Sunday Flowers and Other Bliss

The reflection of my neighbour's flowers upon the glass of my balcony door last Sunday morning. This image caught my eye as I was sitting in my antique armchair, writing in my moleskine, getting kissed by the sun and licked by a delicious wind. This was a moment of bliss for me.

A couple days ago I discovered that one of my photos and caption appeared in The New Yorker Online and this was a heady surprise. Forever more I can say my work has appeared in The New Yorker under the caption, "Great images of books from around the world and the Web." (!!) I am beyond thrilled and this delightful bit of randomness and luck has reminded me that life is full of amazing richness. Things invisible to our eyes are perpetually swirling around us. We navigate but we don't actually control a lot of life. What's important is that we keep on doing what we love to do, and if we keep on following our bliss, as Joseph Campbell said, doors will open where we would not have thought there would be doors. This week The New Yorker's door opened to me and it was breathtaking.

Happy Friday everyone! Stay inspired and keep on keeping on!

Photography by Shehani Kay

Viaducto de Segovia and her dark souls

Viaducto de Segovia crosses Calle de Segovia and is a part of Calle Bailen.

The original wood and iron viaduct was constructed in 1874 in order to create a major thoroughfare that linked the Royal Palace and the Basilica San Francisco el Grande. It was rebuilt in concrete in 1934 by Ferrero, Aracil and Aldaz. In 1942, after the Spanish Civil War, the viaduct was once again rebuilt due to its terrible state of deterioration.

According to Madrid occult stories, suicides began showing up in the newspapers shortly after the construction of this viaduct. Authorities tried to prevent this rash of suicides by putting up a mesh so that people couldn't jump, but unfortunately, despite their best efforts, people still found ways to do themselves in. There are legends of ghosts wandering around and some say these tragic souls can still be heard wailing and crying.

To this day, suicides and accidents continue to haunt this bridge. Some deaths are due to recklessness, others because of drunkenness, and yet others jump willing, unable to assuage the great darkness that consumes their soul.

All photography by Shehani Kay

This one is for the birds

A charred and weather beaten apartment building facade near San Bernardo Metro seems to be a favoured spot for the numerous local birds that line the balcony railings.

Photography by Shehani Kay

No Doll Left Behind

Photography by Shehani Kay

Revisiting Rodas

A recent revisit to the facade of the okupada (squat) on the corner of Calle Embajadores and Calle Rodas, which is often the canvas for stunning street art, was a reminder that art of the street is a perpetually evolving, mutating and organically curated work, in constant progress. Gone is the cat from "What's New Pussy Cat?" and so is the camera boy from "Say, PATATAS!" and the beauty from "Stalking Beauty" and all the smiles from "SMILE" In its place is a collaboration of a number of well-known local artists: Steven, e1000ink, chylo, Borondo, and whoever else is bold enough to join in this visual riff.

I love this new mural collaboration. It seems ripe for one of my mashup comic narratives, which I will perhaps create one day soon. For now though, I wanted to share this visual eye candy in its original form.

Like the buds and leaves that are bursting from the branches of once barren trees around the barrio, the weather beaten walls around Lavapies are also bursting with new life, colours and shapes. Be on the watch, there is beauty everywhere.

All photography by Shehani Kay

Torre Picasso, views from the tower

Torre Picasso soars an impressive 515 ft (157m) into the Madrid sky. Once the tallest skyscraper in the Madrid skyline, it now (as of 2007) plays 5th fiddle to the 800 ft+ four towers in the Cuatro Torres Business Area (CTBA).

Taking photos from this tower is actually prohibited but since it thrills the little outlaw in me, I took photos anyway.

Views from the 21st:

The sierra

2 of the CTBA towers and the slanted Caja Madrid twin towers.

Views from the 33rd:

Santiago Bernabéu, where Real Madrid kicks balls.

Paseo de la Castellana and BBVA with Torre España off in far in the distant background.

Wide view of the Madrid skyline with the pointy Torrespaña, also popularly known as “piruli” which means a lollipop in Spanish.

I hope you enjoyed the view. Have a great a weekend everyone!

All photography by Shehani Kay

Achy neck and back?

Well, if you live in Madrid then you're in luck. I've had a lot of work instability lately, which has resulted in weird stressed out sleeping positions. This, coupled with the heavy bag of tricks I shlep around with me from company to company to teach English, has left me with extremely sore neck and shoulders. Fortunately for me, I have a friend with big strong hands who happens to be a trained masseuse. Jose kneads out tension in a beautifully decorated massage room equipped with a full length massage table, incense, oils and soothing music. Doubly fortunate for me is his current special offer. Half off! YAY!

So if you're in Madrid and in need of a relaxing massage to relieve what ails you physically at a budget price then look no further, Jose is your man. Call 655 48 08 41 or send an email to set up an appointment. He is located close to the Metro station "Colonia Jardín".

Aproveche!

Photo Essay: Semana Santa Procession~pointy hoods and holy dolls

Notice the bare feet in the photo above.

Semana Santa processions in Madrid aren't as famous as the ones down south but they still put on a good show on the years when the weather cooperates with the devotees. It rained the last couple years so this year, since the sun was shinning, I decided to aproveche and take some photos of those pointy hoods that are so eerie and symbolic.

I got there early and managed to score a good spot. A really sweet Spanish dude let me take his place in the front of him because I'm a shorty. Bless the Spanish heart! As the Jesus float was making its way past us, a thick-set, loud mouth bruja with a heavily painted face stopped jabbering into her cell phone just as the float was passing us and then she freaked out because she couldn't get an unobstructed view. She started yelling at me for getting in her way. Damn the Spanish religious fanaticism! The nice dude and I exchanged looks and rolled our eyes. Qué fuerte! No matter, I happily managed to fire off the photos below as the Bruja was blabbering on her mobile.

The second part of the procession, with a different brotherhood of Nazarenos leading the Maria float.

The crowd yelled out Guapa guapa as the figurine of María Santísima de la Esperanza Macarena approached us.

Notice the feet under the float.

Some snapshots of the crowd while we waited for the procession to begin.

All photography by Shehani Kay, taken during the Semana Santa procession in Madrid 2010 on calle del Duque de Rivas.

ORGANIZACIÓN: Real, Ilustre y Fervorosa Hermandad y Cofradía de Nazarenos de Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder y María Santísima de la Esperanza Macarena.

I Spy: van art and murals behind fences

Wandering around my barrio, Lavapies, I often see art in unexpected places. I saw this van by Chylo on the way home from work. I think he's the same guy who painted the mural on Olivar 48, which I made into a comic mashup you can see here. The style is very similiar.

Speaking of the wall on Olivar 48, well, it's no longer there - a reminder of the ephemeral nature of street art. In its place is corrugated metal fencing. I peeped through a small hole in the fence and discovered this mural:

The dome in the photo is a part of an initiative linked to the eviction of the last Laboratory (Labo04 in Ministriles). The wall was torn down because there will be a nursery school built in this space. The Solar Dome was recently relocated to Doctor Fourquet (behind the wall of murals from which I created a comic mashup you can see here) with a procession and a party. You can read about it here.

While I was taking photos through the tiny holes in the fence, an older Spanish man watched me with curiosity as he was walking along the street towards me. I inspired him to peep through one of the holes but because he was quick about it, he didn't see what I saw and so shrugged his shoulders and kept on walking. Sometimes seeing takes a little patience.

Stumbling upon art and beauty is one of my joys in life so I'm always on the look out, I'm always on the watch.

When was the last time you wandered your neighbourhood in search of art and beauty?