My Inspiration for August 2020

Aug 31, 2020

2 min read

This August I was in a very Japanese mood because I was reading Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of a Geisha which was very beautiful and also very sad, though I certainly enjoyed learning about Japanese culture and the world of geishas. I was also in a fairy tale mood and I spent many joyous moments gazing at Felicitas Kuhn’s illustrations of fairy tales such as Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty and it was a feast for my eyes. I also read Rollo May’s book Man’s Search for Himself which was an amazing read and I really recommend it! I enjoyed Philip Wilson Steer’s vibrant beach scenes and painting of the sea by other painters as well, architecture of Kyoto and night life of Tokyo with neon lights and loneliness, Ukiyo-e prints and vibrant kimono. I’d really love to mention two great films I watched; The Vanishing (1993) which was recommended to me by a very dear person and it was both chilling and sad at once and I know it will linger in my memory, and Orphan (2009) which I’ve wanted to see for a long time. As much as I love Esther’s lovely doll-like costumes, I was speechless at just how cruel and wicked she is, hiding her true self under a charming and polite exterior. To end, I’d like to quote David Icke quoting the verses from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “The Mask of Anarchy” at his Unite for Freedom rally in London the other day:

“Rise like Lions after slumber

In unvanquishable number—

Shake your chains to earth like dew

Which in sleep had fallen on you

— Ye are many—they are few.”