Today is my blog’s birthday. Ten years ago, after reading The Scientific Warning of 1992 that starts off with: Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course, I felt the need to help promote that change necessary for the well-being of our home, this planet we call Earth. And thus the birth of ART FOR HOUSEWIVES, a means of letting me being an armchair activist.
In the past 100 years, the world population has quadrupled. This means more people and fewer natural resources to go around. Recycling is an obvious means of protecting our resources and became the focus of my blog.
So why the name ART FOR HOUSEWIVES? As for the “Housewives,” most of us know recycling begins at home—making meals from leftovers, dressing our kids in hand-me downs, mending and making-do are just a few examples of how, traditionally, housewives always have been recyclers.
As for the “Art”, well first of all, I’m an artist and art is a part of my daily life—what else could I write about? And secondly, as I wrote many years ago in my book, ARTE PER MASSAIE (“ART FOR HOUSEWIVES” in Italian), “Aesthetics begin at home. That is, the formation of taste comes from the home. From homemakers. From our mothers. The way they feed us, the way they dress us, the way they decorate our homes. The way they care for us. Housewives are the first trendsetters we know. Because our childhood follows us throughout our lifetime, like Proust’s madeleines”.
ART FOR HOUSEWIVES’ look a few years ago
The initial years of my blog were dedicated to tracking down examples of beautiful and functional recycling in order to inspire others to do the same. Few examples, at the time, were available and they were mainly from cooperatives hoping to “empower” women living in poverty. For example: co-ops teaching women in India to make purses from plastic bags, in Brazil to make purses from soda can tabs, in Africa to make necklacesfrom paper. These women, who recycled because they had no other alternatives and not because it was trendy, were my primary inspirations.
Today there are an abundance of on-line shops selling recycled objects thus there is no longer any need for me to promote something that is more than adequately being promoted.
But the revolution goes on!
In the past several years, there is an economic crisis being felt all over the world. Poverty is at an all time record causing extreme desperation for many. In Greece, the suicide rate is up 40%. In Italy, frustration is making men wacko and, every three days, a woman is murdered by an ex. Furthermore, in the United States, once considered Dreamland of The World, one in four children lives in poverty. SpOOKy! There is something tragically wrong with the way we’ve been living. Civilization is no longer civil. That’s why this blog will have a new focus: how to create a change in lifestyle.
From Cardboard Retablos
The lifestyle that I have in mind is one that focuses on Daily Aesthetics as opposed to material objects. A lifestyle that sees elegance in simplicity. A lifestyle that takes time out for appreciation looking at the glass as being half full as opposed to half empty. A lifestyle that believes in the value of reciprocity and mutual respect. A lifestyle that recognizes the fact that we are all related.
Now I’m not an expert on anything other than myself. This means I have alot of learning to do to create the change I’m looking for. But while On The Road searching, via this blog, I’d like to share with you some of my efforts towards this change.
Many thanks for reading ART FOR HOUSEWIVES!
The Narrative Within 