Author Archives: Content Catnip

Nothing passes from rest to motion – unless you move it in hidden ways

You glide between the heart and its casing as tears glide from the eyelid. You dwell in my inwardness, in the depths of my heart, as souls dwell in bodies. Nothing passes from rest to motion unless you move it in hidden ways, O new moon. ~ Mansur al-Hallaj (Persia, 9th century)

The sacred feminine: The art of Chie Yoshii

Chie Yoshii’s oil paintings explore timeless psychological themes and the inner landscape of women’s experiences. There’s a hint of luminosity to her panels that’s reminiscent of traditional Flemish paintings, although also a pagan symbolism and a dark sensuality to them as well. Born in Kochi, Japan, Chie Yoshii moved to the US to complete a BFA at MassachusettsContinue reading “The sacred feminine: The art of Chie Yoshii”

Tilda Swinton recites Rumi’s 12th Century Poem: ‘Like This’

The beautiful and transcendental love poems of Sufi mystic Rumi meets the modern day artist Tilda Swinton in this evocative reading of the poem ‘Like this’. If anyone asks you how the perfect satisfaction of all our sexual wanting will look, lift your face and say, Like this. When someone mentions the gracefulness of theContinue reading “Tilda Swinton recites Rumi’s 12th Century Poem: ‘Like This’”

A piano reverberates over collapsing glaciers

Earlier this year, renowned Italian composer Ludovico Eindaudi performed his ‘Elegy for the Arctic’ on a small floating platform in Wahlenbergbreen glacier in Svalbard, Norway. Around him glaciers crumbled and collapsed into the pearlescent water and the pristine quiet was pierced with the deafening sound of a fragile environment on the verge of implosion. HisContinue reading “A piano reverberates over collapsing glaciers”

Classic Russian Animation: Hedgehog in the Fog

Hedgehog in the Fog is the Russian equivalent of Winnie the Pooh, Paddington or Beatrix Potter stories. This delightful cartoon was made in 1975 by Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn and introduced the world to a hedgehog that becomes bewitched by different shapes obscured by thick fog. Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn is one of the most respected animators inContinue reading “Classic Russian Animation: Hedgehog in the Fog”

Every Picture Tells A Story: Louise Armstrong plays to his wife under the shadow of the Great Sphinx

At the height of the Cold War era, the United States send ambassadors for the American way of life by sending its best ambassadors abroad in the form of creative emissaries — jazz musicians. After all, music has a way of bringing people together and forgetting their differences. As part of this cultural diplomacy, the greatContinue reading “Every Picture Tells A Story: Louise Armstrong plays to his wife under the shadow of the Great Sphinx”

Book Review: Today, Tomorrow and Everyday by M.H. Clark

You know how you sometimes have those days, or even weeks or months when you feel un-moored to the shoreline and adrift in a lost world, floating aimlessly, feeling sad or morose? This is the kind of book every woman needs to feel found again. It’s that miraculous book that brings you right back toContinue reading “Book Review: Today, Tomorrow and Everyday by M.H. Clark”

Every Picture Tells A Story: Travelling Salesman’s case with neon tubes, 1935

Not much is known of this travelling neon salesman’s case, other than it’s beautiful and would have no doubt attracted scores of customers. It belonged to a company salesman for Dorwalt Signs in Pennsylvania and dates from 1935. As you probably already know, I am obssessed with neon, having written about Neon Art and Loneliness in theContinue reading “Every Picture Tells A Story: Travelling Salesman’s case with neon tubes, 1935”