Growing up in mountains of Virginia, Jade McCully had a fondness for snakes, ruffled socks, playing with her big sister, and asking about a thousand questions a day. That same curiosity still pushes her, but now her camera can document everything she loves, wants to know more about, or finds beautifully interesting. Jade finds her world impossibly curious and is attracted to everything around her.

Her featured work, “Going Home,” investigates Jade’s personal experiences through details of light, space, and objects. According to Jade, “They allow me to ask the questions about my new family, whom I find mysterious, and to answer them honestly. Exploring my environment with my husband Matthew, my new in-laws, and the Deep South. Family is the cohesive element that ties the pieces in this body of work together. My photographs journal what comforts me, what intrigues me, and what is so mystifying about my every day life. They remind me of the stories I have to tell, and invite the viewer to stand in my shoes, to feel my pain, my curiosity, my amusement, and to become a part of my surroundings and my story.”

OUR PHOTOGRAPHS ARE NOT…

Staged. Everything is real life.

PHOTOGRAPHING WEDDINGS CAN BE…

Exhausting. Staying up and keeping people laughing while concentrating on taking unusual compositions and truly capturing couples’ emotions can wear you out. It is also one of my favourite parts of the job!!

TOOLS OF OUR TRADE ARE…

Fixed Lens, Natural Light, and a constant curiosity to explore the world around me.

WHERE WE ARE NOW IS…

Savannah, GA (for today at least)!!

WHERE WE WERE BEFORE…

Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia

THE BEST THINGS ABOUT JAPAN ARE…

The quiet, the natural beauty, the rich history, and all of the walking to get to those places, as well as good eats!

THE WORST THINGS ABOUT JAPAN ARE…

Their use of fur as a form of fashion.

JAPANESE PEOPLE HAVE…

A different approach to life then I do. Everything seems to be black or white, very structured.

MISSISSIPPI…

Could be one of the strangest places you could ever be.

THE STRANGEST DREAM I EVER HAD WAS…

All of my dreams come true in some way. It is kind of fascinating to envision something in a dream and watch it come to life. But this is one of my weirdest dreams I ever had… It was a recurring dream while in middle school, every year before school started. I would be at the top of a hill trying to get down to the ʻsafeʼ house that was like a McDonalds (donʼt know why)! But there were wolves on the hill that we had to get past. So it was a struggle to reach the ʻbase.ʼ We always got down the hill safely but there were always different obstacles to overcome. Weird I know!!

THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, THE WAY I SEE IT…

Everyone needs to learn from one another as opposed to fighting one another. Everyone has a story to tell and a different way of looking at life. If we could accept that and move on to create a better place, we would all benefit from it. Greed is a dirty dirty thing.

IF HAD IT MY WAY I WOULD…

Be travelling all the time.

THE BEST PLACE I…

Ever visited was Montreal. And I must say it was in the summer time so I missed the wintry weather. It was the perfect mix for us – dog parks, a walking and biking city, good food and open-air farmers markets. As well as good coffee!! I have never felt more relaxed.

IF I COULD EAT ONLY ONE THING FOR THE REST OF MY DAYS IT WOULD BE…

I love to eat well and my husband is the best cook in the world so I would say his food!! Yum!

DONʼT TRUST…

When things seem to good to be true. But always trust your instincts.

SOME PEOPLE…

Love you some people don’t.

THE BEST ADVICE…

I ever received was be yourself. I have followed a path that I have put in to place. I followed my dreams, listened to my heart, and worked my butt off. Oh and to wake up one time every year to watch the sunset. We always wake up on the first day of the New Year and go watch the sun rise. Then we have a glass of champagne, eat a cupcake, and go back to sleep with our doggies in bed. It reminds me that life is what you make it.

Also, words every photographer should live by – “If you don’t have your camera you can’t take the photo.” – Jay Maisel.

EVERY DAY I…

Stretch! I love to do yoga and run. There is nothing better then zoning out and listening to your body.

TREASURE…

Your life.

Want to see more of Jade and Matthew’s work? Check out:

jadeandmatthew.com
blog.jadeandmatthew.com

At first glance, Nao Harada, aka Wrecks, appeared to be another needle in the endless haystack of modern Tokyo artists and designers. But after a few Mexican brews, so-cal style cheese burritos (the best in Tokyo by the way), and conversation ranging from Russ Meyers busty starlets to wedding parties with Ray Barbee, I began to realize this skinny Japanese guy came across more like an old skate blood brother  than a blind dinner date. And therein lies the relevance behind the artist and a window into the person.

Flash forward countless shared bottles of Hoppy and Shochu and it’s a hazy present day. That same skinny skate rat, who I now refer to as a close comrade in crime, never ceases to astound or amuse me. The more I get to know Nao, the more his artistic style reveals it’s true grit and honest origin directly related to his everyday life.

In the vein of American wise men such as Mark Twain and Hunter Thompson, Wrecks is in every sense a modern day street poet channeling his keen lyric and observant word through unapologetic art and telltale design.

Like most poets, the work mirrors the surrounding stimuli. In Nao’s case it’s the bloated consumer-crazed nexus that is Tokyo. In a city that force feeds pop culture at breakneck velocity and where peer acceptance is as critical to one’s social survival as multiple wives are to Warren Jeff’s', it eases me to sleep at night knowing a lone ranger stalks the streets with the balls to give it all the middle finger, call it like it is, and kick-flip to his own drummer.

Often laced with clever sarcasm and jocular kid-like depictions of desolate chickens or victimized sharks knockin on heavens door, Wrecks’ approach to his art is much more than skin-deep, it’s a lifestyle worthy of subscribing to.

-Tre Packard

Wrecks is….I’m seriously not sure what it exists for. I just started it to make some tees years ago. Sort of to hide my real name, also I think it probably seems like a brand, I don’t know. Anyway I’ve been using this name for something like projects or work. I mean not for my personal work. It’s kind of complicated. Not a big deal though.

I’m from…Japan.

Now I live in….Hell.

I paint sad chickens because….Somehow painting sad chickens makes me comfortable. I maybe want to express sadness, which every one should have. Life is tough all the time, and happy people have to have bad things like death, cancer, accidents, any small unlucky shit. I guess babies are very pure and almost 100% happy, but already live in this fucked up world. That’s pretty sad. Some animals are sad too. Maybe not. I don’t know. I’m totally not negative anyway. I just don’t like to draw positive things, or pretend like I’m a happy guy. That’s bullshit. Anyway I’m sure that I’m kind of happy in the end.

Being an Artist in Tokyo….Sounds like hell. But honestly I have no idea. I’m not a real artist or not like a person who wants to sell well.

English is….a good way for me to express something. Japanese just looks whack to me and tough to design or paint. Also English has given me many friends. If I couldn’t speak English at all, I couldn’t live like this now. I couldn’t have this interview either.

I love….Drinking, sleeping, snorkeling, skateboarding, painting and cooking.

I hate….Something boring that doesn’t change. I want to do different things every single day. I really hate to feel like I did the same thing yesterday.

Work is….Very important. But I hate work. I want to get $$ without working.

If I didn’t Skateboard I would….Nothing can replace skateboarding. At least I need to skateboard to transport me.

If I choose one thing to eat right now it would be….Monjayaki.

I’d wash it down with….Shochu. Potato one.

I have been to….South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Laos, Mexico and the States.

I want to travel to….Definitely South America.

Japan is….Weak and closed. But Japanese food is the best in the whole world.

If I didn’t live in Tokyo I would live….Near Tokyo.

Because….I can’t leave this area

More on Wrecks here

Not only are statistics horrifying, so are the methods through which sharks are caught and killed. A majority of these 73 million are caught alive, hauled onto fishing boats and have their fins sliced off. The live, limbless animals are tossed back into the sea with no means to swim. Thus, they drown.

Thanks to practices like these, declines in shark populations by as much to 70 – 80% have been reported globally. Such a significant change in shark population problematically impacts the delicate balance of the sea because of their role at the upper links of the food chain.

While humans massacre tens of millions of sharks annually, sharks kill just four humans on average in the same time period. Media sensationalism – as well as Hollywood’s hogwash – contributes to our lack of compassion for sharks. Compared to the conservation efforts dedicated to the preservation of whales and dolphins, the efforts directed towards the sustenance of sharks is insubstantial. Enter PangeaSeed and Shark Love.

PangeaSeed is a Tokyo based ocean conservation organisation which focuses on the desperate plight of sharks. This grassroots organisation uses open dialogues with the global community to develop an understanding of the importance in preserving and protecting sharks and shark habitats. They are funded by art exhibitions and events, which are enabled through volunteer artists and activists contributing across a variety of mediums, including design, music, film and photography.

Shortly after its birth in early 2009, PangeaSeed organised No Fin, No Future, Japan’s first shark-focused, art exhibition and fundraiser. The exhibition received support from some of the most renowned contemporary artists; among the many artists donating their original, shark-themed works were Mr. Brainwash, Kozyndan, Dave Kinsey and Yoh Nagao.

This past August, PangeaSeed did it again with Shark Love. 34 internationally acclaimed artists from Japan and across the globe came together in one small gallery located one hour south of Tokyo, and the roll call was just as impressive as last year’s event. Skateboard graphic legend Jim Phillips stepped up to the cause, remodeling his 1970s classic The Camel with a classy PangeaSeed script for the show. This potently symbolic image retains the impact that led to its popular interpretation as a prophecy of dire times. The Camel is printed using silver silkscreen on black paper, and portrays a masked figure and limp body riding a camel. An assortment of auspicious animals and objects surround the riders, including a polar bear, an upside-down wasp, an airliner, and coincidentally, a shark.

Other works of interest included a three-piece series made by Colorado-based artist John Fellows. These lino cut sharks were printed on envelopes originating from Japan that date back to the 1940s. Australian graffiti artist and the brains behind King Brown magazine, The Yok, created a one-off skateboard deck, depicting a skull-faced man dining from the seas. Fellow Australian, Pat Fox also used the skateboard as a medium. Fox laser-cut a simultaneously elegant and eerie image of a woman who maternally hovers over a scale that balances a shark fin and a globe.

Artists from New Zealand’s Sideroom.com and Cut Collective portrayed unique, clever commentaries on the Finning issue in a mixture of mediums, from stencil to digital print. Local Japanese artists George Hayashi, Yoh Nagao, Koji Harmon, AkanorI Oishi, Natsuki Wakita and Wrecks created colourful, quirky pieces, illuminating the small space and portraying sharks in a brighter, less monstrous light.

The piece that stood out to me most from the collection of pieces at Shark Love was Haroshi’s The Shark Coffin. This piece was constructed from recycled skate decks which had been sanded and glued in the shape of a life size, three-dimensional hammerhead shark. Encased inside the cacophony of wood pieces was a complete, vintage Christian Hosoi hammerhead skateboard, complete with Slimeball wheels and Gullwing trucks. A hammerhead inside a hammerhead – hence its title The Shark Coffin.

Shark Love ran for one week and received hundreds of visitors who received equal doses of fine art and uncomfortable truths – the most obvious truth being that sharks, when portrayed in an unprejudiced light, are beautiful animals that deserve our respect.

Much of the art displayed at Shark Love can be viewed and purchased at www.pangeaseed.com. For a limited time PangeaSeed is also offering limited 2010 model Arbor Snow and Skateboards for a fraction of there retail value.

For more pics, upcoming events and further information on PangeaSeed please check out these links:
www.pangeaseed.com
www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/PangeaSeed
www.flickr.com/photos/pangeaseed

Pilgrims come from the far corners of India and abroad to take a dip in the Ganga, curing all sins and evils and granting the bather salvation – thanks to Lord Vishnu spilling some of the nectar of immortality on Hardiwar while on the run from angry demons. Many devotees also believe that thanks to enhanced electromagnetic radiation from the Sun, Moon and Jupiter, the waters of the Ganga are charged with positive healing effects. A trip to Kumbh basically means a regular fresh start and clean bill of health, no confessions or medical treatments necessary.

Kumbh Mela has been going on for a long time; the first written evidence can be traced back to the 6th Century in the accounts of Chinese traveller Huan Tsang. In 1895 American author Mark Twain visited Kumbh Mela and wrote;

“It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold whites.”

Coming to Sideroom.com next week:

The final instalment of India in Analog

As the fires dim huge pots of bhung, a sweet ‘herbal’ shake are brewed to get everyone in the festive spirit. Bright coloured powders are dished into bags or mixed with water and everyone takes to the streets to douse each other in colour, hug and exchange with bhung eyes and smiles “HAPPY HOLI!”

FLAVOURED BHUNG DRINK

Ingredients:
2 Cups water
1 Ounce marijuana (fresh leaves and flowers of a female plant preferred)
4 Cups warm milk
2 Tablespoons blanched and chopped almonds
1/8 teaspoon garam masala (a mixture of cloves, cinnamon and cardamom)
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 to 1 teaspoon rosewater
1 Cup sugar

Method:
Bring the water to a rapid boil and pour into a clean teapot. Remove any seeds or twigs from the marijuana, add it to the teapot and cover. Let this brew for about 7 minutes.

Now strain the water and marijuana through a piece of muslin cloth, collect the water and save.

Take the leaves and flowers and squeeze between your hands to extract any liquid that remains. Add this to the water.

Place the leaves and flowers in a mortar and add 2 teaspoons warm milk. Slowly but firmly grind the milk and leaves together. Gather up the marijuana and squeeze out as much milk as you can. Repeat this process until you have used about 1/2 Cup of milk (about 4 to 5 times). Collect all the milk that has been extracted and place in a bowl. By this time the marijuana will have turned into a pulpy mass.

Add the chopped almonds and some more warm milk. Grind this in the mortar until a fine paste is formed. Squeeze this paste and collect the extract as before. Repeat a few more times until all that is left are some fibres and nut meal. Discard the residue.

Combine all the liquids that have been collected, including the water the marijuana was brewed in. Add to this the garam masala, dried ginger and rosewater. Add the sugar and remaining milk.

Chill, serve, and enjoy.

Recipe from www.holifestival.org

Coming to Sideroom.com next week:

India in Analog | Part Four – Kumbh Mela

Judging by old TV shows once upon a time it must have been ‘cool.’ But I guess fashion is fashion and those who can pull off the mustache without facing ridicule are few and far between. Still a part of me longs to sprout a hairy upper lip.

Perhaps India is the last vestige on earth for that freedom. There, mustached men defiantly out number non-mustached men. To be honest it made me feel a little self-conscious – I can probably count on two hands the number of hairs I have in that sacred region. I found myself constantly assessing my own lack of facial hair with pangs of jealously.

One day the pangs got so intense that I went as far as drawing on a fuller soup strainer with a posca pen. Like a wig or fake breasts, this did wonders for my confidence. I was able to strut with my head up, a man.

Coming to Sideroom.com next week:

India in Analog | Part Three – Holi

Still I missed the click and clunk of my old analog, the anticipation and uncertainty, the physicality. In the foggy banks of my memory film was crisp and pure… but expensive. If I was ever going to shoot film again India was the place. Thanks to the third world economy, a roll of film in India costs about a tenth of the price in Japan, processing is about the same. So I left my digital SLR camera at home, bought an old, sturdy as fuck Nikon FE, circa nineteen seventy something, and attempted to take some photos.

It really did take some getting used to again, but once I got in to it, again the pros seemed to outweigh the cons. I had less money around my neck to worry about. I had no digital display to show the kids who seemed forever present, yelling “Photo! Photo!”  And as I was travelling and developing at different labs the colour and quality always came back different, which was exciting also.

For all the shitters than ended up in the rubbish I managed to get a few pics that I think are worth sharing. I don’t think I could have taken them on digital either. Analog to me just seems raw and real, much like India. So in that respect these photos captured my months there in a way only film could.

Part One
Varanasi

Also known as Benares, Varanasi is one of the oldest constantly inhabited places in the world. Once you arrive in India many a traveller and local alike will tell you “You have to see it.” It’s the kind of place you either love or you don’t. Some will tell you that it is amazing, full of life and art and music, and others will say it is the closest thing to hell, full of stench, liars, cheats, disease, decay and death.

For many, particularly Buddhists and Hindus, Varanasi is undoubtedly a holy city, if not the holiest. It sits on the banks of the River Ganga, it is where the goddess Sati’s earrings fell and nearby the Great Bhudda gave his first sermon. It has been home to many prominent Indian philosophers, poets, writers and musicians, such as Kabir and Tulsidas.

Varanasi receives more than a million pilgrims each year. Many come for inspiration, to learn music or to make art, though most come to pray and many to die. The smoke from the pyres on which their bodies burn wafts across the roof tops from the river banks.

I think one of the hardest and best things about spending time in Varanasi is the smells. One moment you get a nostril full of rich boiling curry, the next a fly infested cow pat. One street the scent of flowery incense, turn the corner into a steaming puddle of fresh human urine.

Personally I liked it. Though very intense at times it is never boring. It’s tight cobblestone alleys, decaying castles and temples are medieval… If I hit my head and forgot the year it would have been hard to figure it out. Mark Twain wrote that “Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”

Coming to Sideroom.com next week:

India in Analog | Part Two – Hindustan and the Mustached Men

MY ART ISN’T… Sharp, I like loose wonky lines, curves and wobbly parts.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE ARE… For inspiration it’s usually a plane ticket to an interesting location, or a bike ride into town. For the making of images it’s acrylic paint, spray paint, shellac based inks, silk screens, Sumi Ink, pens, HB pencils, erasers, brushes, markers and laptop, scanner, Photoshop.

WHERE I LIVE NOW IS… In sunny Perth, it’s famous for being one of the most isolated cities in the world, which means you can always find a spot on the beach to yourself. There is a creative vibe in this city and a lot of talented artists are doing their thing.

WHERE I WAS BEFORE… Bangkok. I was living and working there for a year and a half, and painting most Sundays with four local artists. Hanging out with local guys, going to their houses and parties and eating noodles on the side of the road gave me a great insight into the Thai culture. An experience I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten if I was just there as a tourist.

AUSTRALIA SHOULD... Be more accepting.

NEW ZEALAND IS… Fantastic.

KINGBROWN WILL… Be having an exhibition at the end of June. www.kingbrownmag.com

WHEN I WAS YOUNG I… Would build elaborate jumps to attack with my BMX.

THE MOST IMPORTANT… Thing is being good to people and doing the right thing by them, looking out for your friends and fellow humans.

WHEN I DAYDREAM I… Think about what it would be like to live in a tree house.

I LOVE… Super, good, aromatic, futuristic quality coffee, imagination, old circus fonts, beards.

I HATE… Pretentiousness, small dogs with little jackets and french names, the wrong wind.

THE WORLD RIGHT NOW… Is in denial.

IF HAD IT MY WAY I WOULD… Make more animals; just invent my own species of animal with great colour schemes and special powers, like being able to do your tax and making good coffee.

THE BEST PLACE I… Like to travel to is somewhere I haven’t been yet.

OLEX IS… The name of my new tax form filling animals.

IF I COULD EAT ONLY ONE THING FOR THE REST OF MY DAYS IT WOULD BE… Coffee.

DON’T TRUST… People with moustaches.

SOME PEOPLE… Are attractive.

THE BEST ADVICE… Is to stay positive, keep your head up, if you fail try again. Do your homework and practice.

EVERY DAY I… Use the internet.

TREASURE… Your talents.

www.theyok.com
www.kingbrownmag.com

Now in his early 30s he has moved back to his home town of Chigasaki, one hour south of Tokyo on the Shounan coast. You could say it’s the ‘Dog Town’ of Japan. It was here amongst the coastal urban and industrial sprawl that surfing and skateboarding culture thrived in Japan during the 1970s, and continues to thrive today. It’s here that IFO is based. From Soichiro’s live in office he co-ordinates the rapidly growing company, distributing everything from decks, apparel and hardware throughout Japan (and as of recently to New Zealand).

Despite being a new brand in a particularly flooded market and during a ‘financial crisis,’ IFO is doing exceptionally well. This success might have something to do with his design team – IFO’s first line of decks was the handiwork of time lapse painting guru Rinpa Eshidan. For the second line he called upon world renowned graffiti and fine artist Ben Mori, and for the Spring 2010 line yours truly, SIDEROOM.COM stepped up to the plate.

Personally, it’s been my dream to design skateboards since the time my voice was breaking and I got my first Edwards, so to think kids across Japan are rocking SIDEROOM.COM decks always puts a little smile on my dial. Recently I got the chance to drop into IFO HQ and talk with Soichiro about what led to now.

How long did you ride for Element and why did you leave?

Six years, and I left for so many reasons. Element is a great company but a big one. It was hard because I didn’t have a lot of personal freedom. I had to get permission from a chain of employees I felt didn’t have the same understanding of skateboards that I did. I was travelling a lot skateboarding, meeting so many people and making a lot of good connections. Then suddenly I turned 30 and thought it was time for change. I figured the best way to get what I wanted out of a company was to start my own. I really wanted to create a company that understands and respects its riders… so that’s IFO.

When did you start IFO?

January 1st 2009.

How is it going?

It’s doing good.

Do you have some kinda philosophy as far as IFO designs go?

I don’t want IFO to be constricted just to Japan. That’s why I have artists like Rinpa Eishidan, Ben Mori and SIDEROOM doing the graphics. They all have unique styles and followers around the world. As they grow as artists IFO grows and vice versa.

The SIDEROOM boards are selling well?

Yep really well, they are actually selling the best out of the whole spring range. I just started exporting them to New Zealand. IFO is probably now the first Japanese Skateboard company to export out of Japan. Thanks SIDEROOM (laughs).

You’ve never visited NZ, how do you envision it?

Judging from the people I meet from New Zealand they are different from Americans. More mellow and similar to Japanese I guess. Maybe it’s got something to do with the fact we are almost on the same longitude and geographically similar. I hear you have osens too.

Favourite Skateboarder?

Kareem Campbell, PJ Lad, Mark Appleyard.

What was your favourite skate company growing up?

Menace, Kareem Campbell’s old label, he had the best styles and pop. When I was 14 I went to a demo he was riding in. He gave me a World Industries deck and said I should ride for the distributor here in Japan. Kareem was the reason I got sponsored.

Favorite skate spot?

Kugenuma.

What do you like about skateboarding?

That it’s limitless and so creative. It really makes you use your imagination.

What don’t you like about skateboarding?

Video and interview deadlines, especially video. It’s stressful when my body is really fucked but I have to keep pushing to make a trick for the camera.

Anything you want to add?

Check out www.ifoskateboard.com to see what’s going on. I’m always updating and uploading.

IFO decks are available  from The Learning Curve on K’Rd, Auckland, New Zealand. Check the IFO website for skateboard retailers across Japan.

With these things in check I was ready to paint the god of art, music and knowledge, Saraswati.

In my past experience painting murals, once you get going it’s more or less straightforward. Not the case in Varanasi. I realised this on my first day painting, arriving to find a kid shaving men’s heads right in front on the spot I was going to paint. A long line of scantily clad moustached men waited to be freed of hair for some greater purpose. Despite my pleas they were not going to relocate, so in true Indian fashion the hairdresser and I worked back to back. He stepping in my paint, I trodding in his pile of black hairs (which inevitably got in to my paint and was eventually encrusted in the mural).

Then there was the crowd. Some people in India seem to have a different idea about personal space than what I’m used to. Often I felt a breath on my neck and would turn around to find a crowd of men gathered, uncomfortably close. “Oh yes very nice,” “God bless you,” they would say with sideways head wobbles. At times they could be annoying, stating the obvious, critiquing or even trying to take my brush and make alterations themselves, but I met some of the nicest, open and most hospitable men painting that bright orange wall. Most of the bystanders offered nothing but praise, Chai, and even a little statue of Ganesh that sat next to our paints, offering divine inspiration. Several newspapers and even a radio station visited. We made the second page of the Hindustan Times and in true journalistic fashion they fabricated half of what we actually said.

Beggars and pushers I expected, tugging on my t-shirt, distracting me from my work with “Hey mun, you from country? Want something?” But I did not expect animals. Turned out a cow was a frequent visitor to the spot as he washed the dishes of a near by food stall with his slobbery tongue. More than once my Slovakian painting companion Stefan had to chase it out of our paints. Then there were the ducks who liked to walk around my ankles.

Beggars, pushers and animals can be dealt with a raised voice and angry gestures but there is no scaring away the heat and smell of Varanasi. Summer was approaching and with the temperature rising so did the stench. Varanasi is holy not only because of Shiva but because it’s where people go to die, or rather to be cremated. Not cremated in a behind closed doors, first world sense, but out in the open, on piles of wood, for all to see, 24 hours a day. Our mural happened to be located about 200 metres from where the bodies are burned, and if the wind was blowing down river the smoke and smell from the pyre wafted through the air.

Still it wasn’t that bad til I got food poisoning.

The first bout came on after just one day of painting. I had just laid an under coat when I was forced to retire to my hotel. For four days I lay in bed, occasionally getting up from long stupors to dispel anything I tried to put in. Even water would not stay down. Shitting and vomiting at the same time can be an enlightening experience. Needless to say a sure way to lose a lot of weight very quickly.

On the 5th day, after sleeping for more than 24 hours straight I decided to get up and paint. I took some painkillers, forced down some lentil soup and got to it. Four days later I was finished painting and found myself in hospital being pumped full of liquid and nutrients. Unable to hold any food or water, then painting like I was possessed had put me in bad shape. My blood pressure dropped dangerously low to a point where I could not get out of bed. With the aid of my girlfriend I got to a doctor who immediately hooked me to an IV, pumping me full of liquid vitamins and antibiotics.

Still it was worth it, even after all that. Not because I left my mark on Varanasi, but for the experience and opportunity to paint in that most sacred of places. A week after I left Varanasi Stefan was forced to paint over my portion of the mural anyway. Despite being approved it apparently didn’t sit with the mythology the mural was supposed to depict. I was reminded of a very important lesson and ancient Indian proverb, one that the country seems to reverbrate. “Everything is temporary and the only constant is change.”

Nothing is exempt from this rule, not our artwork, not ourselves.

Check out more murals in India here.