Curie Author Showcase (January 17, 2019)

At first sight, the city that @travelshots shows us almost looks like a movie scenario. The author went touring on his favorite area of Bangkok, Sukhumvit, and the captured moments of the city's frenzy are mesmerizing. As we go through the photographs, we can feel the vibrant atmosphere, thanks to the long exposure effect and the masterful eye of @travelshots.

Here I present you some of the photos I liked the most, along with an excerpt of the article.

Sukhumvit is one of the city centers of Bangkok and probably the most modern part of the city. It's the third time I've been here and I finally figured out why this district fascinates me so much. The tracks of the skystrain, which rushes through the gorges of skyscrapers, the numerous skywalks, the hectic hustle and bustle of the crowds and the vibrancy of this part of town create an absolutely unique science fiction flair.

But I'm not talking about the sterile high-gloss flair, as you know it from some movies, but rather the authentic, dirty streetlife, as you know it from some scenes of the Star Wars movies or from Blade Runner. It may be difficult to understand if you haven't been here yourself, but I've tried to capture the feeling of this district in my photos as I experience it here every day. — @travelshots

My name is Stefan and I created this blog out of my love for travelling the world, taking photos on my journeys and editing them, to make them look as impressive and unique as possible. I discovered my travel genes on a trip to Portugal in 2010 and from this time on, I was infected by the travel bug. While taking just a few simple pictures with my phone at the beginning, I became more and more interested in photography through the years.

I discovered my travel genes on a trip to Portugal in 2010 and from this time on, I was infected by the travel bug. While taking just a few simple pictures with my phone at the beginning, I became more and more interested in photography through the years. In 2016 I started to travel alone, which gave me much more freedom and opportunities to focus on this passion. — @travelshots

The Dilapidated City is a series that @evildeathcore has been conducting for a while now. As he travels around Northern Russia, he has been capturing, and somehow inmortalizing, the still presence of abandoned settlements and dilapidated buildings. This time his article is about Mironositsky village, in Veliky Ustyug. According to the author, it no longer exists, and the streets have an ancient history. Following are a few excerpts of @evildeathcore’s article, along with some of his impressive photos.

The name comes from a large temple complex - the churches of the Myrrh-Bearers and the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos. Now this place is simply called the second part of the city, and the square next to the churches was renamed from Mironositskaya to Communes after 1918. (…) In ancient times, the administrative division of the city was different, and the city itself was small. Around there were villages and villages that closely adjoined the city border. Over time, closely located settlements became part of the city and were given the status of a microdistrict. — @evildeathcore

In general, the very first thought of photographing old colorful yards came to me a long time ago when I saw a photograph of this place taken by another author. Then, only one photo I could feel the atmosphere, feel the flavor of the city in which I live. Now this yard is not so beautiful - the house on the left was badly damaged by a fire in 2014.

I catch the color and atmosphere of these places, I transfer to the image and I can use it as a time machine, even if everything disappears around. I do this for the most part only for myself. This is part of my life. It is a pity that I cannot move into the distant past to take pictures, so I work for the future. Maybe someone will then use my photos as a historical document. — @evildeathcore

There are endless ways of experiencing art, in any of its forms. One of them is to go beyond the performances and get immersed in the artists' lifestyle. @sra.antropofagia brought us a visual documentary series about a small circus community: a Venezuelan group called Alas De Búho (Owl Wings). From the article, we get to perceive the everydayness of the members; we see how they are behind the scenes, on the stage, while getting ready to express themselves and entertain the audience.

Above I presented a compilation of @sra.antropofagia's photos, which are all great, but the ones I liked the most are next. I believe they truly captured the essence, both in an individual and group perspective. The facial and body gestures are of the highest eloquence in these two, in my opinion.

@sra.antropofagia is a project account run by Genesis Ochoa and her partner, Gerardo Arena, both photographers with a unique vision. They work mostly amidst artistic nudity, looking forward to displaying human bareness beyond any preset concepts.

The project is based on a series of group nudes in certain places, where we try to dehumanize the body and make it part of a whole. We want to fuse the bodies with each other and with the environment that surrounds them. (…) We want to make our photographs in different places that can enrich the aesthetics and content of our work. Places like museums and theaters. — @sra.antropofagia

@calluna is an enthusiastic writer that I find truly inspiring. She often participates in great contests as well as hosting some of her own, all while producing high-quality content born merely out of her incredible creativity. This time she comes up with three short stories using a single image as prompt, with a subtle horror and sci-fi touch I liked very much.

Only just made it in time this round, I really wanted to try and go a different direction with this image, and wrestled with ways of telling happy tales, this was the best I could manage in the 300 words. It is such a great image to work with, and very much reminded me of Carrie's War. The first one was my first idea looking at the image, that of a person being materialised into existence. The second one is not a real entry, as the idea is inspired by a novel with this same solution for over population, however this part, presenting the idea to get funding etc, isn't in the book, and I really enjoying the idea of the dramatic skull reveal so included it anyway for fun. The last one is my favourite, another brilliant round. — @calluna

Here’s my favorite of the three short stories, to catch your attention even more.

Promise

She watched, transfixed in horror, as a skull began materialise beneath his hand. The thin, soft bone knitted together, stretching round to form the open mouth of a newborn’s soft spot. From the base of the skull, individual spinal discs popped down, like a string of candy from a dispenser. Out of the suspended spine, the branching arms of ribs emerged, embracing nothingness, collar bones formed as shoulder plates spread across the back like growing moss. Fingertips crawled out of the arm sockets, drawing bones behind them. The processing was snowballing, dragging her eyes from the jarring emergence of the arms, pushing out like limbs from a jumper, she noticed the hips. Forming like a flower coming into bloom, the petals spread, disembodied toe bones dragged legs out of the holes in the pelvis, and fighting nausea, she stared with macabre fascination at the form taking shape before her. Tendons crept over emerging bones, pink spools of candy flossed tissue engulfing the rosie white skeleton. Muscular flaps reached across the cheek bones, as the hand passed over the tiny skull, willing life forth. The delicate skin of lips began to grow over slimy gums, lungs expanded, filling the rib cage, as an assortment of organs pushed their way into existence around the snaking intestines. Fleshy threads strung limbs together, and like ice across a pool, skin spread, gradually covering the exposed tissue. She watched, as half-formed, it opened its mouth, gulping air, pushing down the still visible diaphragm. Skin advanced over the stomach, bubbling into a twisted belly button as the thing, still not quite complete, began to wail. When he had promised her a baby of her own, this wasn't what she thought he meant. — @calluna

I am an aspiring writer, bunny lover and top chicken (well maybe second top...). Baker, maker, adventurer and explorer! I believe in the subjectivity and fluidity of reality, that life is what you make of it. I live for science fiction, imagination and the world just beyond the rippling pool of all we can see. I'm from Cheshire, and in the words of the famous cat, we are all mad here, so i have a good excuse. Welcome to the reflection of the world through my big crazy sunglasses.

I love fiction and stories. I spend plenty of time immersed on worlds of my own and very much enjoying trying to hone my skills enough to open windows into them and share them with other people. I'm part of the @bananafish group, which holds regular contests to help practise and improve writing and poetry, and we always love having new people join us! — @calluna

Although I've fancied a few, I don't consider myself an anime enthusiast, let alone a connoisseur. Nonetheless, I highly enjoyed @eaudebla's review of Aggretsuko, a Sanrio production. It's written in a pleasant, personal tone that can surely catch any reader's attention. Besides giving some facts about the show, @eaudebla also introduces some interesting characters. Here are some excerpts of the article.

If you told me that one day I'd be watching an anime by Sanrio and enjoying it, I'd laugh in your face. Although if I'm being honest, there were exactly two times in my life when I came into deep contact with a Hello Kitty product. The first time was when Sanrio tried to sell me a Hello Kitty themed Mazinger. The other time was when I was bored enough to try the Hello Kitty MMORPG, but I digress. In 2016, Sanrio created a new character called Retsuko. Retsuko is a 25 years old anthropomorphic female red panda. She's single, her horoscope is Scorpio, and her blood type is A. She also works in the accounting department of a Japanese firm for a living. Her hobby? Death Metal. To be precise, she channels her inner rage by singing death metal about every little thing that pisses her off, whether it's her workplace or her acquaintances and friends. — @eaudebla

_{Image used by @eaudebla}

A bit about @eaudebla, from the introduction post:

Get interested in a new anime show through @eaudebla’s words, here.

This Curie Author Showcase was written by Curie Curator @zoexantelamv (Zoe Anavid Moreno Vaamonde) at times with input from other Curie curators and reviewers. All images and quoted texts are the copyright of their respective authors.