Alice Smeets | Blog » 2009

Golden Flowers

December 14th, 2009 at 14:35 (general)

The sharp peak of scissors is drilling in and out of an empty Red Bull can. Slowly it starts to form a precise circle, which is then rolled up between old looking fingers. Cutting, winding, rolling, gluing and testing - until the metal is transformed into a flower. “Golden” works every day very hard in his little house in the middle of the biggest township of Cape Town, Khayelitsha. He creates daisies, roses, sunflowers, and margaritas – in blue, red, white, yellow, green and pink.

After dreaming three times of an angel whispering to him in a low voice he should go to the garbage dump and find flowers, Golden got the idea of creating flowers out of tin cans. Nowadays he is the owner of a flourishing business, got himself and his family out of poverty and even has his own street sign so that the tourists can find him in the middle of the township.

You can find pictures HERE

Comments

Soon will be the end of the year…

December 8th, 2009 at 17:03 (general)

.. so this is the time that I start reflecting about what happened in 2009. It was not an easy year, but one of the best I ever had. I learned many lessons. When I was in South Africa I found this saying on someones wall:

I asked for wisdom…And I received problems to solve.
I asked for prosperity…And I got brains and the strength to work.
I asked for courage…And I faced danger to overcome.
I asked for love…And I met troubled people to help.
I asked for favors…And I found opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted.
I received everything I needed.

That’s how I feel about my life and it was thaught to me especially this year. (I changed the quote a little bit so it fits into my thinking).

I have been twice to Haiti this year, I travelled to India, through Europe and a few weeks ago I visited South Africa. These all were such enriching experiences and I learned so much through each of them.

I moved out from my mum’s house and now live alone with a friend - which is wonderful. I started to earn my own money, to get assignments and jobs, I sold prints and had my first solo exhibition in a museum. It is wonderful to be independent and to live from such a wonderful job as the photographers one.

My life really took a turn in the last months. I started to read much more than I used to. I found H. Hesse or Hesse found me ;-). I jumbed the highest bunggejump of Europe in Switzerland, I went to Africa and to Asia both for the first time of my life. I found sponsors for Landa, the girl of the Unicef picture of the year and her siblings as well as 4 others. So 10 kids in Haiti are now able to go to a good school. Like in the years before, I met courageous and interesting people all over the world, had experiences that I never had before, which were so wonderful that it often took my breath away.

So what can I say as a conclusion? Life is often not fair at all, but in the end it is wonderful.

My advise to everyone is to take the chance when it’s ahead of you. Don’t be afraid, take the risks - living is taking risks. To say it in Philips words: Who is afraid to die, is afraid to live.

I already have plans for the next year. First I will be going to Haiti in January and February. I will stay there 6 weeks together with the girl -Feli- who did an internship with me in October. We will celebrate carnival in Haiti, I’m really looking forward to that! Another time of the year I’d like to visit Benin, I wanna return to India and in June I will take a few weeks of probably going to Bali to learn how to surf. Then again, I will go back to Haiti because I want to complete my work to bring out a photography book about Haiti in 2011.

These are my plans so far - they are likely to change, as always.

In case you live close to Aachen, Germany, I will be holding a workshop there at the beginning of 2010 at the Ludwigforum.

To conclude my words from before, here comes a little poem of Hermann Hesse for the German speakers:

Wie jede Blüte welkt und jede Jugend dem Alter weicht
blüht jede Lebensstufe,
blüht jede Weisheit auch und jede Tugend
in ihrer Zeit und darf nicht ewig dauern.
Es muß das Herz bei jedem Lebensrufe
bereit zum Abschied sein
und Neubeginne,
um sich in Tapferkeit und ohne Trauern
in andre, neue Bindungen zu geben.
Und jedem Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne,
der uns beschützt und der uns hilft, zu leben.
Wir sollen heiter Raum um Raum durchschreiten,
an keinem wie an einer Heimat hängen-
der Weltgeist will nicht fesseln und nicht engen,
er will uns Stuf um Stufe heben, weiten.
Kaum sind wir heimisch einem Lebenskreise
und traulich eingewohnt, so droht Erschlaffen.
Und wer bereit zum Aufbruch ist und zur Reise,
mag gähnender Entwöhnung sich entraffen.
Es wird vielleicht auch noch die Todesstunde
uns neuen Räumen jung entgegensenden,
des Lebens Ruf an uns wird niemals enden.