly to the Surrealist technique of ‘free association’. The painting does triggers certain feelings of insomnia and a nostalgic dreamlike state of mind.

The subtle colours emphasis the melancholy of the painting as much as the overall surreal surrounding. The aspect of metaphysical painting is the technique used to juxtapose images only with paintings unlike previous artist from the movement of Dada and surrealism that used newspaper cutting and other material to create a juxtaposed piece. In many of Chirico’s painting especially those after of the metaphysical period he used juxtaposition of various figure and objects to create a fresh metaphysical art that inspired many artist that established after him. The recurrences of the train and the magnificent building were still prominent in his art as he progressed and showed a different perspective of his art. What de Chirico and other metaphysical artist painted was not praised by many surrealist. In the beginning of de Chirico’s metaphysical period the poet Guillaume Apollinaire praised de Chirico during his exhibition in Paris in 1913 for the Salon des Indépendants and Salon d’Automne, Picasso had also taken notice of the artist style during this exhibition, in this exhibition he sold one of his work that was well appreciated  Apollinaire was helping with the advancement of Chirico in Paris by helping meet art dealer such as Paul Guillame and there he sealed his  deal with the art dealer that which made his break in the art world easier.

The knight in Shining Armour

Ken Wharf filled the room with an aura of happiness as he shared his experiences with Princess Diana and her extended family. Ken managed to keep us interested and give a detailed account of the most famous British royal of our time, Diana. To build you with the story I invite you to Imagine a Princess with her ‘Prince charming’ along with two royal children and most importantly her bodyguard or her knight with the shining armour. As a former SAS officer he was fit to be appointed as Personal Officer to Princess Diana in the year 1987. Ken Wharf brings us the real life of royals with added drama of all things rich and wonderful that certainly create the mood for a ‘Once upon a time’ fairytale story. As a true gentlemen Ken was not overwhelmed by the size of our group, he sat comfortably facing us and continued to charm us with his sophisticated yet witty style. The story of the princess and the bodyguard continued with hidden details of princess Diana innermost details of affairs, family life and private visits to Astrologers and Tarot reader. Hours passed as he reminisced about the times he spent as her bodyguard and says, "I do think about her especially at times like this". Knowing the princess personally, Ken lets us know that Diana would have ‘loved’ these kinds of interviews as she enjoyed meeting ordinary people and would usually interact with them much better than Prince Charles would.
Ken remembers that the princess had several account with Camilla, her suspicion of an affair between her husband and Camilla started earlier in their marriage and was truly clear to Diana as she saw Prince Charles speaking intimately with Camilla at a Christmas party they had been invited to by Camilla’s sister. Ken recalls the account between the Prince and Camilla as Diana was hysterically looking for her husband Charles who had gone missing during the party, that was at Ham House for Camilla’s younger sister Annabel Elliott’s 40th birthday party. Ken was following Diana as she searched for Charles and had found him talking with Camilla in the basement, at this point she confronted them and Ken clearly recalls Camilla replaying to Diana “its alright for you, you’ve got two children”.


Despite the differences between Diana and Prince Charles the kids had a good upbringing ‘both William and Harry had a fairly good upbringing ’ Ken declared. Seeing both Princes grow up Ken says their behaviour especially Prince Harry was always flamboyant that is why Harry’s behaviour in the past years is not surprising to him ‘Harry was always a loose cannon’ the media coverage of Prince Harry and his battles with the paparazzi were ‘normal happening’ in Ken’s view, especially for a Prince who seemed to have the media all over him after his leap into adulthood. Ken remember the day as Prince Harry childishly said to his older brother and first line to the throne William “its alright for you you’ll be king and I wont”.

Ken’s relationship with Diana and the kids grew as Diana always encouraged her kids to have contact with members of staff in the royal family palace. ‘Diana openly encouraged both of the boys to speak to everybody at every walk of life, they were happy to talking to Lily the Pilipino clean, Mervin the gay chief, the butlers, the Chauffeurs, the driver everyone had a relationship with them’ with much emphasis he follows by saying ‘this was very much Diana’s influence’. Surely Diana having come from a much relaxed family than the Royal family she was able to think freely and encourage her kids to do the same. Working with the Royal family for a long time Ken was observant of Diana’s action and nature and had noticed that she stands out from the rest of the family ‘she was different from all the royals’ he tells us that she enjoyed socialising with members of staff and did not feel that there should be a segregation. However, Prince Charles could not understand her actions and would even question her at times. Nevertheless, Ken claims to be unaffected by Diana's influence in his life, there is no doubt that she had a major influence on his life as he is still involved with anything that concerns the Princess and sometimes the main source of information on Diana's private life having been involve in many documentaries about the famous princess.

After Diana and Dodi’s accident In Paris the enquiry on the couple and especially on the Al-Fayed stories, Ken points out what he thought of Al-Fayed as he said ‘I think Mohamed Al-Fayed is obsessed and was obsessed with this scene ’. Furthermore, Ken thought the case Mohamed Al-Fayed brought forward was not adequate enough to support his allegations. Ken believes that Al-Fayed still grieving for his son Dodi and Diana whom he loved so much. His conspiracy theories included the royals and the Americans conspiring against AL-Fayed and his son to keep her away from the Muslim family. Ken also mentioned that Al-Fayed seemed to be unwilling to come to terms with his son’s death. In Harrods were Al-Fayed is the lucrative owner he erected two monuments for Diana and His son Dodi. Furthermore, Al-Fayed’s chosen place to bury his son also adds to the questions on everyone’s mind, his son is buried at his home in Egypt.
Kens view on the incident at Paris is that the security was too low, after princess Diana gave up her security from the royal protection her safety was in question by Ken as he had previously worked with the princess. Although Ken doesn't believe the security was solely responsible for her death he believes that Diana was in danger after she dropped the security service weeks after Ken resigned from the royal security services.
Diana was highly superstitious about her death, she visited along with Ken Tarot readers who had told her she might die in a car accident. He recalls the visits to a certain Tarot reader, the room was " filled with candles" he said as he filled us in what he saw in the place. He walked up the stairs to the top floor and he saw Diana sitting in a room, which had a huge window with a small hole on the sealing. Diana sitting beneath the sealing was meditating, Ken surprised by this quickly asked what she was doing and in replay Diana said “ I’m letting the bad energy out ” of the sealing that is mean to be some kind of portal. Despite these secret visit and superstitions believe Ken claims that Diana was not obsessed as he says “I don’t think she was paranoid” but still he says that she was very “unhappy about the relationship” with Prince Charles.
After Princess Diana’s death Ken felt he had to somehow still protect Diana as no body had spoken of the good thing Diana had accomplished. He felt that the public had to know the story from another point of view. In writing the book ‘Closely Guarded Secret’ in 2002 Ken wanted to show Diana’s positive side as opposed to all the negative stories that were on the media coverage. However, the Royal family did not approve of this and Ken said, “He did not expect to be in their Christmas list ” without any disappointments in his face, luckily for him he does not expect any gratitude from the royal family either.

Andrea Mantegna, The Dead Christ, 1490

 

The image seems to have all the wrong perspective and the body is seen from a different point of view. Forth shortening seems wrong. The stigmata are showing the signs of the dead Christ. Composition is cropped only showing the one character fully who is probably Mary and the two mourners are only seen slightly. His feet are slightly hanging off the rock to give the illusion of realism and to make the audience. We can see the artist has used many Christian symbols that identify the figure as Christ, this symbols are the Stigmata’s on his feet and on his hands. The body is laid on what seems like a stone but there is a pillow for his head that seem out of place and is not co-ordinated with the whole scene. However, the artist used his technique to give a very different and unusual perspective at this time. When looking at the painting from a perspective of the viewer it is almost like we are involved in the scene as onlookers, he also emphasized on this by making the additional figures on the side that seem to be outsider as we are like them looking at the dead Christ. Mantengna capture the emotion of the figures on the side who maybe his mother Mary and st John. However, although it is titled the dead Christ it is almost like the figure was about to wake up, perhaps this is at the point Christ had waken from the dead. I say this because when looking closely at his hand we can see the figure has control over them, as they seem to be a bit alive while the hands are painted as if the figure is regaining control and wants to stand by his hand supporting him. Another point to bring is that the colour used is very dull and uncomplimentary as many artist woud have used bright colour to complement the scene.

What does she lack from this empty world,

Does she want beauty and wealth,

Doe she want knowledge and the perfect career,

Can she achieve anything out of her environment,

Does she feel happy inside

Has she found out the secret of life

What must she do to survive

Will she or wont she joint the rebels

Those rebels, those rebels without cause

Will she realise what she has done

Will she notice who she is hurting

That metamorphosis from a child to a teenager

Yes, a rebel without cause

Hurting inside and oblivious to the pain of others

When will this end, when will she realise the reality

When will she ask her self what she really wants

Does she remember when her father walked out

Does she remember when her mother left her

To feed her drug addiction

To get away from it all

For she has been through this metamorphosis ;

Some start as a caterpillar and grow to beautiful butterflies

But some do not have the chance to become a butterfly

And only stay and compose themselves as caterpillar

new here

so this is my first blog...i thought id give it  a try after reading so many other and try to see what i can come up with!