Tag: Art 2024

I recently returned to Venus by the Water, the Homestead region created by Elizabeth (ElizabethNantes) and Cecilia Nansen, a place I first visited in April (see: A Venus by the Water in Second Life). My reason for this visit was to see the latest exhibition at Gallery Bjork, featuring the work of Angelika Corral.

Angelika is for some perhaps best known for her time operating the DaphneArts centre alongside of Sheldon Bergman (SheldonBR). For the length of its run in Second Life,  DaphneArts was one of the foremost galleries in presenting persistently engaging exhibitions and installations, a gallery I always enjoyed visiting. However, Angelika is a photographer-artist with a gifted eyed and the ability to tell a story – even a life – of emotion and spirit within the single frame of an image.

Within I Am A Woman, she presents a dozen images (I’ll come to the final two in the collection further into this article) focused on the female form. Presented in black and white – the medium Angelika prefers to utilise for her photography, these are images intend to speak to the beauty of the female form, yes; but not necessarily the beauty that is seen from without – although that is very evident through all of the pieces through look, pose, poise, framing, focus, etc. Rather, the beauty being celebrated here is that with lays within: the beauty of strength and grace women demonstrate in a world which has too long been biased more towards the male gender.

Across the globe many women and girls still face discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. Gender inequality underpins many problems which affect women and girls, such as lower pay at work, lack of access to education, domestic and sexual violence. Women are roughly four times as likely as men to say they have been treated as if they were not competent because of their gender.

– Angelika Corral, I Am A Woman

However, to assume from the above that this is some form of “political” treatise on the “unfairness” of life when it comes to gender – it is not (although were it to be so would not lessen its message in any way given what is going on right now in many parts of the world – including the the United States, albeit not solely aimed at those of us of the female gender). Instead, within I am Woman Angelika offers up reminders of who we area as women; creates really not that different to the male of the species: creates of love, hope, strength, vulnerability; people who can love, thinking, create, manage, and excel.

Women artists have used photography as a tool of resistance. Self-portraiture has always been a tool of empowerment for women. The exhibition is dedicated to the “divine feminine” and intends to celebrate women’s power and grace.

– Angelika Corral, I Am A Woman

Each of the twelve primary images carries with it a reminder of the beauty, grace and strength to be found in a woman. Sometimes identifying all three is easy, in others, it is more nuanced. In this latter regard, I found The Flower particularly powerful, with its subtle references to natural beauty (the flower held in one hand, the naked back), and the clear references to fertility, and the core role of women as the mothers of all humankind and the truth that, without us, there would be no humankind.

Which brings me to the final two images within this collection, which sit within the gallery’s smallest room. Presented as a pair one male (the only such male image within the collection) and one female. They are entitled Gemini Male and Gemini Female, and serve to underscore the the fact that, when all is said and done, not only are men and women really not that dissimilar, the vast majority of the so-called differences we encounter in life: inequality, discrimination, perceptions of value / worth / competency, are as much artificial constructs as the garments in which we clothe ourselves. In this these final two images also underscore the question Angelika poses throughout this exhibition, once again asking visitors (of any gender) to contemplate it further:

Don’t we all want to find new ways to live in a fair and just society, in a world of equity and equality?

– Angelika Corral, I Am A Woman

Powerful and evocative, an exhibition of beautiful artistry and powerful reflections. When visiting, do be sure, as well, to read Angelika’s dedication to her daughter – ad the all daughters of the world.

SLurl Details

• Gallery Bjork (Golden Island, rated Adult)

My summer 2024 to the Best of Second Life (BOSL) galleries, operated by Regin Congrejo and Jamee Sandalwood allowed me to take in two exhibitions of late – one of which will be closing in mid-August, and the other will run through until the end of August.

The first is another ensemble exhibition held within BOSL’s main gallery and entitled Hello Summer! It features pieces on the theme of summer from Dante Helios (Dantelios), Sheba Blitz, Sabie Mortenwold (Sabine Mortenwold), Evie Ravens (Evelyn Irelund) Broin Ravens (Brian Ravenhurst), and co-host / curator Jamee Sandalwood. With the exception of Sabie Mortenwold, all of the artists present images captured from within Second Life celebrating the passage of the summer months, the majority featuring landscapes, beach scenes, flowers and wildlife.

In addition, all of the artists excepting Sabie, also participated in the Hello Winter! at the gallery, which I covered in December 2023. For her part, Sabi offers a selection of her mixed-media collages uploaded to SL, all of them very much focused on the blossoming flowers of summertime and offering a nice set of contrast to the in-world images from the other artists.

Together, all of the pieces presented by the artists offer a very easy-going exhibition, the décor within the gallery adding to the summer time feel of the pictures, all of which offer a unique appeal and sense of the season.

Down at the Waterfront Café, reached via a walk through the gardens in which the galleries are set, is a small exhibition of work by the ever-excellent Harlo Jamison. Running through until the end of August, this is a collection of just seven images which might also be side to be gathered under the title of “summer”.

Harlo is a multi-faceted; when last I covered her work it was in regards to an avatar-centric, adult-themed exhibition she had put together jointly with Alex Riverstone (see: A Sugarfish Gallery in Second Life). Here she presents what might be consider two sets of landscape pieces which combine as a masterclass of Second Life photography and artistic imagery.

To the left of the gallery space as you enter it, lay four colour pieces, beautifully cropped, framed and present, offering views of Second Life redolent in the colours of summer. From a beautiful shot across an entire region to the single figure of a windmill standing tall before the admiring gaze of visitors, these four pieces are a lesson in the skilled use of the viewer’s camera and of the gentle use of post-processing techniques.

To the right are three pieces sharing the title A Golden Summer. (a forth frame is provided, but at the time of my visit, did not display an image). Once again, they capture scenes richly and evocatively, but the use of post-processing to lend them a sepia tint and sense of deliberate over-exposure results in a trio of pieces that is simply breath-taking.

In all, a thoroughly engaging collection of pieces, and one which nicely balances the ensemble exhibition in the main gallery.

SLurl Details

BOSL Innovation Pavilion is rated Moderate

• BOSL Main Gallery
• Waterfront Café

It was back to Kondor Art Centre for me once more, this time for a visit to the Art Garden to witness a new exhibition of Second Life centric art by Stevie Basevi.

Stevie is probably best known as the owner of the Sanctuary RP Community, which operates across three regions offering a mix of themed role play and combat. Outside of this, she has worked extensively with the American Cancer Society (14 years) and One Billion Rising, and is a member of The Seanchai Library’s Special Projects Creative team.

By her own admission, Stevie has only relatively recently become immersed in Second Life photography. However, she has quickly and deservedly gained recognition for her approach and style, and has been featured in numerous exhibitions, and her range covers both avatar studies – she has worked as a fashion photographer of BOSL – and SL landscapes.

She is also, like myself, a Second Life traveller, capturing memories of the places she visits as photographs; and with Capturing Serenity, An Exploration of SL, she provides a pleasurable taste of both her travels and her work in this latter regard.

I wander the grid in search of scenes that connect my emotions and feelings from my eyes to my heart. The things that I photograph, I don’t photograph them because I wanted an image of a particular thing. I went to the regions, looked around and waited for something to connect with me, to call out for me to come, visually commune, and make my heart sing.

– Stevie Basevi

The exhibition in the Kondor Art Garden presents twelve pieces by Stevie, all perfectly suited for viewing under a night-time sky setting (as seen here). They reveal a handful of some of Second Life’s most popular public destinations, including Elvion (4 images and a frequent feature in these pages), Sainte Rose sur Mer (4 images, and also featured in these pages), the Karasu Estate (2 images), Blossomvale and Summerville (1 image apiece).

All twelve images are superbly captured, framed and cropped, Stevie using a minimum of post-processing (something I try to do with my images, but not with the same skill as Stevie demonstrates). They are also all finished in colours than emphasise the title of the exhibition, presenting each of the locations at a place evocative of serenity and peace; rich in a sense of nature and the ability for humanity to live in harmony with the natural world.

Capturing Serenity, An Exploration of SL officially opens at 12:00 noon on Thursday, July 18th, the opening featuring music by DJ Joss Floss (jossinta). However, the exhibition has already had a soft opening ahead of time, and is available for viewing as of the time of writing this piece.

SL Details

• Kondor Art Garden (Royal Tea, rated Adult)

Haiku (Haiku Quan) is perhaps bet known in two capacities. The first is as the founder of the Free Museum, which she present visitors to obtain art  – with the permission of the artists themselves – from across Second life for free, as I wrote about shortly after it opened in January 2022 (see: The Free Museum of art in Second Life). The second is as the host and organiser of a range of musical events and concerts, notably for art events at Akiko Kinoshi (a.kiko) Art hub of Akipelago, where she books and hosts between two and three concerts a week.

However, Haiku is also a photographer in her own right, and is currently exhibiting some of her work at the Hermit Gallery at Saint Elizabeth’s University. Spread across the three levels of the warehouse-like gallery, The Dignity of Things offers a curious yet nonetheless charming look at what might be called “the extraordinary everyday”; the focus being on the kind of everyday items we might find in the physical world and which have been reproduced in Second Life.

From coffee percolators to toys, ornaments hairbrushes and even eggs, The Dignity of Things presents a series of images of the items we so often take for granted for one of several reasons: because of their utilitarian nature; or because they are designed to highlight the beauty of their contents – as with flower vases; or simply because even if they do contain a natural beauty or attractiveness of their own, our daily familiarity with them causes us to overlook them more than “see” them. Yet, again as Haiku notes, they all nevertheless has a dignity of form entirely of its own.

Each item is featured on its own, with little in the way of any background that might otherwise draw our attention from the subject of the picture. This gives each image a minimalist look and feel which – to a degree – put me in mind of Melusina Parkin’s minimalist photography. Now to be clear, this is not to say Haiku is in any way directly mimic Melusina’s unique approach; where Melusina’s images tend towards being off-set in focus relative to their subject, and utilise unique angles, Haiku uses a more direct, face-on approach, focused solely on each item- a clear differentiator between her work and Melu’s. Nevertheless, like Melu’s work, the overall minimalism of Haiku’s pieces allows us to focus fully on each subject and – to use Haiku’s words – its inherent dignity, whilst (again also like Melu’s photography) each picture suggests a wider narrative that exists beyond the bounds of the picture frame.

A further attractive aspect of these pictures is the fact they appear to be minimally post-processed; there is a natural rawness to each one, giving it realism that others often seek to produce through complex post-process editing. This, coupled with the elements noted above, makes these pieces so engaging.

However, there is another aspect to these pictures that I found attractive: their framing is such that not only are we made to focus on each of their subjects, we are also encouraged to consider the creativity and skill that brought them into Second Life. This in turn overlaps with the larger narrative alluded to: the fact that all of the subjects in this collect of images reflect items we can find around us in the physical world, all of which also have a dignity of beauty and creativity – either the result of Nature or due to a combination of practical form meeting purpose and / or man-made processes and creativity behind them.

All of the pieces in this collection are offered for free, in keeping with Haiku’s approach to offering art at no cost, making them attractive to those looking for very individual pieces of art for their SL homes.

SLurl Details

• Hermit Gallery, Saint Elizabeth’s University (Dark Dreamer, rated Adult)