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Apartment Gallery

5 Jul

As I prepare to say goodbye to Berlin and about eighty percent of my belongings, I have taken my camera in hand and photographed all the artwork, posters and maps that are hanging in my apartment. I thought putting them all in a little gallery here would be the best way to preserve them. Some of the artwork is by two old friends of my mother’s, Shirin Begum and Ayse Domeniconi. I also have work by my friend Michaela Faber, plus a Tara Brooch that was given to me by one of my ‘angel people’ (angel people, according to writer Natalie Goldberg are people who come into your life when you need them most). There is a photograph of the waterfall near my family’s house in Ireland and a poster for an exhibition that was ripped from a lamppost by a visiting artist friend- ‘Reclaim Your City’. She ended up putting it on my bedroom door. These images tell some of the story of my life and my family’s life in Berlin and elsewhere. The first image is of the good old map of Berlin that hangs in my hallway:

Berlin map

shirin beach

‘Arid Hills’ by Shirin Begum. This painting is based on the beach at Gumusluk, Turkey where our family spent many summers.

Reclaim your city  Haight Ashbury

 ‘Reclaim Your City’ claimed aptly, from a city lamppost and put on my bedroom door. And a poster I bought at the Haight Ashbury street fair in San Francisco.

 shirin naked girl

 ‘Waiting for You’  by Shirin Begum. This painting has hung over my bed for the past decade!

Tara brooch

Glass Engraved Image of Tara Brooch given to me by a very special angel guide

Ayse pastel      Donkey bridge Ayse

Pastel flowers by Ayse Domeniconi and acrylic on canvas ‘Die Brücke’ (The Bridge) This painting holds special significance for me and is described in my essay ‘Goodbye to Berlin’.

shirin horse

Shirin Begum

Waterfall Coomhola

Photo of Coomhola Waterfall near my home in Ireland by Marc Holden.

ayse woodcutting Ayse lamp

More beautiful artwork by Ayse Domeniconi: ‘Bathers’ and an Egyptian couple in a lamp

shirin boat

‘Tropical Hideaway’ by Shirin Begum (based on Gumusluk, Turkey)

Anna Remann

Painting of Gallery on Kopenhagenerstrasse by Anna Zur Nieden

shirin twins

‘Only to See You’ by Shirin Begum

Slow Travel Poster   Soren Kierkegaard Poster

Slow Travel Berlin Guidebook Launch Poster and Soren Kierkegaard Exhibit poster at Haus Am Waldsee

Shirin flowers

 ‘Red Blossoms with Aloe’ by Shirin Begum

michaela faber lighter

‘Lighter in Red’ by Michaela Faber

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Link to Brecht-Weigel House article in Slow Travel Berlin

5 Feb

Link to Brecht-Weigel House article in Slow Travel Berlin

http://www.slowtravelberlin.com/the-brecht-weigel-haus/

Photo by Lienhard Schulz

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Slow Travel Berlin Guidebook Launch Party

13 Nov

Slow Travel Berlin Guidebook Launch Party

This is the lovely Berlin guidebook  I  co-authored with Slow Travel Berlin. It is available for purchase on the Slow Travel Berlin website at  http://www.slowtravelberlin.com/100-favourite-places/

Image 7 Oct

Flora and Zephyr

by Rhea H.Boyden

Flora has carefully sown her seeds that will blossom in the spring watered tenderly by Zephyr, God of the west wind. She will not bare all too soon. She prepares herself for the long, cold retreat to the underworld where all is crisp and covered with ice. That same ice that does not feel as cold as winters past. Zephyr flies to her and adorns her with kisses and blossoms to give her strength. She slowly leaves the warm, wet place she wallowed in for too long with Satyr the goat man, in a fairy tale of unspoken words. Satyr remains cheerily chomping grasses in that wet fantasy land that she could never penetrate, so cloaked in clouds it was. She sees Venus shining ever brightly as her guide. Patience is the seed that will blossom for Flora in the end.<

Image is the painting 'Flora and Zephyr' by John William Waterhouse