Neither – Kate Nolan’s beautiful new photo-book

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art, Kaliningrad, Kate Nolan, Neither- a photo-book, photo-book, photography, Russia, SYB, women, WWII

Neither, a self-published photo-book by Dublin based artist Kate Nolan, is an exploration of the story of Kaliningrad. Told from the female perspective, Neither is unique in that it isn’t about the past or the future, nor about the present, but it is a closely woven tale somewhere between fact and fiction, documentation and dream.

The carefully selected photos show women of Kaliningrad and their homes, workplaces, and the streets of a city that seems forgotten and somewhat lost. The words accompanying these beautifully lit images are handwritten memories, hopes and tall tales that the women themselves have chosen to share.

The gifted Irish photographer Kate Nolan has succeeded in entering into a world, very different from the one she knows, finding personal stories of strangers and making them universal.

For many the city Kaliningrad is an unknown entity, but this once beautiful Hanseatic town played an important role in central European history.

Kaliningrad once was the most easterly German City, after WWII it became the most westerly part of Russia, even if it is completely cut off by land.

Nestled in between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea, this once proud Prussian settlement was completely isolated during the cold war, and even now is often forgotten by motherland Russia.

This fragile position that Kaliningrad is in filters down into the perception that the women in Neither have of themselves and their lives. This first generation of post-Soviet women, no matter how strong, independent or modern, struggle to figure out what their identity is: not quite European, but neither fully Russian.

Designed by internationally renowned Dutch designer SYB, Neither, is a true organic collaboration between the photographer, designer, and the subject matter, the women themselves.

As you enter into the story, words open up your eyes to the situation and thoughts that surround the portraits and landscapes further within. And you are left with words, memories and descriptions from 1945 that the first Russian women of Kaliningrad have left behind in the local archives, echoing their modern day counterparts.

Neither is a beautiful piece of art, one that, like Kaliningrad’s famous son Immanuel Kant, demands your attention and leaves you with thought provoking ideas. A collector’s piece both fragile, like Kaliningrad’s forgotten daughters, but enduring like the stunning photos it holds within.

Released in September 2014 at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin, Neither is now available on Kate Nolan’s website for €34 plus shipping.
http://www.katenolan.ie/book/

LINKS to the Artist:

http://www.katenolan.ie/

http://europeanprospects.org/kate-nolan

http://kqanda.tumblr.com/post/55771232490/kate-nolan-interview

http://www.actualcolorsmayvary.com/2013/04/kate-nolan-neither/

http://kindofliketelephone.tumblr.com/

helpless feeling

Tags

Dublin, helpless, neighbours, thoughts, women

Late last night a knocking, banging and calling echoed around the cul-de-sac I live in. It was my neighbour a few doors down trying to rouse her husband-to-be from his heavy slumber and open the door to their home to let her in.

This went on for quite a while so I opened my bedroom window and called out to her offering my help, just like her next-door neighbour had obviously done. So there we were in the middle of the night, helpless and unable to come up with a solution since none of us had a ladder to hand.

I would have offered her my spare bed, if my New Zealand friend wasn’t chasing dreams in it already, but I did offer her my chair, phone and car none of which she needed. After more knocking, combined shouting and conferring my tired neighbour got into her car and drove to her sister  leaving her husband oblivious to the ruckus he had unwittingly caused while sleeping.

Watching her taillights disappear into the night I closed my window and cuddled down into my bed. As I closed my eyes  I couldn’t help but wonder about all those moments in life when we feel helpless, unable to do anything. When we see something happening, be it big or small, and can’t intervene. Not because we don’t want to but because we either don’t have the correct tools, abilities or funds to do anything about the situation.

However as I drifted of to sleep I couldn’t help but giggle, knowing that the slumbering husband-to-be would wake up and have to face a very angry woman.

afternoon delights

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food, friendship, miscellaneous, photography, photos, random, tea, women

After a busy morning of baking, cleaning and setting the table a gaggle of girlfriends arrived to my afternoon tea. With the sun streaming in though the windows, breaking on my prisms and throwing rainbows around the room, the great Ray Charles crooning from the stereo and a table laden down with homemade goodies the setting was perfect and the afternoon set to be delight filled.

ready and waiting

a beautiful gift of flowers

As the lovely ladies trickled in I served tea, coffee and pink champagne. We sat and chatted, talked about everything and nothing, laughed, joked, giggled and gasped as stories unfolded and secrets were revealed. Outside the shadows grew longer and the sun slowly sank in the sky, inside the plates emptied a little as our stomachs filled up on sugary goodness and delightful chocolatey tastes. So I lit the fire and swapped Ray for Etta James and we indulged some more.

brownies and nut cake

shortbread, cookies and mars bar biscuits

scones, perfect with whipped cream and home made jam

As I sat back and listened a question flitted through my mind: Why is it that women seem to enjoy girly chit-chat so much? As I pondered this thought it occurred to me that maybe it’s because women seem to enjoy the the telling of the story just as much as the outcome. By painting a picture, setting the scene, we can relate the emotions  we experienced and others can understand why we reacted and acted the way we did. So while men tend to prefer a “cut-to-the-chase” kind of talk, women build relationships on the spontaneous flow of a conversation. Idle chit-chat serves as a warm up, a testing of emotions before we launch into deeper feelings and thoughts. By learning what others think and feel about “non-essentials” we get a  clearer picture of who they are and how they may react on more important issues. It makes women feel safe to bare a bit more of their inner thoughts when they have built up a safety net of chit-chat and girly talk.

When the afternoon gave way to evening and my guests slowly rose to leave in drips and drabs, my heart felt full of gratitude and joy at knowing these wonderful women and being able to delight in their company. And as the warmth of their hugs lingered around me and the bunches of flowers they brought stayed behind I munched on some left over sweetness, while savouring the the memories of the afternoon delights in front of the fire with some red wine and Edith Piaf to keep me company.

another delightful bunch

 

 

 

 

 

goodbye Maeve

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author, light a penny candle, literature, Maeve Binchy, miscellaneous, quotes, random, university college dublin, women, writer, writing

16 Novels, more than 30 years of writing and endless fans is the legacy that Maeve Binchy leaves behind. The wonderful and much loved Irish author died on Monday after struggling with illness throughout most of her adult life. But even at 72 she had a  much younger spirit and loved life, saying that after a brush with death in 2002 she lived every day as if it were her last.

I first fell in love with her work as a teenager, I was maybe 13 or 14  and an Irish friend sent me the book Echoes. Already an avid reader I loved the way she interwove ordinary peoples stories and lives into a tale that gripped you and forced you to keep reading, always just that one more page, that next chapter till in no time the book had come to an end, leaving you wanting more.

Her best known works are possibly Tara Road and Circle of Friends as Hollywood turned them into films, but all of her stories, no matter if in short form or packed up into the parcel of a novel, are about real life, no hyped up glam or only beautiful people fill her pages, but the struggle of everyday life, joy, love and friendship overflow from her work into the readers minds and heart.

She didn’t start out as a writer but graduated UCD (University College Dublin) and became a teacher. But Maeve wanted to see the world and in her long summer holidays she would travel, her shipping guide always at hand telling her which ship was going where. Wanting a change she gave up her secure teachers job and pension to become a free-lance writer and soon was called to be a woman’s editor at the Irish Times. With a steady flow of work coming in from London Maeve moved there in the mid seventies to the Irish Times office in Fleet Street and started working on her first novel Light a Penny Candle. Setting herself strict deadlines and word-counts she would get up at 5am every morning to write before work and her discipline and structure paid off when in 1982 her first book was published.

At the age of 37 she married children book author Gorden Snell and with the invention of fax and emails they both moved from London to Dalkey, where Maeve had grown up, and would sit side by side in their upstairs office and write for several hours every day. Very disciplined her motto was “if you want to write just do it” and shelves filled with her work all around the world prove her right.

Inspired by Scarlett O’Hara form “Gone with the Wind” by Margret Mitchell, Maeve Binchy created a whole new form of literature. One filled with women who learn to be strong and independent, who begin to trust in themselves, be who they want to be and love life, friends, family, home and most importantly themselves.

Outselling other great Irish writers like James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Roddy Doyle, Samuel Beckett, W.B Yeats, Maeve was quietly proud always encouraging others to write as well. She paved a beautiful path for other female writers to follow and was always generous in sharing her experience with her colleagues.

Maeve Binchy will be missed, not only by the Irish nation but by her fans across the world, but she has one final gift to her readers, her last book has just been finished and will be published later this year.

I don’t have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turning into confident ducks.

Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy with one of her two beloved cats in her home in Dalkey