Monday, May 29, 2006

Maggie og Vuggedøden

Hvis man i Googles billedsøgemaskine søger efter Maggie's Shoes, finder man ikke, måske som forventet, et par sko. De to første billeder er af en lille pige, hvoraf et af dem kunne være et pragteksemplar på den lille, kaukasiske babyengel.

Den lille engel hedder Maggie. Det er i denne forbindelse en forkortelse af Magnolia, der kun e starten på hele hendes navn - Magnolia Maize Handley. Hun led vuggedøden kort tid før hendes 2. fødselsdag i 2004.

Hun blev født d. 18 oktober 2002. Hun var en meget livlig og vellidt lille pige. Hvis folk kom imod hende med en negativ mine, ville hun flashe et bredt smil, og folk blev nødt til at smile igen.

Hun elskede at tegne. Hvis hun ikke havde plads på papiret, fandt hun plads på sin hud. Havde hun derefter ikke plads på huden, blev væggen taget i brug.

Hendes sidste dag var perfekt. Det var hendes storesøster Emmalies fødselsdag, som hun var med til at fejre. Hun vågnede op og spurgte efter sin veninde, som hun skulle lege med den dag. Hun legede med både sin ene og sin anden veninde, indtil hun skulle hjælpe sin storesøster med et spejdermøde. Det havde hun det rigtig hyggeligt med, og senere var hele familien samlet for at fejre Emmalie. Maggie lærte at sige "Tillykke med fødselsdagen," hvorefter hun gik rundt og ønskede alle tillykke med fødselsdagen resten af aftenen.

Den næste morgen vågnede hun ikke. Det var den 24. september 2004. Dødsårsagen er fastslået til "SUDC - ukendt årsag."

Jeg blev bevidst om Maggies eksistens igennem hendes mor, som jeg lærte at kende lidt tilfældigt. Vi er begge fans af Hugh Jackman, som vi for første gang så som Wolverine i X-Men. Nogen tid efter at have set filmen sad jeg på nettet og besluttede mig for at checke op på, hvad Hugh Jackman var for en fisk, og jeg fandt frem til hjemmesiden HJEB med tilhørende Yahoo! Gruppe. Hjemmesiden er ikke blevet opdateret meget siden, men der er stadig godt gang i gruppen.

Maggies mor, Renee, holdt os opdaterede under graviditeten og efter fødslen. Vi blev alle glade for bette Maggie, og ramt, da vi hørte om hendes død. Selvom vi (de aktive medlemmer) er spredt over USA, Skotland, og for mit vedkommende Danmark, kunne støtten ikke være større.

Hvad er SUDC?
SUDC står for Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood, der betyder Pludselig Uforklaret Død i Barndommen. SUDC betyder også, at barnet, der er tale om, er over 12 måneder gammelt, og døden ikke kan forklares efter gennemført efterforskning (undersøgelse af dødsstedet, liget, og check af barnets og familiens sundhedssituation). Når der ingen dødsårsag kan findes igennem grundig undersøgelse af disse ting, bliver SUDC sat som dødsårsag.

Hvis barnet er under 12 måneder, hedder det SIDS - Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Pludselig SpædbarnsDød Syndrom, der intræffer efter første levemåned - men før den 12. levemåned er overstået.

SIDS og SUDC er udelukkelsesdiagnoser, og kan hverken blive forudset eller kommes i forkøbet.

En enkel måde at sige det på, er vuggedøden.

Projekt: Magnolia
Jeg ville lave noget med hende - jeg ville forbinde noget englelignende med hende. Det er blevet til magnoliablomster og noder på eksempelvist Englevalsen. Da jeg senere har fundet ud af, at tegningens kunst var en af hendes store lidenskaber, er dette jo helt perfekt.

Maggie's Shoes er en organisation, der insamler penge til arbejdet omkring vuggedøden. De penge, der bliver indsamlet, går videre til SUDC Program og Solace House, der begge beskæftiger sig med at oplyse omverdenen om vuggedøden (specifikt SUDC) og at støtte familier, der bliver ramt af vuggedøden.

Kilder
http://www.maggiesshoes.org/
http://www.sudc.org/

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006

A picture/drawing/painting of a clown.

Susi was eager to get me in the Clown Army at Christiania yesterday, and that had me thinking.

Inspiration
One of the former Culture Pilots, Mikkel, is in the Clown Army. He is one of the happiest fellas I have seen in my life, and seems to be willing to go far to save Christiania. He also has this nose that makes these squeaky noises.

Why?
Mikkel makes an absolutely fantastic clown, and it makes me want to make a portrait of him.

What?
So, what I would do is to take a few pictures of him in his costume on Christiania, and take it from there. I'm still not sure what to start with - but I probably end up drawing him.

And how does this connect to the circus theme?
What's the traditional circus without the clown?

And the mobility?
I'm just guessing that it has to hang on a wall, and there are walls both places of exhibition. The picture/drawing/painting is mobile in itself.

Info:
http://www.klovne.net/

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Big city travel in the back yard

Another thing I thought about doing was planning a week or two of big city tourist experience in Copenhagen for the students at AFUK.

Inspiration
As far as I'm concerned, the students around here don't really have that much money for travelling in the summer break, so it would be fantastic to arrange some "back yard travelling" - the school is only five-10 minutes by bus away from the very centre of Copenhagen. I love all of the aspects of travelling myself, and usually don't experience Copenhagen as a tourist, although it's a bundle of fun.

Why?
Pretty much all of the above. Since there aren't too much money to pay for the fare and lodging, and pehaps not the experiences, either, it might be something to do.

What?
To start out with, it seems a bit difficult to collect everybody to do everything at once, so my plan is to make a booklet, and maybe even to have it all printed in the yearbook. I think I'll take pictures for it myself. I made a movie about Copenhagen with another girl last year, and one of the tools we had was asking people about two things we absolutely HAD to experience in Copenhagen. I still have the notes at home. Another thing I was thinking to ask about is what country people would like to go to, and see if it's possible to find a shop, a restaurant, a happening, that could fit that country.

And how does this connect to the circus theme?
It doesn't, really. I just thought it would be a really nice thing to do. And the booklet could be for sale at the Festivitas. It would be automatically if it is in the yearbook. The only circus troups I know the tourplan of are in the area in April, September, and the Roskilde Festival. (but I'll check up on it.)

And the mobility?
Both the yearbook and the booklet can be carried in a bag all over town (or the World, actually, but wouldn't it be more convenient to leave it at home if you're not able to use it?)

Info:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/europe/denmark
http://www.useit.dk/
http://www.aok.dk/
http://www.timeout.com/travel/copenhagen
http://www.visitcopenhagen.dk/

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Tattoo History

So, one of the ideas for my final project an AFUK is to make a deal out of tattoos.

Inspiration
I remember last year's group of first-year artists. One of them, a big Finnish guy, Mika, had the most gorgeous tattoos on his body. One example is the circles he had down along each of the sides of his spine, going slightly smaller the lower they were placed. Another example is the flowers (I remember being two), one on each shoulder. They weren't in what you would usually classify as bright, flashy colors - more like pastel colors. And he had more.

Why?
What really bothers me is that I didn't really get that many pictures in color of him. When I got near him with a camera in my hand, the filmroll would usually be black and white, and people who have seen him know that he deserves a color filmroll. I really wanted to have a photosession with him and his tattoos - and a color filmroll in my camera. And I have been inspired and thinking about this project ever since.

What?
My idea is to get people with tattoos to tell about their tattoos. Why did they get the tattoo? Does the tattoo have a special meaning, personally as in history? Are there any stories connected to that specific tattoo? Etc. Plus checking a bit up on tattoo history from around the world, just to have that aspect of it, too.
I also thought of doing something similar with scars.

And how does this connect to the circus theme?
Being a circus artist, your body means everything. Tattoos is "just" one kind of body art, which is yet another "just" one aspect of having a body.
One of my schoolmates, Pål, suggested that I did the project with older circus artists. And I've taken it up to consideration.

And the mobility?
I have been thinking about making a shower "booth" on wheels, with one of those shower curtains with pockets for pictures. I would slip down the pictures to be viewed from the outside, and when you enter the booth, you can read the different stories attached to the respective pictures.
As for the shower, I've been considering filling a big watering can with cold water and hanging it in the top of the booth. Then, using a chain or likely, people can pull down its "nose" and chill themselves down.

More info:
http://tattoos.com/jane/steve/toc.htm

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AFUK Festivitas project 2006

This is my second time of making a project for AFUK Festivitas. This time, though, I'm in the Project Studio instead of the Culture Pilots.

This year we'll have two weekends in a row instead of the usual one weekend, so we have to work under two categories:
1. Circus, which is this year's theme
2. Mobility. We have to be able to move it, since the two weekends aren't in the same place.

What I have to work with are various media/graphics:
1. Sketching.
2. Drawing.
3. Photography.
4. Video.
5. Whatever can be manipulated in a computer.

Besides that, we have had the task of making a poster for the whole event.
Plus, we're making a yearbook. I have something made for that one already, so I'm not stressing out on that account just yet.

But final projects. *SCREAM!!*

More info:
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com
http://www.cirkor.se
http://www.arcaos.fr

http://www.afuk.dk

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