an introduction...

Creating a blog can be an interesting exercise; you begin to learn a lot about yourself. After all it is your own personal vision (right?). I thought about the form I wanted this venue to take and what I hoped to achieve from it, and I realized that a series of abbreviated daily posts on my "thoughts of the day", or an analysis of trends was probably not the kind of contribution I was willing to make to the cultural landscape that is cyber-land.

Instead I wanted to take time to craft the sort of site that integrates all my interests and provides a venue for sharing information with like-minded individuals. Thus this blog’s objective will be to explore through writing and imagery, fusions between art, design, architecture, fashion and other creative disciplines that touch on economics, societal issues, history and culture. It reflects the idea that nothing exits within a bubble, but is a product of cross-cultural encounters that produce unique products, places and individuals.

In the upcoming months the posts on this blog will take the form of written pieces which explore people, places, and movements that touch on many of the above themes. As a complement to the text there will also be illustrations composed of collages taken from familiar and exotic imagery found on the web and in print. With environmental pollution being at the forefront of so many discussions, I began to think about visual pollution and all the images that we are confronted with on a daily basis. I also wondered about the glut of imagery littered throughout cyber space and how it could be recycled into something new. We attach so much meaning to the images we see, so what happens when someone repackages them and presents them in a different manor? This "visual recycling" would be in keeping with the site’s intent to present familiar topics from a different vantage point.

The first of the series will explore the confluence of Near Eastern (read Middle East) and Western cultures through art, music, architecture, fashion, and other design disciplines. Going off the beaten path can sometimes produce the most compelling stories and turn our attention to things we may not otherwise notice or knew existed. Thus I felt this was a topic worthy of exploration, when one considers the tensions mounting in the world over religious, cultural and political beliefs.

So what happens when these cultures come together out of necessity (or by chance encounter) and what do they produce when viewed through the prism of art and design? Hopefully those questions can be answered or at least generate some sort of discussion.

This site is ultimately a work in progress that will evolve in the coming months as it starts to take shape, and hopefully contribute in some small way towards the debate on cultural literacy.

All the Best,
The Polyglot

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