The extinct Bird project memorializes titular animals in still-life oil paintings on wood panels. They are stark and poignant images of the only thing left of these birds, their skins. The only other thing in the paintings are burnt out matches that represent a life snuffed out as well as scale. Some of the paintings are displayed with the skins that Alberto Rey used as reference.
Carolina parakeet from RTPI archives
Carolina parakeet by Alberto Rey
Rey, a teacher at SUNY Fredonia, was inspired after a tour led by Jane Johnson at the RTPI were he found himself moved by the sight of the stuffed and bound birds. His research began at the RTPI were he took multiple pictures of the skins located in storage at the time. He then took reference shots at The Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.
Alberto Rey speaking to high-school students about exhibit
This new devotional volume from Bibliotheca Alexandrina includes a revised version of my essay “The Nature and Functions of Thoth in Egyptian Theology,” which appeared originally in The Scribing Ibis: An Anthology of Pagan Fiction in Honor of Thoth (*Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2N5OOTR). A Silver Sun and Inky Clouds: A Devotional for Djehuty and Set, ed. Ashley Kent […]
The change I go through when i am out in nature is definitely a positive one. Especially when I touch plant life or see a bird. Even on I see every day, like the crowd and lately the red shouldered Hawks.
Today I was able to get a look at some 19th century paintings at Weeks Gallery in Jamestown NY. It’s located on the Jamestown Community College campus where I go to school. Most of them were landscapes by various artists.
This painting is probably by Narcisse Diaz, a painter of the Barbizon school. Many of his paintings show this liminal area on the edge of a forest. If you look closely you can see a woman about to leave the woods.
This painting is by John Crome of the Norwich School.
This is Lake George by G.H.McCord of the Hudson River School. Unfortunately someone who didn’t know how to clean paintings tried to restore the work. This made the painting duller than it should be and thinned the paint. If you see it in person you can see how vibrant it was on the edge
When discussing how I wanted tattoos eventually I mentioned I wanted one of Set. The people I was talking to were like, “whoa, are you sure about that?” After, I tried to explain myself but I just kind of stuttered. I figured it out on the way back to my suite.
It’s the story of Set and Apep. According to the story, Set was recruited to protect Ra from Apep. This is because he was the only one strong enough to slay the primordial beast. This he does with a sparrow keeping watch. Once the bird alerts Set, he takes up his harpoon and faces the snake. Each time Apep is defeated is a new day, if he wins, emptiness.
My depression is this emptiness, stagnation, pain, and sickness trying to consume me as Apep does to Ra. I’m dulled by this but there is enough fight left not to give in again. This Part of me is Set, strong and vicious in my goals. Not fully awake, sometimes in retreat, but there and getting stronger and a learn to cope and maintain my mental health.
Protest in Russia against Chechen Republic’s attack on LBGTQ people. (source: Wikipedia)
I am a member of the Pride club at Jamestown Community College, a club geared toward giving members of the LBGTQ community and allies a safe place. We are going to have a table at the international day celebration on campus, because of this we chose an international issue regarding the community. That Issue is the the budding genocide taking place in Chechnya.
Chechnya or Chechen Republic is a part of Russia and is located in Eastern Europe. It’s leader, Razan Kadrov, is under the impression that those who happen to be homosexual or anything else other than “straight” are not human and don’t exist in Chechnya. This is apparently a popular belief in the Republic and has lead to so called honor killings by the relatives of gay and bi men. It’s also led to gay and bi men, being captured and tortured, at least 100 have been murdered, that we know of. As this is happening to them, the men are housed in what can accurately be called concentration camps. That’s not to say everyone in the Chechen Republic is okay with it though.
Some of the relatives who have been called to murder their own, are actually family, that is to say, they love their relatives enough to not murder them in the name of reputation. Others, both in and out of family groups don’t care what consenting adults do with each other. Is can’t be sure what they’re doing to help their fellow Chechen and I’m not sure what the international community is doing either.
What I do know is when the news finally got out, reported by the Novaya Gazeta, it was April 1st. The interior ministry tried to play of the date and called it an April Fools joke. The Russian press secretary said there was no proof that the purge was going on while the Russian LBGT Network has set up an underground railroad of sorts. Many countries have told the republic to knock it off, so has the UN Human Rights Council, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, among others. Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands and Canada are allowing refugees to enter, I’m unsure who else.
If anyone has any verifiable information on this, please share.
