Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg, Photography, Video, Cinemagraphs, New York City
You don’t have to think about Rodin to feel Rodin. Perhaps, even, it is what you feel first that stays with you after. How can someone sculpt the thoughts of man, the memories of love, the history of humanity with seemingly such ease?… take a walk through the Rodin Museum in Paris on a sparkling afternoon and find yourself haunted by the beauty of his immortalized humanity…
Sometimes when you travel you happen upon magical moments which is precisely where I found myself on a recent trip to Seville. Once we arrived I noticed many of the women walking around town in gorgeous traditional Spanish dress. One thing led to another and here we were, standing in the middle of Seville’s “Feria de Abril“, Seville’s April Fair.
Lasting for six days these rows of “casetas” are built on the fairgrounds in which a parade of decorated carriages and riders trot back in forth in front of. Casetas, which are elaborately decorated tents, are each individually owned by families, groups of friends, prominent businesses, or political parties where inside Spaniards enjoy live music, traditional dance, rebjuito, and tapas.
It was a magical transition stepping into a world I’d never known or experienced, so rich in tradition and culture. I was an invisible witness as I wondered through with my camera, smiling the entire way.
I could barely sleep on the overnight Lan Airlines flight down to Peru on our next leg of #OnlyInSouthAmerica adventure. Machu Picchu has been on my travel wish list since I fist learned about it in elementary school but before we could make the main trek we started out in Cusco, the historic capital of the Inca Empire before the Spaniards conquered it in the 1500s. You can see the layers and layers of history and culture – the original Inca walls resting under European style architecture. You discover a city that is more rich and mystical than what meets the eye as you learn about the centuries of battles, a lost culture, a mixture indigenous roots and Spanish influence and a strong connection to the earth. Mostly in Cusco, I enjoyed walking the little narrow streets, up and down the corridors, looking at the women in their amazing hats as they went about their day.
Most people ask me first about altitude sickness. I did not get sick, however, I would get winded on the first day walking up hill and just overall felt tired I think from lack of oxygen. By my 3rd day in Peru I was totally back to normal. It also made the effect of one pisco sour feel like you had ten… which I kind of loved. I also loved the flavor and effect of coca tea which was offered everywhere we went as a way to help ease altitude sickness… mostly for me it was like drinking ten cups of coffee.
Other things about Cusco I loved: the ceviche game here is STRONG. I have yet to have a ceviche as good since. The San Pedro market was amazing to see. An aisle for meat, an aisle for flowers, an aisle for cheese, an aisle for potatoes, it was endless and so rich with culture. Also, fruit smoothie with beer in it– game changer. Cacao tea, who knew! Wandering through all the little shops tucked away in courtyards to hunt down the perfect alpaca sweater or hand made pottery bowl was also very fun and with a very friendly exchange rate.
As a place that has such a strong unique culture there are exotic things you can try such as chicha beer (it was purple!) made from corn or the most popular dinner dish for locals- guinea pig… both things I’m glad I tried but I’ll leave those (and the frog juice to cure headaches!) to the locals.
If I ever find myself on the way to Cusco again I’ll look forward to the way the city transports you not only to a different place but what feels like a different time…
You can’t help but be overcome by the romance of the NAGA story. All over Bali we kept seeing the face of the lovesick dragon in temples, as carvings and in the landscapes of the fable. As the story goes…
There is an ancient story of a dragon known as the Naga. He lives on the volcano peaks of Bali, but at night will descend into the ocean to see his true love, the Pearl. In the morning, the Naga rises up from the water and flies back to his peak. Water drips from his scales as he goes, nourishing the rice fields of Bali. During the day he keeps watch over the island, protecting Bali and its people, before returning to the ocean each night. Because of this routine, the Naga represents eternal love, prosperity, and protection to the Balinese people.
John Hardy’s Naga Collection takes this fable and brings it to life through dragon imagery: the scales along his body, his expressive face, and sometimes, glowing eyes. You can wear a Naga piece differently to mean different things – if you orient his head so it faces toward you, it represents eternal love and prosperity. Away from you, it means protection (this has to be my favorite application of a story to something wearable!)
Since the mythic dragon lives between volcanoes, we paid a visit to Mount Batur to hike up this active volcano which most recently erupted in 1963. Through volcanic activity over the centuries, a lake has formed from a collapsed crater. The visible activity of the volcano is a network of vents releasing hot gases – at the source, hot enough to warm food (in the case of our trek it was hot bananas!) It was my first experience on the top of a volcano, feeling its hot gases wrap around me as if Naga was watching the sun set, preparing his descent into the ocean to be with the one he loves….
Bali is built on tradition and community, two aspects that permeate everything on the island from artisan’s work to religious practices and ceremonies. There is a rich heritage on the island of artisans, from jewelry making to weaving, and it is easy to see how these skills appear not only in the beautiful work made but also in the offerings presented at their temples.
Chain weaving, for example, has been going on for thousands of years in Bali. Women will work together, taking on different parts of the creation process to ultimately create a beautiful and intricate piece. This is mirrored in woven offerings, created with young coconut leaves by a number of women to make a detailed and gorgeous gift for the gods.
We had the most amazing peaceful experience on morning with our friends at John Hardy who wanted us to see the importance of tradition and community Bali is built around and how that influences the John Hardy designs, in this particular instance with Classic Chain. We rose before the sun to be dressed in traditional temple outfits and arrived at Pura Tirtha Empul, meaning The Holy Water Temple. People say it was built by Indra, a god of protection, and boasts pools of natural spring water for rituals. Water is the source of life and the Balinese use lots of holy water for blessing, drinking, and purifying – and you can even take it home with you! The temple is the biggest in Bali and people will come if something bad is happening to purify oneself or home.
Hinduism states that there are five elements of the body: water, fire, earth, wind and earth. Everything comes back to these elements in customs and rituals. In the ceremonies these elements are represented through the use of items such as incense and fire, which you see above in our offering the ladies created for us and below for the blessing ceremony.
The artisans at work in the ancient chain weaving manor:
Just like women come together to weave the leaves into baskets for ceremonies, the community does the same with John Hardy’s approach to jewelry making and the classic chain weaving process. Like I mentioned before, John Hardy has a program where single mothers can work from home in their own communities in order to both make a living at their craft and raise their children.
Below, the chains are later passed to another set of hands, continuing the creation process from one person to another, all working toward the finished product together.
Community, ancient chain-weaving and ceremonies.
Below we witnessed the community of women working together on making the traditional offerings. These same type of techniques are passed down from generation to generation , showing up in spiritual practices, craft and trade and even as art pieces like some of the textile weaves we learned about from Threads of Life.
With a car packed of Cuyana’s summer collection, Anastasia and I headed out to discover the island of Bali. The first thing that hits you when you travel to such far-off lands is the culture – so different from your own, you notice the ways in which people move in and out of their day to day lives, what they surround themselves with, learning about traditions you’ve never experienced before. Our local guide was named Wayan, the name given to all first born sons in Bali. He joked with us, saying we shouldn’t call his name out loud in public because half the people around us would answer!
Visually, what struck me first were all the beautiful temples, rising behind stone walls and lined with colorful ceremonial umbrellas used in the Hindu religion. As I was speaking with Wayan, he explained to me the beauty of the Hindu religion with their traditional ceremonies dating back hundreds of years, how karma works for the Balinese people and the importance of family whom for the most part all live together in a multi structure compound with their own family temples.
But that was just the beginning of our cultural discovery… below is the story of our model and muse taking summer’s fruit and tasting the love and life of Bali ~
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All over the island you found these beautiful and colorful umbrellas outside homes and temples – the pure shades of white and yellow symbolize dedication to the Hindu religion and the different manifestations of God.
Anastasia wears Cuyana’s cool stone silk sleeveless dress and yellow gold hammered circle necklace and ring
I’m finally back at the studio in New York after a month of whirlwind travel, literally around the globe and back a couple of times. It’s been great – incredibly beautiful at times, eye-opening at others. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and so much of what we have seen will be shared here over the next few months.
As I sit here at my desk in New York, I like to spin a small glass globe that sits by me, remember the places I have been, and dream about the ones I hope to visit one day. I look at the small Indonesian island of Bali literally halfway around the world from where I sit now and I can’t believe I was there; that you can just step on an airplane and hours later (be it A LOT of hours), here you are in a whole new world.
Traveling takes my breath away. I don’t know that I want to travel forever: it does take a toll on your body and having any sort of social life offline is nearly impossible. You miss birthdays and special events and you end up texting your friends selfies so they don’t forget what you look like…or that you exist. But for now, travel is my way of continuing my education – expanding my thoughts, seeing things you only read about in books and knowing what they feel like, taste like or sound like. Traveling has changed my opinion on religions, politics and environmental issues. It has made me look at cultures with a greater understanding that one is not better than the other, that you need way less in life then we have become accustomed to and the happiest people are the ones who base their life on love, family, and helping others. Traveling is teaching me the lessons I have yet to finish uncovering but that will shape how I tell stories in years to come.
One of my favorite brands, Cuyana with their simple and approachable everyday designs, took us to Bali to shoot their new summer campaign. It’s photoshoots like these I wish could last for days and days. Exploding the island with our model Anastasia who is also a photographer (that is her personal Leica) was a thrilling experience to share. I would stop and take a picture of her and when I was done she would stop and take a picture too. It goes without saying Bali took our breath away. Over the next few days I’ll share with you the culture, nature, and seashores of this very special place where two Western girls took travel to new places.
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One of the great arts of Indonesia is traditional weaving, which has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. Each tribe or region in this cluster of islands has their own style and patterns with specific meanings, as well as unique techniques for making their dyes.
Threads of Life is a Bali-based initiative that is centered around fair trade and conservation of this cultural history, especially in rural Indonesia. They help these communities, some of which takes two days journey to reach, sell these naturally dyed and locally made artifacts. Many designers have visited the store in Ubud for inspiration including one of my personal heroes, Donna Karan. Everything from growing the cotton to tending the plants used to make the dyes is done by these craftsmen and it takes months or even up to a year to finish one piece. We met the co-founder Jean Howe, an ex-San Francisco native who has lived in Bali for a couple decades, whose passion for preserving this craft was infectious. She took us to visit Threads of Life in Seraya where we could see in person the traditional textile weaving taking place from start to finish~
Above- picking a piece of mature cotton right off the plant and showing how the threading process begins.
Below- using traditional tools to spin and make the tread.
