I first saw his work for Lo Recordings, in collaboration with Non-Format. He made these miniature cardboard models for the release of Jean-Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert's album Moog Acid. If you're familiar with moog synthesisers then you'll probably enjoy this link here. You can visit Dan's site here.

Here's a great polaroid blog by L.A. photographer Jen Gotch.

and here's our t-shirt of the week

the camera loves you

Prior to this ground breaking image the only photographs of mastectomies were tucked away in medical textbooks with the womens head discreetly cut off for the sake of propriety. "The Warrior" changed all that. Deena Metzger, arms wide and face beaming, realized the image of a spirit unconquered. A sensual photo with a feminine beauty very much intact. "The Warrior" is resolute and celebratory. A poster of the image became something of a cult object during the 1980's, ubiquitous in feminist bookstores and tattoo parlours alike, and in this way the censored scar was finally revealed. 

When the novelist and poet Deena Metzger was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977 she underwent a mastectomy within two weeks and her life was changed forever. After her recovery she became aware that the sight of a one breasted woman aroused as much curiosity even as it disturbed women. Metzger having written a book Tree on her experience with cancer wanted to create an image that would accompany the book. After a lengthy search she found the photographer Hella Hammid, who's photo is below this text. Their collaboration produced "The Warrior."

In a twisted irony , Hella Hammid died of cancer in 1992. The two women had become deep friends and Metzger was able to accompany Hammid on her journey with the disease before her death. According to Deena, when she developed cancer it was expected that one in five women would develop breast cancer during their lifetimes, and these statistics have not changed since. In Tree, she speaks of the ways in which we use use nuclear war (radiation), biological and chemical warfare (chemo and other therapies) and the sword (surgery) in order to treat disease. She believes that the same genius that that contributed to to the development of moderm medicine can discover treatments that do not agres against the body or the land, but which are healing for the individual and the community.

Deena's unbridled bravery would influence a coterie of women artists and photographers who had undergone mastectomies. A series of passionate self portraits emerged. A self portrait by the artist Matushka appeared on the cover of the New York Times Magazine in 1993 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Today Deena Metzger is a well known writer, teacher, story teller and healer. She is the author of many books, fiction and non fiction, and almost all of her work is concerned with creativity, community, healing and peacemaking. Her website is here.

This text above was written by Rick Cusick in Feb 2004. 

What's great about Deena can be tapped into on her website, there are some great features on line about all sorts of subjects that are very interesting and thought provoking. They are more than worthy of a read. Here's few lines she wrote. 

     There are those who are trying to set fire to the world
     We are in danger 
     There is time only to work slowly 
     There is no time not to love.

Don't forget, this week’s T-shirt of the Week – ‘Polaroid’.

We did it because they announced that after next year, there won’t be any more Polaroid film.

A sad loss indeed.

In these digital days of instant gratification, it seems like we don’t have the patience to wait a whole minute for our pictures to develop.

But no amount of photoshop wizardry will ever match up to the beauty held within that thick white border. So buy up whatever film you can find and store it in your fridge, help keep Polaroid alive.

Click click. 

Available on Dirt tees for men and White tees for women

I just stumbled across the Magnum photos blog, its really great don't know why I haven't looked at it before now! check it out here...

If you love our polaroid t-shirt of the week then you'll love this sweet app called poladroid.  Give it an image and it makes it into a polaroid. You even have to wait (and watch) for two minutes as it delevops on your computer screen. 

Download it here.

(picture credits: Shot my me, on a smena 7 with fuji sensia x-pro'd, model: my Dad)

This week’s T-shirt of the Week is ‘Polaroid’.

Unfortunately, they announced that after next year, there won’t be any more Polaroid film.

A sad loss indeed.

In these digital days of instant gratification, it seems like we don't have the patience to wait a whole minute for our pictures to develop.

But no amount of photoshop wizardry will ever match up to the beauty held within that thick white border. So buy up whatever film you can find and store it in your fridge, help keep Polaroid alive.

Click click. 

Available on Dirt tees for men and White tees for women

A Documentary is just about to be released about the life of Patti Smith called 'Dream of Life'.

I can remember seeing Patti Smith as a teenager in the 70's and not really being particularly comfortable with how she made me feel as i had been used to either dancing to songs in a Shangri -Las/Ronettes sort of way or going mental in a Cramps/Ramones/T-rex sort of way, she made me stop for a minute, take stock of my body, connect with my mind and see what happened. I danced but it was very different from the usual, and i guess that's where she still sits for me, a true rock and roll lady with a message.

Last year amongst other things she collaborated with Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine to make an album called the Coral Sea. 

Earlier in 2008  the documentary  premiered in Edinburgh at the Film Festival. It took 11 years to make and was produced by Steven Sebring with full co-operation with Patti. It's out on general release in March 2009 and is already available on pre order through the usual channels. It is also accompanied by a beautiful book and i can wholly recommend it. 

I've also taken the liberty of adding and MC5 track on here as she was married to Fred 'Sonic' Smith who passed away a time ago now but should be none the less remembered here, He's the one with the wobbly knees in the last clip. 

Here's the trailer first off, followed by a rare treat of a clip , followed by a performance by Detroits Motor City 5, Horses to finish

Horses

Here's the website.

Here's a great article in the times written by Stephen Dalton.

the staircase gallery

somewhere to sit and read and look at the art.

this months sees the photos of david gillanders.

Biography

David's obsession with photography developed in his early teens whilst training as a boxer in Glasgow. He became hypnotized by the black and white posters and photographs on the walls of the boxing clubs where he trained and sparred. At the age of 16, when he got fed up of being punched in the head but still loved the atmosphere and characters involved in the boxing world, he returned to the clubs with a camera and started to document what he saw.

In the late 1990's, David won a couple of local photographic competitions with his black and white documentary street scenes of Glasgow life. On the back of this success he began to secure regular commissions from several of Scotland’s leading broadsheet newspapers and magazines. Through regular photographic commissions, David further developed as a photographer and was able to quit his full time employment in 1999 and realise his dream in becoming a photojournalist. He currently undertakes social and humanitarian projects around the world, covering topical issues, which he feels passionately about.

www.davidgillanders.com