The Nahmias Cipher Report

“There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout: This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me… or leave me. Accept me – or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don’t fit your idea of who I should be and don’t try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.

When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad – you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.” ~ Stacey Charter

The Shanghai 2010 World Expo runs from May 1 to October 31, 2010, in Shanghai; it is the first Expo hosted by China. With an estimated 70 million visitors, it is the largest Expo (or World’s Fair) in history. A total of 242 participants will display at various pavilions at the Expo: 192 countries and 50 international organizations.

Watch video slideshow featuring each country’s pavillions here.

“Tell your own story, and you will be interesting. Don’t get the green disease of envy. Don’t be fooled by success and money. Don’t let anything come between you and your work.” ~ Louise Bourgeois

Artist Louise Bourgeois died at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan on Monday, 31 May 2010. She suffered a heart attack Saturday night, said the studio director, Wendy Williams. Although 98, she was still working and in fact finished her latest piece just last week.

Women of all ethnic backgrounds, experiences, physiognomy and sexual preference are a wonder to behold. This video pulls you into the eternal flow of the mysteries that lie beneath the mysterious facades with sagacious eyes. Best said by Isak Dinesen, “the entire being of a woman is a secret that should be kept.”

We shall never know the secrets these women held, but we can ponder or project, as women, as children, as husbands and lovers our temporal secrets onto these women of amaranthine loveliness.

My Dirty Little Heaven is an ambitious exhibit by Kenyan-born, New York based artist Wangechi Mutu. Chosen as the 2010 Artist of the Year, Mutu’s installation is the first show in the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin Museum selected on the recommendation of the Deutsche Bank Global Art Advisory Council.

Mutu’s portfolio of work explores the objectification of women in the entertainment and advertisement industries. In a recent interview, Mutu recounted how the impetus for creating My Dirty Little Heaven resulted from as a dearth of realistic portrayals of women in the media. This was particularly evidenced by the images that adorned the covers of magazines, movies, commercials, etc. in which rarely if ever could she find herself or any other women. Within the African-American spectrum the issue was even more skewed and pervasively misogynistic. Women are portrayed as prostitutes, mannequins or props to make male entertainers appear more virile, thus diminishing them both.

Paintings by Max Ernst, German-born painter, printmaker, collagist, and sculptor and one of the major figures of the Dada and Surrealist movement.

“Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot… wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you’re just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky his is to have you…. The one who turns to his friends and says, ‘that’s her.’” ~ Anonymous

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-Chief Last Modified: 22:50 PM EDT, 27 December 2009 SAO PAULO, Brazil – Gabriel Wickbold is a young Brazilian Photographer whose images are intriguing and captivating. This post features his ‘Faces of Brasileiros’ series. Related articles Putumayo Celebrates Carnival in Rio with Brazilian Beat (wholefoodsmarket.com) Totalmente Brasileiro (cortez.wordpress.com) Carnaval Brasileiro Austin 2012 (worldculturesaustin.com) [...]

January 7, 2010 is the day that Ethiopians will celebrate Christmas. Although there is no direct correlation between a Jewish festival and this date when Ethiopian Christians among others (i.e. Russian, Serb, and Ukrainian Orthodox Christians) celebrate Christmas, I did find a unique minor holiday that reinforced the shared history, Gizret.