Issue 4

disco under world

issue #4 february 2009





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issue #4 contents Dallas Clayton: Los Angeles based writer and illustrator of “An Awesome Book”, check it out on page 42

Mike’s Space: Page 52

Websites to watch: Page 22 Editorial piece: Happiness. Page 36

Page 68

Who was your favourite last issue? Page 78 And lots more!

Afua Richardson: New York musician and comic illustrator. Read about her, watch her video and listen to her music on page 10 Phillip Papadis: Australian photographer who has captured parts of Eastern Europe through his camera, you can read his story and see his shots on page 24

Sudhir Duppati: An Indian artist sharing his multi-cultural work and view of life. Read about him on page 59

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direct address

Edition at the end of each year. Secondly, if one person receives over 100 votes, they will also win $500. Thirdly, we are a small freely published magazine. We don’t have a huge budget to get out and market our fantastic product to people all over the world. The votes are a way for people to rally their friends and help to spread the word about us.

Hi there, thanks for tuning into this month’s issue of disco underworld! Last issue we conducted a survey to find out more about you all. Thank you to those of you who took the time to answer. Some of the results on pages eight and nine. We had awesome feedback like in reply to the question “What is your favourite part of disco?”: “Sorry - all of it/ Artist’s profiles and interviews/ Great photos and presentation/Love your writing style” and “your magazine expands the mind and it challenges your thinking, presenting the reader with an opportunity to visit new people

FOR E L A Sll this space

A

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from an internal perspective”. We also had great constructive feedback, one we would like to address here is “I still don’t quite understand the ‘vote for this person’ thing”. We have a few reasons for the vote for the person feature. Firstly, the votes decide who will be featured in the Gold

For only $50 NZ + GST, you can advertise your products and services to thousands of people all over the world. Included: • Hyper links to your websites and emails • Timeless advertising: all issues of disco underworld are archived on the website forever • Design including your logos, images and message. Email [email protected] to find out more.

You can also help us spread the word! Tell people who you think would enjoy reading disco, by posting us on your blog/facebook/bebo/myspace pages and sending our link through email. We really appreciate any help we can get! (which is also why we have started advertising advertising, but we have made it affordable for even the smallest of budgets to utilise, see opposite page.) Speaking of help spreading the word, the websites featured in this month’s “websites to watch” are a work in progress and your help is needed to create them. www.bromeet.ning.com and www.girldate.ning.com are two brand new websites helping people from all around the world find platonic friends in

new cities and countries. Even if you are not traveling, you will know someone who is. We need people in cities all over the world to create profiles and become potential friends. Read all about it on page 22 “websites to watch”. We have also begun posting each edition’s feature stories on our blog: www.discounderworld.blogspot. com, so you have the option of reading disco in blog format as well as the digital magazine format, PDF format, and slide format on pdfcoke. Enjoy this issue! Stacey Childs Editor disco underworld is published by Online Insight Limited © copyright 2008. We welcome you sharing the information in these pages, but contact us for permission to reproduce. Editor: Stacey Childs [email protected] Sub-Editor: Tessa Prebble

Coming up in the next few pages: Survey thanks Afua Richardson: music, illustrations and story

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Our contributors are where you are.

Tessa Prebble [email protected]

And if they’re not, then they should be!

Agnieszka Parr www.mouseonaleash.blogspot [email protected]

Get in touch if you have something to contribute to disco underworld: [email protected].

Mike Woodruff www.mutinouswombats.blogspot.com

She’s in New Zealand, but oh, the marvels of the internet...

Anya Veryaskina http://www.metaphora.co.nz [email protected] Philip Papadis [email protected]

featured contributors Rebecca Cole: Front Cover Design

Hailing from England, Rebecca recently finished a four year degree specialising in Graphic Design. She constructed the front cover scene with card and string, manipulating the light to get the effect she was after. The concept is based around following your dreams and climbing to the top despite the odds. You can contact her at: [email protected], or visit her website here.

See page 50 if you would like to design next issue’s cover.

Dilie Baria

Working in a mundane sales admin role for a day-job, Dilie is excited to unleash some creativity as a contributor for disco underworld. She is a fan of classical and modern poetry, chic-lit novels, Jon Bon Jovi, dark Belgium chocolate and her boyfriend's jokes. Her current goal entails saving up to escape the confines and comforts of home to savor the big wide world. This month she wrote an article on Philip Papadis, you can read it on page 24.

Jeremy Leatinuu [email protected] Dallas Clayton www.dallasclayton.com [email protected] Sudhir Duppati www.sudhirkduppatiprofile.blogspot.com [email protected] Tracey Kearns [email protected] Jo Sowry [email protected] Dilie Baria [email protected]

Afua Richardson www.afuarichardson.com [email protected] Becky Cole [email protected] http://whitecliffemedia. ac.nz/2008/becky/index.html





www.discounderworld.com. survey thanks. page

Thanks to those of you who answered our survey in the last issue. Your post cards are in the mail. We found out a bit about you like: -Age-wise you are a very diverse bunch, We had responses from people aged 19-59, With the average age being 30, the median age 25. -You are retired teachers and army cadets, mums and marketers, masseuses and property developers... It goes to show you never can tell.

-47% of you counted drinking as one of your hobbies... hanging out with friends and family was also up there. You like reading, travelling, writing, surfing the net, watching movies and taking photos. Shopping, eating and creating also rated a mention as did music festivals, gardening, dancing and many many more. -You come from 45 countries in total, but Predominately New zealand, the united states, the United kingdom and australia. We love to hear from you and about you, keep in touch, and let us know what you think of us. we are here to keep you happy :)

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Afua Richardson

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www.discounderworld.com. afua richardson. page

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et me introduce you to Afua Richardson, a self-taught comic artist, singer, songwriter, beat boxer, bass player, flutist, graphic artist and voice actor. Based in New York City, Afua’s art alias is Lakota Sioux, in honour of her Native American heritage. The name means "little snakes" and also pays homage to an African symbol called Nkyim Kyim which represents manoeuvrability and adaptation. “I’m a city girl, born and raised in NYC by two brilliant country folk from Alabama. I’m essentially the ‘artist’ of the family. My mom was a war planner turned Buddhist/political ghost writer, my father, an oil painter turned physicist/military officer, whose original research helped develop string theory and MRIs. My big sis is a wedding planner and interior decorator turned electrical engineer at Lockheed Martin. I’m not exactly the black sheep, I’m just the only one who took on the arts as a career. “

Coming up in the next few pages: Afua Richardson music and video Websites to watch

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Not Quite Press play to watch a short video and then listen to the full version of ‘Not Quite’.

“Not Quite is about the judgments people place on others. As a black woman from New York City with dreads, people assume I’m ignorant, angry, and only into ‘black music’. No one sees me and thinks I’m a professional comic book artist. Or that I read up on fractal geometry and sing rock/soul. Music executives try to tell me who I could be. ‘You could be the next Lauren Hill; the next Erykah Badu; the next (enter black neo-soul singer here)’.

I just want to be my own artist. But it’s not just about me, or even stereotypes and racism. It’s about ignorant assumptions. Assuming that just because a leader shares your beliefs he has your best interest in mind. Or that a person who claims to be righteous is always right and moral. Or that religious people aren't believers of science. Or even on a smaller scale, that because someone broke your heart or let you down, everyone will try to hurt you. These assumptions keep us divided.”

not every preacher is a saint/not every leader goes the right way/looks can be deceiving/ there is more to this believe me/ cuz what you thought aint what I am at all/I am not quite/what you thought I am/not quite what I seem/ one day too late youll know exactly what I mean/Cuz im so much more than what you make me out to be.



“My parents tried to make me avoid drawing like it was the plague.”

Afua’s eclectic background exposed her to a variety of artistic influences, but her parents wanted her to “avoid drawing like it was the plague”. They were trying to protect her from the disappointments and barriers they had faced in the

www.discounderworld.com. afua richardson. page

segregated south where artists were passed over for awards and scholarships for being the wrong colour. “But I had my crayons, and my love of colour, so nothing was stopping me.”

Afua was determined to succeed artistically, and her unrelenting passion for music and knack for drawing meant she soon turned her passions into a professional career.

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“I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me I couldn’t do both music AND art.

When she was 17, Afua joined an all female hip hop crew called the Anomolies as a human beat box artist. She then went on to co-form the singing duo Scarletblue, which ended up recording dozens of songs and opened for artists like Alicia Keys and Parliament Funkadelic.

Her art career started to take off soon after, when she began publishing works with comic giants NBM, Marvel and Image/Topcow Productions.

“I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me I couldn’t do both music AND art. I look at musicians like Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra and Josephine Baker: singers, musicians, actors, dancers. I know their success revolved around their capability of doing so many things really well.”

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Her artistic, illustrative and musical influences come from a variety of sources, reflected in her diverse portfolio. For music alone she names groups and artists which include everyone from Stevie Wonder to Sade; The Stone Temple Pilots to Sarah Vaughn; Everything But the Girl to Portishead. Hendrix to Vivaldi and Journey. “Now-a-days I'm just trying to establish a brand that says ‘Expect everything from me.’ This is a great time for artists; it leaves the power in their capable hands. There is no longer a reliance on a label or big company to back you for any reason other than distribution.” “The shift in the state of mind of people with recession smackin’ us in the face, everyone is hurting. We are seeing the importance of the well being of the greater population, not just the select few. With my works I want to help instill that shift. I want to say something with my abilities. Give back what so many great artists and musicians gave to me when I had nothing.”

www.discounderworld.com. afua richardson. page

“With recession smackin’ us in the face, everyone is hurting. We are seeing the importance of the well being of the greater population, not just the select few.” You can find out more about Afua at www.AfuaRichardson.com If you would like to vote for her, enter your email here and hit vote. Your vote will count once your email has been verified. Only one vote will count per email.

Coming up in the next few pages: Websites to watch Phillip Papadis captures Eastern Europe

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www.discounderworld.com. websites to watch. page

websites to watch Both these websites have been created for those of us travelling and living in new cities, and the difficulties of finding decent people to hang out with.

The idea is that no matter where you are in the world, if you are a girl, you can find a girl to drink wine and talk chick with, and if you are a guy you can find a mate to drink a beer with.

For

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For boys: www.bromeet.ning.com For girls: www.girldate.ning.com

hese t d l i u Help b ew sites n brand

These websites let you browse potential platonic friends facebook/bebo/myspace profiles, and decide if they look like your cup of tea before you agree to meet them. That way you can avoid weirdos and people looking for love.

This is the official launch of bro meet and girl date, so we need your help to grow the websites, providing more options for all members and yourself. Log on, write your social profile details on the wall of the country you are in and watch people add to it. Tell your travelling friends to join in, we all need a chic chat or a ball scratching session every once in a while!

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phillip papadis In 2007 budding Australian photographer Phillip Papadis left the comforts of home and traveled to Eastern Europe, a part of the world he had only heard about from friends who had fled as refugees of this war-torn region. During his year travelling through the former Yugoslavian states of Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia, he found himself gradually correcting misconceptions he’d held about this part of the world. Interview by Dilie Baria.

“I didn't set out with the intent of ‘capturing life's beauty’, but the beauty of the people and their cultures, and of the nature that surrounds them is overwhelmingly apparent and very hard to ignore.”





www.discounderworld.com. phillip papadis. page

“Despite being in several countries where the scars of war are still evident before your eyes, the true essence of the people and their culture is really apparent,” Phillip explains. “There are happy communities enjoying life amongst a poor economic backdrop.” The socioeconomic climate, coupled with the past and present political unrest in former Yugoslavia, mean the standard of living in most of the places Phillip visited, namely Bosina and Serbia, is not as high as the rest of Europe. The quality of education, infrastructure, and health services are very low or nonexistent. The condensed geography of these places means that most villages and towns lie in close proximity to each other. This adds weight to the dilemma of fewer jobs being available for the locals.

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www.discounderworld.com. phillip papadis. page

Coming up in the next few pages:

“But they are some of the happiest and most care-free people I have encountered,” says Phillip.

Phillip Papadis cont. Editorial piece: Happiness

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Phillip puts some of this care-free attitude down to people’s independence from money. Unlike most Westerners who are bound to a nine to five, Monday to Friday desk job, the majority of people in these countries have to make do with minimal income, Phillip says. Money then becomes secondary to family, friends, and a laid back lifestyle. “The whole philosophy of the life we know is that you live to work. In these parts of Eastern Europe it’s more centred on the idea that you work to live.”

If you want to see this care-free lifestyle in action, you only need to go out at night, Phillip says. In Serbia, particularly, the country comes to life at 4pm when everyone heads to bars and cafes, and doesn’t stop till 2am. This, Phillip explains, is the norm, seven days a week. “There is no place that I have been to in the world that knows how to party as hard as they do in Serbia – it is in their culture.”

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In the former Yugoslavian states of Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, amid the war-torn architecture and destroyed and rebuilt lives, Phillip managed to find people of compassion and generosity, and experiences never to be forgotten, all captured by his camera.

Coming up in the next few pages: Editorial piece: Happiness Dallas Clayton

You can contact Phillip on this email: [email protected] If you would like to vote for Phillip, enter your email here and hit vote. Your vote will count once your email has been verified. Only one vote will count per email.

www.discounderworld.com. phillip papadis. page

For those keen to visit Bosnia and Serbia, Phillip recommends: Serbia: If you visit Serbia definitely attend the Guca Festival, a four day Gypsy beer and brass instrument event which draws Gypsies from all over the continent. While Gypsies draw their own misconceptions, don’t be fooled, they are a welcoming people. Go to the EXIT festival in Novi Sad (one of the best festivals in the world) as well as a really nice city (pictured below).

Bosnia: Visit Sarajevo and Mostar. Be prepared to witness a lot of buildings that have not been repaired since the war, some that have bullet and mortar holes scattered all over them. Also be careful when trekking through the hills as some of the mines laid down by both sides of the conflict have not been safely removed yet (found out after trekking for a whole day through these fields). Also leave any religious dispositions at home as these places are heavily divided between Muslim and Christians.

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, n i a r e h t n i . k r l e a l l i w M e l r p e o g e o p R e ” t m e o w t “S e g t s u j s r othe

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We (the human race) have different levels of needs and wants. For some cultures/countries/people, the basic needs and wants are a given, and happiness is what they strive for in life. For others, happiness is an unexpected bonus: they just want to survive. All kinds of factors lead to different perspectives of happiness. Things like religion, race, country of birth, country of residence, town/city/ state lived in. In this article we look at three of the factors: country of residence, religion and country of origin, and how people view happiness differently depending on these factors.



Differences in expectations of happiness are illustrated in many forms, but the most obvious are illustrated nationally and internationally. People are measured to be ‘poor’ or ‘wealthy’ depending on their monetary position in society. This level of financial wealth varies between countries. Someone in Sierra Leone may be wealthy by national standard, but poor internationally. The poor among Great Britain would probably find themselves quite wealthy if they moved to Sierra Leone.



Wealth in terms of dollar signs is relative to society. Whereas wealth in terms of happiness, cannot be measured with something as simple as a dollar sign. It goes without saying that when it comes to true happiness, the ‘poor’ can be rich, and the ‘rich’, quite penniless.

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get to know each other a little better

ways we can

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The small landlocked nation of Bhutan in Southern Asia has its own unique way of measuring the wealth of its country. Instead of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP that most countries measure and compare their wealth on, Bhutan has a GNH or Gross National Happiness. In 1972, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, decided that for the country to be ‘wealthy’, prosperity had to be shared across society, and weighed up against non-economic values such as the preservation of cultural traditions and the environment, the ability to spend time with family and

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friends, access to quality education and health care, and maintaining a fair and just government. The underlying idea is that despite the amount of money the country produces, a more complete summary of the wealth of the country is in the happiness of all the people living there, not just the top few earners. Coming from a small, isolated and till lately, largely unvisited nation, this redefines the right of every person, no matter where they live or how much money, or how many possessions, they have, to happiness. continued on page 74

@discounderworld a become fan

cool u o y p ee It’ll k Bhutan’s flag, depicting Bhutan’s Buddist name of The Land of the Dragon.

dallas c l a y t o n

Dallas Clayton lives in Los Angeles and is a writer/illustrator. His latest project An Awesome Book, featuring his poetry and drawings, has been a big hit the world over. The beautifully illustrated book encourages children to never stop dreaming. disco underworld has been lucky enough to be able to showcase some of the pages of An Awesome Book. The full version is available here



“I wanted to make a book for kids that I thought dealt with adult themes and answered questions that all the people I know are constantly asking themselves. Also I wanted there to be unicorns in it.”

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allas began publishing books of poetry and illustrations in his early teens, selling them in front of the concert halls, art galleries and movie theatres of Los Angeles. His handmade books soon attracted a following from prestigious book and art shops, and earned him coverage in the LA Times. He says he draws inspiration from simple aspects of life that others might not appreciate at the time.

Coming up in the next few pages: Dallas Clayton cont. Mike’s Space: Life lessons from Flea

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www.discounderworld.com. dallas clayton. page

Dallas’s son is his greatest source of motivation, and keeping him happy is the inspiration behind Dallas’ work, poems and lifestyle choices.

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When asked what a normal day threw his way, Dallas responded: “Today my son and I went to the ocean, went on a ferris wheel, rode bicycles, ate crepes and made alien masks. Yesterday I played kickball and went bowling. Tomorrow I’m planning on drawing pictures all day. If you take an average of the three I’m sure there’s some normalcy in there somewhere.”



Have a crack at designing our front cover, and we will thank you publicly for your effort. We may even use it on a future issue, which then means you will have a choice story to tell your friends, and lots of people will see your design. Email stacey@discounderworld. com to find out more.

www.discounderworld.com. www.discounderworld.com. www.discounderworld.com.dallas Agnieszka dallasclayton. clayton. Parr. page page page

You can read the entire version of An Awesome Book here: http://www.veryawesomeworld.com/awesomebook/inside.html Visit Dylan’s website and read more of his poetry here: http://dallasclayton.com/ If you would like to vote for Dylan, enter your email here and hit vote. Your vote will count once your email has been verified. Only one vote will count per email.

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Mike’s Space: Life Lessons from Flea Words and images by Mike Woodruff

Mike Woodruff lives in Los Angeles. When not writing, he enjoys playing basketball and eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. You can find him on the internet at www.mutinouswombats.blogspot.com.

Read last month’s Mike’s Space here.

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fulfilled live requires a healthy dose of dreaming. Some very profound things happen when I sleep. Amongst other things, I occasionally get life lessons from celebrities. Once I was told to look for a new job by Daniel Day Lewis in a pink bathrobe. Another time, Clint Eastwood helped me think up a short story. One dream, in particular, though, stands out from all the others. I remember it like this:

I walk into the bathroom. There are tiles on the wall, baby blue and covered in wavy soap scum. And windows. Lots of windows. Windows covered in grime so thick the colours are as slippery and loose as the inside lining of a clamshell. A faint sheet of steam rises off the floor. Somewhere, water drips softly. On a platform, above the showers but just below the windows, is a drum set.

I play the drums. Despite the fact that they are not real drums, but in fact, Rock Band drums, they sound good. Sharp ticks and bassy clangs of wood on plastic echo off the walls on either side, overlapping somewhere in the middle of the room as crisply as a well-prepared Venn diagram. After a few minutes, a man walks in. He’s nodding his head, gently, with his hands tucked neatly in his pockets so that his thumbs hang out over the edges. He’s smiling at me.

Hey there, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I say.

Coming up in the next few pages: Mike’s Space cont. Quick quiz and Opportunity navigator

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disco under world

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Flea doesn’t say anything back. Nobody except myself ever speaks in my dreams, but I know what he says.



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Sup dude, telepathic Flea telepathically tells me in my dream. Oh you know, just playing Rock Band drums in the bathroom. Yeah, I heard. You really wail. Two questions I plan to ask Flea but never actually do: 1. 2.

Contact them first for all your digital publishing needs. They will collaborate with you, or create for you, from start to finish, anything from digital media kits, travel brochures and annual reports to regular publications such as magazines and newspapers for you to share with the world.

Visit www.online-insight.co.nz and request an obligation free quote.

Why are you talking like Wayne from Wayne’s World? Are you serious?

Somehow, Flea asks me if I want to play drums for them at their upcoming show. I say that I can barely play their song on medium on Rock Band, let alone the real songs on real drums. I bang clumsily on the pads to persuade him. He just keeps nodding his head and smiling. A few seconds later, Anthony Kiedis and John Frusciante walk in. They also nod their heads approvingly.

What the hell guys, I say. I suck something awful.

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No, dude, you rock! the Red Hot Chili Peppers say in harmony. Don’t make me play the drums in a concert! They don’t pay attention to me. Anthony Kiedis goes off in the corner and begins warming up his voice. He starts saying nonsense words, followed by state names like California, Mississippi and Delaware, followed by more nonsense words. I can’t tell if these are actual song lyrics or if he’s still just warming up his voice. Over by the paper towel dispenser, the dull murmur of ten thousand people waiting for the show seeps through the walls. Panic starts ticking its own metronome deep in my stomach.

Don’t make me play the drums, Jon Frusciante! John Frusciante is sitting on the floor near the toilets. He picks the dry nub of a cigarette out of the web at the bottom of a urinal and lights it. He nods his head peacefully, ignoring me while he plays a few riffs. The crowd starts to chant.



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Flea picks up his bass. He plucks a heartbeat of a rhythm.

You ready dude? Hell no, I say, even as I go to hit the pads. The crowd roars. The lights blind. The snap of the snare grabs my eyelids, and I wake up. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -Two minutes later, I’m in the shower, lathering a dollop of Irish Spring into a sponge and swishing water in my ear to rinse out the clinging wax.

Quick Quiz: 1) Who invented the words “assassination” and “bump”? 2) What is the most common mammal in the US? 3) What is the longest word you can type using only one line of the keyboard?

4) If a statue of a person on a horse has two legs raised in the air, what does this mean? 5) What is the only food that doesn’t spoil? Answers on page 58

I’ve never played drums. If I practiced really hard, I probably could play decently. But I don’t have the time, the patience or the money to play drums. Besides, this isn’t about playing drums. It isn’t about an unfulfilled dream, either, because I never really wanted to play the drums growing up. This was a dream, but only in the sense that my brain took up something I just finished doing a few hours beforehand, playing Rock Band, and decided to go buck wild with the idea. Still, I came away with an important realisation from it all.

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And that is this. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you think about your own talents. If other people say it’s good, then sometimes it pays to trust them and just go for it. Sure, you might be a miserable failure, but at least you put your talents out there for the world to see. That’s what matters in the long run. People who are successful in life take out those business loans to start the coffee shop they always wanted to own. They’re the people that spend every day of every year in a swimming pool to win a heap of gold and fame. They’re the people that run for President despite not having the experience everyone thinks they need. They take risks with what they have in the hopes of having more. Let’s face it. A talent hidden is a talent squandered. It needs to be seen by people in order to be considered a talent. So if Flea’s saying that you’re good enough to at least try to do something that sounds daunting, then why not try? What other motivation do you need?



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gator i v a N y t i n u t r o p p O If you or someone you know has a unique story to tell, get in touch with us, we may be interested in telling the story in an issue of disco underworld. If you are an artist who would like to gain exposure for your work, you can be included in The Be Seen Zine. See page 68 to enter. Maybe you think you could design our front cover? Read more on page 50. Fancy yourself as a writer? We can provide you with experience and advice in researching and preparing articles for publication. Email [email protected] to find out more about any of these opportunities. y to promote to it un rt po op or t en ev an If you have @discounderworld.com ey ac st t ac nt co , le op pe 1000’s of in the pages of disco. it e ot om pr to w ho t ou to find

Answers to the quiz on page 56 1) Shakespeare 2) The mouse 3) TYPEWRITER 4) The person died in battle 5) Honey

Coming up in the next few pages: Sudhir Duppati The Be Seen Zine

sudhir duppati

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udhir Duppati grew up in a working class family in a small town in the south of India. He calls himself a wanderer and a nomad, and likes to keep moving around the world, sharing his experiences, and learning about the different people, cultures and traditions he encounters. Sudhir’s native tongue is Telugu, and he also speaks the national language of India; Hindi, as well as English and French. Out of high school Sudhir had wanted to become an army officer and during his time as a student he took up paramilitary training, which he thinks, “disciplined me a bit too much”. Somewhere along the line his creative impulses took over, and after three attempts he was accepted into art school, (at the time there were 45 seats for 1500 applicants).

“The Flower Vendor”, BFA Year 5



He left university with a Master of Fine Arts in Art Criticism, and worked for universities and various other art institutes in India for three years. He was then offered the opportunity to develop and teach art for the UN in Eritrea, North East Africa. He stayed there for five years before applying and gaining his current job as an art lecturer in Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. He finds Dunedin rich in culture and the arts, but admits it is difficult to establish himself as an artist, so he is not sure of how long he will spend there. Sudhir’s military background is apparent in his paintings. He says his army background taught him to seek order socially and politically, and his paintings reflect this search through their orderly arrangement. His multi-cultural and multi-lingual experiences are also portrayed as he searches through his art to look at the world from different points of view and perspectives.

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“This collage ‘Ashes’ was done in 2005 while I was in Eritrea. It represents privileged and underprivileged societies and the way they share power. The cigarette connects both the faces and creates an illusion of sharing an object that transcends history and society. The photograph is of a German high court judge who choose to spend her retirement as a social worker. An article about her in Time magazine fascinated me because as a judge she had worked in a position of ‘power’, but chose to spend her retirement as a social worker. The overlapping drawing is of a person representing the ‘underprivileged’ in Eritrea. During this time the BritishAmerican Tobacco Company closed their operations in Eritrea due to a political agenda passed on foreign companies operating there. The ensuing situation resulted in mass unemployment and this was also when the European Union released the Euro forcing the markets and stock values to fluctuate, affecting economic conditions around the world.”



“My paintings also engage in a religious and scientific reasoning about the process of evolution. My ideas are drawn from aspects of the theory of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin, the big bang theory proposed by Stephen Hawking and religious ideas about the creation of life. My research is about identifying the ideas within the theory of evolution which are based on belief and faith.” You can read and see more of about Sudhir’s work at: www.sudhirkduppatiprofile.blogspot.com If you would like to vote for Sudhir, enter your email here and hit vote. Your vote will count once your email has been verified. Only one vote will count per email.

Coming up in the next few pages: The Be Seen Zine “Happiness” cont.

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{Jeremy Leatinuu: Visual Artist}

Jeremy Leatinuu

be seen zine Created to give every artist exposure to people who appreciate a good piece of art when they see it. Be in the next one:

Name: Jeremy Leatinuu

is a visual artist who has just completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree at the Manukau School of Visual Arts in Otara, Auckland. I ‘found’ him at Pecha Kucha, where he talked about his final project temporal human occupation series. He made many valid and amusing points about the ownership of public space and whether it could be bought or sold, and whether it actually is ‘public’.

Style: Visual Artist Email: [email protected]

The concept of ‘ownership’, more specifically having ownership over physical space is what ignited and drove Jeremy’s investigation. “This work was a response to land ownership, something that is quite embedded in New Zealand’s history and continues to be discussed today. Who owns public space? Do I have temporary ownership over a car park space because my car occupies it?”

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“This was an experiment that involved trying to find an answer to whether space can be purchased or hired. I took a plastic bag that was large enough to cover the space of one seat and offered to pay a fare for it. The ticket guy wouldn’t take me seriously and wouldn’t give me a ticket even though I told him I wanted to pay. I wanted to be able to say ‘it’s been paid for’ if someone wanted that particular seat. He replied ‘there are enough seats for everyone so it shouldn’t be a problem’, so I stapled my ticket to the plastic bag.”

The Be Seen Zine, introducing you to a wider range of styles and arty types. Proudly brought to you by Online INsight.



{Tracey Kearns: Narcissistic portraits}

Name: Tracey Kearns Style: Narcissistic portraits Email: [email protected]

The Be Seen Zine, introducing you to a wider range of styles and arty types. Proudly brought to you by Online INsight.



{Becky Cole: Constructed Realites}

Name: Becky Cole (this month’s cover designer). Style: Constructed Realities Email: [email protected] Website: http://whitecliffemedia.ac.nz/2008/becky/index.html

The Be Seen Zine, introducing you to a wider range of styles and arty types. Proudly brought to you by Online INsight.





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continued from page 41

, n i a r e h t n i k l . r a e l w l i e l M p r o e e g p o R “Some st get wet” u j s r e oth

And this is paying off. In 2006 Bhutan was named the happiest nation in Asia, eighth happiest in the world. (Thanks Wikipedia). It goes without saying however, that not all the people in Bhutan enjoy the same level of happiness. Just because you share a country doesn’t mean that you share the same views on happiness.

Religion plays a large part in our happiness. People choose or don’t choose religion for different reasons, and if we believe Aristotle when he says that it is man’s governing right to pursue happiness, then the gods we choose (or don’t) help us reach this in our every day lives.

There was a programme on the documentary channel produced by ABC Australia, called ‘The Abbey’. It’s a pretty bad programme (not recommended) but it follows five ordinary women who have agreed to live in an Abbey, two hours outside of Sydney, for 33 days as Benedictine nuns. The show highlighted the conflict between needs, wants and levels of happiness where religion was concerned. The country or origin was the same for the women and the nuns, but their religious points of view put them at opposing ends of the spectrum of happiness. The nuns daily routine goes something like this: 4am wake-up calls followed by seven daily visits to the Abbey church to sing in collective monotone, all the while living life following the 1500-year-old Benedictine Rules of Silence, Obedience and Renunciation. Every waking hour of every day is filled with either prayer or chores, without any interaction with the outside world, except for in emergencies. To most of us, and to the five women on the show, this sounds like hard

work rather than the good life. It would be very hard for many of us to find happiness living this kind of life, but the fact is that these nuns are happy. On one programme they had the women give up their cell phones, which one nun said "freed up a little piece of you to be filled with good". This raises an interesting point: if not having a cell phone frees you, then why do so many of us have them? The nuns may see them as evil, and most of us may agree at some time during the week/weekend. We don’t need them, but we have them because they make our lives better. Therefore happier? The same could be said about their seven trips to the church to pray everyday.

Coming up in the next few pages: Happiness cont. Last issue’s favourite



These nuns were born and raised in Australia, with the same upbringing as the rest of their generation, but chose to become Benedictine nuns. If Aristotle was right when he said “no man desires to be unhappy”, then the paths the nuns have chosen are the ones which provide them with the most joy. Whether this is personal or on behalf of a greater being is irrelevant. Compared to the modern women on the show who experienced the life of the Abbey for just 33 days, these nuns live with just the most basic human needs being met, within the same country, but far outside the culture.



Our country of origin, not to be confused with our country of residence, also plays a large part in our expectations of happiness. This issue we interviewed Philip Papadis, from Australia who travelled to Eastern Europe after having heard about the area from friends who immigrated to Australia because of war. Speaking on behalf of his friends now living in Australia, he says that they are in general, happier than the average Australian, because “they can recognize that their life is better off in this country compared to if they were still living in the other”. If in fact people who have moved from

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a war-torn country to a peaceful one, are happier than the people that have lived in the peaceful country their whole lives, this then suggests that to have a deeper sense of happiness, you must first understand sadness, or unhappiness. Like Pluto’s cave, where to know what is outside of the cave you have to first be able to live it first hand, the same laws apply with happiness. To truly know it, you must be able to know what it is like to live without it. This idea certainly supports the idea that happiness is relative, personally/locally and globally. Experience is key. Happiness is as objective a trait as something like taste. From person to person, country-tocountry, culture-to-culture, we all measure it differently. Someone in poorest Africa

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would be over the moon with a couple of goats, three meals a day and a hut to house their family. Someone from London would have no clue what to do with the goats; expect the three meals a day as their right; and freeze in the hut (never mind it looking out of place on the city streets). All this would add up to a pretty miserable existence, local standards. The point is, no matter where or how we live in the world, once our basic needs are covered, we all strive to find happiness in our lives. The levels are very extreme, but the underlying fact is how they make us feel: Happy.

Celebrate the ordinary Rejoice in the extraordinary And enjoy life itself. Stacey Childs

Your favourite from last issue, and the person to be included in the Gold Edition at the end of the year is:

Slimeface He wins a spot in The Gold Edition 2009, a publication which follows up on your favourite people from the year before, and provides you with interviews and spreads of other cool cats from around the globe. You can read his article from last month’s issue here.

“Respect”.