From Vogue Magazine to Heroes in History

Posted by on May 27, 2013 in Critic's Area | 0 comments

Samita Nandy

Dear Readers,

May is coming to an end!  Hope you had a powerful month immersed with distinctive moments, open minds, and new creative forces!

My final edition for this month will start where one of my latest posts ended – celebrating Mother Earth on the occasion of Mother’s Day.

In our everyday life, some of the finest, earthly connections are made through eco-friendly fashion, green diet, and home décor.  The driving forces in these creative connections are often manifested through glitz and glamour in celebrity culture.  At the same time, material creations symbolize and reinforce some of the earthly connections that often we crave and desire.  In this respect, Chobhi and The Artizan Affect are worthy to be mentioned.  Today, I am honored to feature both creations as powerful, eco-friendly symbols!  At the end of the blog, Jim Barber’s Writing Services will offer a down-to-earth touch to our relations to celebrities!

Innovated by former Miss Universe Canada contestant, Ronjiny Basu and Ottawa-based photographer Tanima Majumdar, Chobhi blends nature photography and organic fabric into scarves that become “Wearable Art.”  Using eco-friendly printing, Chobhi features individual photos on each scarf with an element of luxury.  Editor of Ottawa at Home magazine says that photography on fashion is a rising trend this year, and I believe that Chobhi is a trendsetter in this regard.  Recently, Chobhi’s elegant art caught attention of Vogue magazine in India.  Soon, as Ronjiny Basu expresses, organic fabrics of Chobhi can connect to celebrities that sport eco-friendly fashion as well.  At the same time, Chobhi carries natural appeal that every individual can embrace while honoring their own distinct personality.  Check out www.chobhi.com to explore and embrace the rise of eco-friendly art in celebrating the self!

Vogue

While Chobhi connects eco-friendly practices in celebrity culture and everyday life, Sana Khan’s The Artizan Affect evokes heroism in the past.  The Artizan Affect refers to funky, eco-friendly jewellery that designer Sana Khan has created in Toronto.  Here, Sana’s favourite item “Hope for Peace” restores heroism and popular appeal of national leaders Gandhi and Jinnah India and Pakistan. You can take a glimpse of this memorable keychain here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/128607785/hope-for-peace-gandhi-jinnah-keychain?ref=shop_home_feat    Sana says that the ‘Hope for Peace’ keychain was inspired by ‘Aman ki Asha’ campaign to restore heroic abilities and peace in East.  For Sana, “keychain is something that we use on daily basis and by having this keychain around, it keeps reminding us of these great leaders.” The keychain particularly reminds us things that the great leaders have done for peace through their distinctive words and teaching.  In this way, The Artizan Affect “brings us back to all these things that we might have forgotten.” This collective act of remembrance prompts Sana to ask, “If they can bring peace and do what they did, why can’t we?”

Artizan Affect

Sana’s poignant question can be partly addressed by journalist Jim Barber’s critical thoughts on portraying public personalities in contemporary culture.  In his blog post, Don’t Succumb to Hero Worship,’ Jim indicates how a division is often created between celebrities or heroes and audiences.  This division, a quality necessary for maintaining the unstable character of celebrity constructions, is often created by journalists writing to the audiences.  As Jim states, journalists or interviewers try to become a ‘celebrity’ themselves and “develop status and branding and ‘fame’ in their own right.”  Needless to say, a journalist is the author of the same cultural text that constructs a celebrity, and can write his own fame in the process.  However, as Jim recalls from his strong experience of journalism, “When you’re interviewing one of your ‘heroes’ the ultimate goal of the piece is to enlighten the audience, and that should be no different than when you are interviewing someone you don’t like, or even someone for whom you have no ‘feeling’ about whatsoever.”  This down-to-earth, non-judgemental view can benefit us in restoring heroic abilities of public personalities, and become heroes in our own battlefield of celebrating and honouring self.

Jim Barber

For more information Jim Barber’s excellent writing services, please visit http://jimbarberwritingservices.com/

Hope this special post brings empowerment in celebrating distinct moments of past and strengthen down-to-earth connections in the future!

Have a fantastic week ahead! 

With affection,

Samita

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