Blogger Manifesto Project: Manifesto #3

My name is Ana. Tara has asked for my manifesto. There are so many ideas and things I'm obsessed with; so many declarations I could have made. But here is the one that made it - the one that is most important to me. A manifesto on time. Care to spend a few minutes of yours with it?

Time is perception. It flies, it grinds, in very long work meetings it feels like it has suspended itself completely, trapping you like a fly in amber.

Time is always measured. Seconds, hours, days, months, and years. It is a framework for our lives in which our language is even divided into past, present and future tenses. When you are stranded without a means of telling time, it makes you feel uncomfortable and uneasy. It can even amount to torture. The measurement of time anchors you to your life.

Time can obsess people. The anticipation of it, the keeping of it, the passing of it. Some plan their time out very carefully with calendars, alarm clocks, lists and five year plans. Others resolutely turn their backs on this and drift on by, declaring they have no mission and no ambition, that they are just content to see what comes. Both both approaches spring from the same source - the realisation that we do not have much time (therefore we need to plan it or as such we need to enjoy it while it lasts).

And isn't that the rub? That no matter what we think of time, no matter what we believe, we all know that time will only ever leave us behind.

And if we substitute the word "love" for "life", Yehuda Amichai still speaks true: Love is finished again, like a profitable citrus season or like an archeological dig that turned up from deep inside the earth turbulent things that wanted to be forgotten. Love is finished again. When a tall building is torn down and the debris cleared away, you stand there on the square empty lot, saying: What a small space that building stood on with all its many floors and people. (extract from Love is Finished Again by Yehuda Amichai )

Click on each picture for its source. For more, visit the Looking Into The Past Flickr Group and Elliot Malkin's Home Movie Reconstructions.

The Blogger Manifesto Project.

Manifesto #2

Manifesting Darkness
By Seraph + Splendor / Chintz of Darkness

{Virgin with Corona by Odilon Redon 1898}

Ok, dear readers, we know that we are guests here so we will try to be on our best behavior. We will wipe our feet on the doormat upon arriving and turn off the lights when we leave. We will refrain from sharpening our claws on the sofa and promise not to root through Tara’s sock drawer or peak into her diary…With that stated, we must take up the glove and accept the challenge, which is to simply vindicate darkness itself…

We believe in darkness in all of its many forms. Darkness is to wear the cool night upon your skin, to shun the sunlight, to crave the illumination of the stars. It is to drown ones senses in languid pools of indulgence, to drift upon velvet seas and feel the sting of satin…

{Inferno by Franz von Stuck 1908}

Darkness is the language of crows and ghosts. It slithers through one’s mind whispering of forgotten realms and lords of old. One must listen for its eloquence in ice and stone and the rustle of wings, for darkness is fey and wild and belongs not to the land of now…

We enfold ourselves in shades of darkness and paint it upon our being. It is the shadow that accompanies us on our daily tasks. Darkness is the color that covers our walls and drapes our doorways. It is the obsidian stain that drenches our carpets and chairs in a swathe of inky blackness. It is an altar to decadence and a shrine to beauty…

{Death at the Ball by Felicien Rops 1875}

{The Derelict by John Pryde}

Above all, darkness is the taste of freedom, of turning way from society’s norms, to embark on the path less taken. Fear not the dark, dear ones, and take to heart the words of Albert Camus… “There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.”

::I want to thank S+S for being kind enough {and brave enough} to tackle the first guest manifesto. I am so thrilled to finally get things underway, and what better way to start than with their unique blend of the dark, strange, and surreal!? If you would like to learn more about this project, you can read about it here and here. If you would like to participate, please don't hesitate to contact me. I look forward to the upcoming manifestos!

Wyndham Lewis: A Frog with a Paint Brush

My boyfriend and I cozied up under the blankets last night, and he read me some of his favorite excerpts from A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway's memoirs of his adventures among the American expatriate writers and artists in 1920's Paris.

In the book, Hemingway famously lampoons several well-known modernists, but his description of Wyndham Lewis [the founder of the Vorticist movement] is particularly scathing. He interchangeably refers to him as a "frog," "toe-jam" {ha!}, "evil," and "the nastiest man he has ever met." Lewis did become notorious for angering and offending almost every member of the artistic and literary community of the time, so Hemingway's assessment might not have been far from the truth...

I woke up this morning wondering: how is it possible that really nasty people can make beautiful art? I'm not personally a fan of Lewis' writing [though the boyfriend loves him]. But in my opinion, he is one of the most underrated visual artists of the early 20th century -- his portraits are particularly striking and poignant. For someone who loathed and mistreated fellow humans, he certainly seems to have had a knack for finding the beauty in them. Odd, isn't it?

:His portrait of the incomparable Dame Edith Sitwell {above} is one of my favorites by Lewis -- she seems so serene and wise sitting among her books. He captures her eccentricity and intelligence quite successfully. Not bad for a frog.

::See more of Lewis' work here / :: And I almost forgot, his manifesto, published in the little magazine Blast, is one of my favorites -- it's very funny. It's best read standing on a piece of furniture and speaking like a tyrannical ruler! I guess I don't mind his writing, after all.

Blogger Manifesto Project, Part II

Manifesto#1
A BEAUTY MANIFESTO
by Tara

Beauty is paradox.
For everything you believe, you must first realize you believe the opposite.
Beauty is a rush of sensation: a sweet, unexpected taste that forces you to close your eyes in order to fully savor it.
Then beauty is rich, demanding, heavy in the stomach.


Always question your bodily response. But never let the question destroy the spontaneous pleasure.
Cast your net, savor passionate reactions; for all things worth keeping are fleeting and ephemeral. Digesting beauty is a life's work.


Analyze your affinities. Do not espouse empty words about your fascinations, unless you crave emptiness.
Sometimes the facade can be prettiest.


But know you are more than this.
You are also a paradox.
Beauty is both perfectly clear and always just out of our line of vision. We are so certain of our tastes, our way of seeing. But can we ever really be?
What you love perplexes me. Please make me understand, so I can seal my loathing shut or set it free.


Beauty is never a given.
It can terrify and inspire in different measures, in different eyes.
One set of eyes perceives a phantom, a shadow passing at the top of a staircase, and is convinced this is all and everything.
While others choose to follow a ghost.
Is it the thing or the idea you want?


Decide at every moment what makes you feel most like yourself. Or the you of your dreams. They are the same.
And then challenge it. Never grow too complacent in your perception.
When you hold something beautiful, does it make you whole, remind you of your own materiality: a jewelry box of flesh?


Love things, really love them. Have a reason. Or don’t. But love them. They have value beyond their price.
They are you.
All beautiful things are borrowed.
All things, both beautiful and ugly, are made by skillful hands. All objects have value to someone.

Consider whether beauty equals love.
Ask: What sweet morsel will I place on my tongue?

{::Read more about the project here / e-mail me if you would like info on participating!!}

Blogger Manifesto Project, Part I.

"In the old times men carried out their rights for themselves as they lived, but nowadays every baby seems born with a social manifesto in its mouth much bigger than itself.” ~Oscar Wilde

{The Zurich Dada group at Cafe Voltaire...marching to the absurd beat of their own manifesto}.

Though Wilde obviously thought the practice of manifesto-writing was getting out of hand at the time he wrote those words {and little did he know, the trend would continue to spread rampantly into the early 20th century}, today the manifesto continues to be a fascinating, witty, perplexing, and often infuriating form of expression...

I became interested in manifestos as a genre several years ago, after reading many of the famous artistic manifestos. The manifestos for art movements such as Vorticism, Surrealism, Futurism, and Symbolism made me feel equal parts fascinated and infuriated -- they were so staunch and irrational in their opinions! What drew me to these raucous, outspoken documents was their nerve, their sheer audacity. I'm not what you might call an audacious or even stubbornly opinionated person {though I've been working on finding that side of myself}, but for some reason, the notion of writing a manifesto of my own has nagged me for some time now. This obsession with manifestos has also turned into a deeper curiosity about the role of manifestos in today's world: particularly in the blog world.

Manifestos are defined as: "a public declaration of the purpose, principles, or plan of action of a group or individual." While manifestos were originally political in nature, they have since addressed issues spanning topics from parenting and gardening, to technology and fashion. A manifesto can be as much about lifestyle convictions as social and political convictions. I have come to believe that the creative exercise of writing a manifesto can teach us a lot about ourselves, our beliefs, and our priorities. I think in some ways that our blogs are like subtle, unspoken manifestos of what we love, what we are drawn to, and what we find of value. And I can't help but wonder: what would your manifesto say if you could narrow your convictions and passions into one, condensed package of words?

• Would it be funny and cheeky?
• Serious and somber?
• Eclectic or pointed?
• Beautiful or ugly?
• Poetic or pragmatic?
• Political or aesthetic?
• Youthful or wise?

All of these thoughts have brought me to start a new series of posts that I'm calling the "Blogger Manifesto Project." I imagine this project to grow beyond me and this blog, because I think with the contribution of other bloggers, it has the potential to be amazing! So, over the next few weeks and months, I will be gathering together a group of bloggers that I feel have a distinctive voice and style, and challenge them to write their own manifesto to share here on Nothing Elegant. The range will be broad and the topics will vary. It is my dream to gather a group of talented voices in many categories: interior design, photography, fashion, shopping, music, crafting, feminism, inspiration, art, cooking, etc.

Thanks for bearing with me on this long post, and I hope you will stick around for this exciting project. I challenge each and every one of you to try your hand at writing a manifesto for your life, your loves, or your blog -- I did, and I will be sharing mine next Monday!

::Follow this link for a huge list of other manifestos through history :: These are some of my favorites: BLAST, A Cyborg Manifesto, and The Humanist Manifesto.