"The world is 9, it is never complete and it’s never perfect."

June 6, 2019 9:21 AM

Living in Addis Ababa for the past nine years has been a lesson; a lesson in humility, and a lesson in what it means to return to a land that was foreign to me. Over the past nine years, an expression of my grandmother has stuck in my mind – she would say, “The world is 9, it is never complete and it’s never perfect.” I thought it was interesting, but it wasn’t until much later as an adult that her voice echoed in my thoughts of whether we can live in this world with full contentment. [...] I have chosen to continue working on body painting, which is inspired by traditional body art from across Africa. Each work is a reflection of conscious and sub-conscious manifestations of time and space. -- Aïda Muluneh, The World is 9 [via Everlasting Blort]

12 larger images via Artsy, which also has images from Muluneh's Water Life series.

More from Muluneh's own website: The Wolf you Feed and The 99 Series.

Even more photos from Aïda at the David Krut Projects.

posted by filthy light thief (3 comments total)

Breathtaking - thank you for posting this.
posted by mosst at 11:04 AM on June 6, 2019

The Wolf You Feed

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
posted by chavenet at 12:08 PM on June 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Wow. These are absolutely amazing.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 2:16 PM on June 7, 2019