1.11.2009


i'm sending you
postcards from a place
where i am not.



we're not tourists, we're travelers



a tourist is someone who
thinks about going home the
moment they arrive



whereas a traveler
might not come
back at all.


from the sheltering sky
by paul bowles


ph: wendy bevan
model: julia dunstall
carnet de voyage
marie claire italy
01/ 09


via here

17 comments:

jimena said...

lovely post, lovely journey, lovely words!

Maia said...

One of my favorite books. Though it always makes me think of the phrase "fever dream".
That's a wonderful quote.
I come from a family of travelers...and many of us never did go home. My French great aunt was an anthropologist who lived in Peru and in Asia before settling in Casablanca, Morocco, where she deliberately chose to bear and raise a child as a single mother during WWII. She never did choose to marry, and still lives happily alone in her 90s.

Unique Lapin said...

love those shoes.........sigh....

Brita Frost said...

I love that book! Beautiful post.

Yoli said...

As a fellow traveler, I love this post.

ro said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cerré said...

Ro: you are right on. thank you for bringing that up. that disturbs me as well. I also can't afford those shoes.

Anonymous said...

re comments on the shoes: is this a site of social commentary--or of aesthetics? who cares about what can and cannot be afforded in an advertisment? as though what's depicted is somehow correlated to reality... this kind of pseudo-cultural sensitivity is what tainted the inclusionary intention behind PCism--which devolved into another lame form of "white guilt"... So really, is it disturbing that someone can't afford pretty shoes--or that they live on a continent (Africa) that is dying for potable water? Perspective, folks...

Anonymous said...

couldn't agree more....
nancy

ro said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

ro: i never equated the images with any concept of 'white guilt'
--that was in reference to what happened to PCism--and that mention had to do with a feeble cultural sensitivity--and that had to do with it seems now with anyone being 'disturbed' by the exploitation of the poor--which i must say, with respect, is a bit facetious coming from someone in the fashion industry--because what does the indsutry do but exploit the illusions that women have of themselves (think how often poor is their self-image of body)... And of course aesthetics can be separated from social commentary--in fact aesthetics must because then it wouldn't be the concept that it is... Social commentary is of the quotidian--aestheitcs one would think incorporates a sense of the timelessness of the better pieces of art, music, literature... So this stance of being affronted by a silly ad is misplaced--go after the industry not the imagemakers...

ro said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

lovely quote.
thank you once again.

Anonymous said...

Really--so you think no art is timeless? Then why do some artifacts perpetuate an aethetic ideal down through the ages--if they did not have some aspect of universality? OK, so Shakespeare's plays reflected the time--does that not mean they do not have any relevance to the contemporary? So if you dismiss an agelessness to some art then you dismiss what is rich and enduring in the human spirit. And despite your indignation, my arguments are not all over the place, because this all stemmed from a comment about a sentiment about an 'unsettling' image etc. which led to aesthetics and fashion and so on... There are paratactic ways of discussing matters... But anyway, true, I don't know what work you do and frankly I don't care. I was not addressing any particularity of yourself other than the generality of you saying you are in the fashion industry and so I directed my comment at the industry you are in, not you yourself... But you cannot believe that magazines perpetuate "myths"--that would be a debasement of the word--and myth I don't think is correct--more at illusion or even delusion... And since these ad/fashion spreads (whatever) are setups they are fake and thus inconsequential to the exploitation of the poor... And if I disparage the fashion industry, I stand indicted.

Anonymous said...

Peace and Love. GC

Anonymous said...

your warm beautiful photographs warmed my frozen
heart........winter in Ct. Thank you for sharing.

Maggie May said...

one of my favorite books ever.