Aug

Wordplay: Wit and Wisdom in Public Spaces

by Joyce McGreevy on August 16, 2016

A hair salon in Glasgow, Scotland typifies the wit and wordplay of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Hair-salon puns, like this one in Glasgow, Scotland, are permanent highlights of signage.
© Joyce McGreevy

Reading the Language of Signs Worldwide

Maybe it’s a sign, you think. You mean that literally. It’s Day 1 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and you’re staring at a wall of words that may signify the name of the street. Or a local ordinance. Or the route to Romania.

You know this much: it’s definitely in Cyrillic. Suddenly, you’re back in the pre-literacy of early childhood, experiencing the world as a dense forest of language whose mysteries you’re not yet able to penetrate.

Oh, I see: Signs are an indispensable element of our public spaces.

Showing Obvious Signs

Some signs require no language at all to make their messages clear. Glasgow University uses creative visuals to dish up directions to the student dining hall.

A sign for Glasgow University's student dining hall shows the wit of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

At Glasgow University, wordless signage offers a running commentary.
© Joyce McGreevy

Some wordless signs are obvious. Very, very obvious. At one of Glasgow’s most popular attractions, The Lighthouse, this sign helps get visitors where they, ah, need to go.

A sign at The Lighthouse, Glasgow, Scotland shows how wordless signage complements wordplay signage in public spaces.Image © Joyce McGreevy

This is not the universal symbol for a Scottish jig.
© Joyce McGreevy

Adorable Doors

Other signs are Austen-tacious. Planning to visit the city of Bath, England? Simply trust your own sense and sensibility when choosing a loo.

A sign at the Jane Austen Centre, Bath, England, reflects the wit and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

“She had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.”

A Mr Darcy sign at the Jane Austen Centre, Bath, England, reflects the wit, wisdom, and wordplay of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

“I’d say this qualifies.”
© both images by Joyce McGreevy

Please Do Not Read This Sign

Some signs get right to the point. They are down-to-earth so you won’t end up down-to-earth in the worst possible way. Still, getting close enough to read this warning in Co. Clare, Ireland, could defeat the purpose.

A danger sign in Lahinch, Ireland lends drama to the wit and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

An edgy danger sign high above Lahinch, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

After all, isn’t the whole point of such signs to keep you from getting to this point?

A rollercoaster sign in Iowa reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Pat Hawks

A rollercoaster sign in Iowa generates “Likes” from some, “Yikes!” from others.
“The Point of No Return” by Pat Hawks is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

What’s Your Mirth Sign?

Some shop window signs are all about the jokes. Like the bakery chalkboard that asks, “Pilates? Don’t you mean pie and lattes?” Or the marquee that drily declares “If it’s in stock, we have it!”

Or this deli sign call-to-action: “Ban pre-shredded cheese. Make America grate again!”

Shop window signage in Ireland reflects wordplay, wit, and wisdom. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Truth in advertising . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

Shop window signage for beer in Ireland typifies the wordplay, wit, and wisdom to be found in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

. . . Irish style.
© Joyce McGreevy

Uniquely British Signs

In London, the very quest for precision can lead to confusion. For instance, in the Underground, Way Out doesn’t mean “Exit,” but the path toward the exit.

One day I watched as a small group of people stood around a trash can attempting to decode the label, Residual Waste Only.

“Isn’t all waste, by definition, residual?” inquired one.

“Indeed, but this bin is for waste that’s left over after one has sorted out all the other waste,” clarified another.

“Ah, so it’s truly residual,” averred a third.

“Precisely.”

I can hardly wait to see the dramatization on BBC.

My favorite British signs are often snarky. This one puts a different spin on being calm and “carrying on.”

A sign in London about the Little Book of Calm shows the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

It’s a hardback life.
© Joyce McGreevy

Signs of the Times

Some signs shed light on old sayings. At Senglea Harbor, Malta, benches are labeled with sailors’ proverbs, some in English, some in Maltese.

A sailors' proverb on a bench in Senglea, Malta typifies the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

A bench in Malta sums up my affection for the town of Senglea.
© Joyce McGreevy

A view of the Mediterranean Sea is en route to Malta, where signage reflects wordplay, wit and wisdom in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

What, no For Sail sign? En route to Malta.
© Joyce McGreevy

Signs to Bookmark

Some literary signs invite us to go by the book. In Dublin, Ireland, well-trodden pavement plaques let you follow in the path of the fictional Leopold Bloom from James Joyce’s Ulysses. Now that’s a footnote.

A pavement sign in Dublin, Ireland commemorating James Joyce's Ulysses reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

A street-smart sign in Dublin, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

In Paris, signage, like everything else, becomes art. Fellow OIC Moments blogger Meredith Mullins discovered a creative French take on literature in the Palais Royal gardens.

Artist Michel Goulet has transformed castoff iron chairs into sites for relaxation and versification. Engraved with lines of poetry, the chairs feature ports that let you plug in your earbuds and listen as famous French actors read aloud the complete poem.

In short, why settle for la vie en prose?

A poetry chair created by Michel Goulet for the Palais Royal gardens, Paris, honors Emily Dickinson and shows the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Meredith Mullins

“How good — to be Alive!/ How infinite — to be.”
© Meredith Mullins

A poetry chair by Michel Goulet at the Palais Royal, Paris honors Guillaume Apollinaire and reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Meredith Mullins

“Let night come on bells end the day/ The days go by me still I stay.”
(Translation, poet Richard Wilbur)
© Meredith Mullins

Good Signs

Some signs inspire us to do good. At the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, a sign for an exhibition by New York-based artist Jim Hodges invites literal and figurative reflection.

A sign at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

In Los Angeles, simple words herald a big idea.
© Joyce McGreevy

Signs on the walls of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow offer fresh perspective on vision itself.

A quotation on the wall of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Pissarro’s “Oh, I see” moment, on view in Glasgow.
© Joyce McGreevy

Signs of Life

Finally, some signs are simply for the birds! Protecting a nest egg is second nature to the denizens of Glebe Gardens in Baltimore, Ireland.

A handmade sign on a mailbox in Baltimore, Ireland, shows the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

A mailbox turns birdhouse for a special delivery.
© Joyce McGreevy

So what’s your (favorite) sign? Where have you found wit and wisdom in public spaces?

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 9 Comments

Art of Travel/Wordplay/Worldwide Sites

Aug

Japanese Traditions in Yakushima Photography

by Meredith Mullins on August 1, 2016

Yakushima rainforest showing reverence for nature and Japanese traditions in photography. (Image © Kodo Chijiiwa.)

The primeval rainforest of Japan’s Yakushima Island
© Kodo Chijiiwa

Photographers Show Reverence for Nature, Beauty, and Time

Yakushima is an island in the North Pacific that seems to have its own spirit, its own magic. It is rich in Japanese traditions, as well as exceptional natural beauty—with its lush vegetation, wild coast, ancient trees, and proud mountains.

I had not heard of Yakushima, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, before wandering into a gallery at the famous Rencontres d’Arles—a massive annual photography event in southern France.

Thousands of photographs are presented at this summer festival, from vintage treasures to the trends of tomorrow. But there was something special about the collection of images from a group of Japanese (and Japan-inspired) photographers.

Swirling ocean near Yakushima island, showing Japanese traditions of reverence for nature. (Image © Antonin Borgeaud.)

The powerful forces of nature
© Antonin Borgeaud

The connection to nature was strong. The appreciation of beauty—both everyday and extraordinary—had deep roots. And the energy of earth, water, fire, wind, and sky was palpable.

The humility of the photographers was refreshing, as was their willingness to share the underlying philosophies that influence their work.

They had met through the Yakushima Photography Festival (YPF), a collective of French, American, and Japanese photographers who had all felt the spirit of Yakushima.

Each photographer has his or her own vision of Japan and Japanese traditions.

Meet Kodo, Miho, Antonin, Shizuka, and Satoru.

At the mercy of typhoon winds on Yakushima
© Kodo Chijiiwa

Kodo Chijiiwa

Kodo grew up on Yakushima and knows many of the secrets of its land and sea.

Kodo Chijiiwa
© Meredith Mullins

Living on an island, he also knows the power of typhoons and wanted to photograph the force of the winds on Yakushima.

He tried to stabilize his body and the camera; but, he explained, “The winds could control me as they wanted. So, I decided to express the sensation of my body being tossed around by making double exposures of the land and sea.”

These are photographs of sheer energy. We feel the force of nature.

Miho Suzuki

Simply put, Miho believes in beauty—in appreciating the trivial things in nature and daily life.

Beauty in everyday life
© Miho Suzuki

She was inspired by an excerpt from “Two Poems on the Rose” by Kitahara Hakushu that asked the question: why should we marvel at a single rose bloom?

Miho Suzuki, a photographer from the Yakushima Photography group, showing Japanese traditions and reverence for nature and beauty in her work. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Miho Suzuki
© Meredith Mullins

She dedicated her series of photographs to capturing something beautiful each day.

“I have captured the moments that took my breath away in my daily life,” Miho says.

The project is so personal that she doesn’t care if anyone else shares her sense of beauty. The vision is hers alone. These photographs—these memories— bring her happiness.

Antonin Borgeaud

Antonin is a Frenchman and co-founder of the Yakushima Photography Festival. His new series from Yakushima focuses on the lively personalities of the island—the macaques.

Making eye contact with a Yakushima Macaque
© Antonin Borgeaud

Antonin Borgeaud, photographer and co-founder of the Yakushima Photography Festival, focusing on Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Antonin Borgeaud
© Meredith Mullins

These old-world monkeys inhabit a small part of the island, indifferent to the presence of human visitors.

Antonin looked for the soul of each and presents a series of portraits where we are shown something of their curious personality.

Even though it is not recommended to make eye contact with a macaque (it’s a sign of aggression), the photographs clearly show a connection between subject and photographer.

Shizuka Sato

Shizuka Sato
© Meredith Mullins

Shizuka is sister and godmother to her younger brother Takuto.

She also named him, when her parents asked her to suggest a name. Her music class was studying conductor’s batons (called takuto in Japanese). She liked the sound of the word . . . and so did her parents.

Shizuka went away for a time, and when she returned home, she was surprised to see how quickly Takuto had grown. He was no longer a child. He was a young man.

Young man on bed by Shizuka Sato, showing Japanese traditions, reverence for nature, and passing of time. (Image © Shizuoka Sato.)

A time of transition—vanishing youth
© Shizuka Sato

Her photographs of Takuto tell a story of vanishing time—and deliver a nostalgic message that many things, including youth, are fleeting. The underlying message: Savor the moments.

Satoru Watanabe

Satoru’s stunning photography is born from Japanese traditions and respect for nature. He explains his influences:

“My grandmother was country-bred and prayed to everything. For her, kami-sama (the gods) was not something to seek forgiveness from, nor something that made wishes come true. Kami-sama was invisible, and yet worth folding her hands to.

Photograph of forest by Satoru Watanabe, showing Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Satoru Watanabe.)

Kami-sama energy
© Satoru Watanabe

Satoru Watanabe, photographer from Yakushima Photography group who follows Japanese traditions and shows reverence for nature. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Satoru Watanabe
© Meredith Mullins

I can still hear her saying ‘Don’t make a wish to the gods. Just pray with folded hands.’

When I take walks in the forest up in the mountains, I believe the energy I felt was the same existence that my grandmother was folding her hands to—the gods in nature.

As I grow older, the frequencies in which I fold my hands increases, but even now, I never make a wish.”

Satoru doesn’t make wishes. He simply portrays the beauty and clarity of life in his photographs.

Bottle on table, a photograph by Satoru Watanabe showing Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Satoru Watanabe.)

Reverence for beauty and simplicity
© Satoru Watanabe

Oh, I See

Da.Gasita book of Satoru Watanabe, following Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Da.gasita. Oh I See.
© Meredith Mullins

One of Satoru’s books is called Da.gasita. This phrase, In the Yonezawa dialect of Japanese, means “Oh I See.” The Japanese use the phrase often in conversation to let people know they have heard what’s being said and acknowledge its importance.

In wandering into the small gallery in Arles of this interesting group of photographers, I heard (and saw) what was being said. Da.gasita.

And my vision of Japanese traditions and my reverence for nature and beauty has been altered forever.

Arigatou Yakushima.

Sun reflection by Satoru Watanabe, showing Japanese traditions and reverence for nature. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Earth and sky
© Satoru Watanabe

For more information on the Yakushima Photography Festival, visit here.

For more information on the Rencontres d’Arles, visit here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Japan/The World's Photography

Jul

First, Dare to Be Wild

by Joyce McGreevy on July 25, 2016

The Art of Gardening to Save the World

A close-up prairie flower in Chicago's Lurie Garden reflects the trend toward wild gardening. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Here’s what happens when landscape designers dare to be wild. Lavender hyssop, maroon prairie smoke, blue quamash, and frothy calamint run rampant in all directions. The work of creative problem solvers, wild gardening centers you in the heart of nature.

Native spiderwort flourish in Chicago's Lurie Garden, thanks to wild gardening. Image © Joyce McGreevy

A Wild Surprise

Now, look skyward. See the skyscrapers. You’re standing in the center of America’s third largest urban area. Welcome to Chicago, city of wild surprises.

Laurie Garden, Chicago, IL is the work of creative problem solvers who dare to be wild. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Wild in the City

The urban oasis of Lurie Garden is part of a cultural trend toward New Wave Planting. Inspired by wild gardening, this relaxed style makes plant design less controlled and geometric than conventional gardens.

As Lurie Garden expert Noel Kingsbury wrote in Planting: A New Perspective, “When people say they want some nature, what they usually mean is a particular vision of nature, one that looks nice, fitting in to a distinctly human-centered idea of what nature is or should look like…. The task for the gardener or designer is to create an enhanced nature… one that supports biodiversity and looks just a little bit wild.”

Wild Irish Dreams

Chicago is also where an Irish lawyer dreamed of wild gardens. Says Vivienne DeCourcy, “After 20 years in a Chicago high-rise, I craved the wild West Cork landscapes of my childhood summers.”

Lough Hyne, Co. Cork, Ireland inspires Vivienne DeCourcy, writer-director of DARE TO BE WILD. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Meanwhile, she wrote 16 screenplays, each reflecting her longing to affirm the wild beauty of our fragile planet.

In 2004, DeCourcy returned to Baltimore—no, not in Maryland, but southwest Ireland, where the place-name originates. It’s an Anglicization of Baile Tí Mhóir, Irish for “town of the big house.”

DeCourcy’s home, nestled into a mountain that sweeps down to the sea, inspired visions of a wild garden that invited the outdoors in.

Vivienne DeCourcy's home in Ireland reflects her love of wild gardening. Image © Vivienne deCourcy

Sunset above Roaring Waters Bay, Ireland, home of creative problem solver and filmmaker Vivienne DeCourcy (DARE TO BE WILD). mage © Vivienne deCourcy

Tiny Seed, Big Screen

When DeCourcy finally found the one landscape designer who understood her vision, her dream of wild Irish gardens became a cinematic vision. The extraordinary life of designer Mary Reynolds inspired DeCourcy’s movie Dare to be Wild.

Irish landscape designer Mary Reynolds advocates for wild gardening . Image © Dara Craul/ Mary Reynolds

Self-described “reformed landscape designer” Mary Reynolds
urges gardeners to work with nature, not control it.
© Dara Craul/ Mary Reynolds

By the time production wrapped a decade later, it had involved several Academy Award winners: producer Sarah Johnson (Birdman), costume designer Consolata Boyle, and musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (Once). Acclaimed Irish musician Colm Mac Con Iomaire composed the score.

Tom Hughes and Emma Greenwell star in Dare to Be Wild, a film written and directed by creative problem solver Vivienne deCourcy. Image © Vivienne deCourcy

Emma Greenwell and Tom Hughes portray Mary Reynolds and Christy Collard
in the upcoming independent film Dare to Be Wild.
Both images © Vivienne deCourcy

A love story based on true events, Dare to be Wild has more twists than a corkscrew hazel tree. Ranging from the green hills of Ireland to the arid mountains of Ethiopia, it centers around London’s famed Chelsea Flower Show.

The Olympics of Gardening

This isn’t just any garden show, but the Olympics of gardening. In 2002, Reynolds, unknown and unemployed, became the youngest person in history to win Chelsea’s coveted Gold Medal for garden design. Among the finalists Reynolds bested for the prize was HRH Prince Charles.

Reynold’s “Celtic Sanctuary” featured hundreds of wild plant species, a traditional drystone wall, monumental stone chairs, and a fire bowl–all of it transported to England and built in three weeks.

A Celtic Sanctuary scene from DARE TO BE WILD reflects the film's focus on wild gardening. Image © Vivienne DeCourcy

Recreated for the film Dare to Be Wild, Reynold’s “Celtic Sanctuary”
shook up design circles with its iconoclastic style.
© Vivienne DeCourcy

Now Reynolds and DeCourcy are on a mission to protect the planet. Reynolds has authored The Garden Awakening: Designs to Nurture Our Land and Ourselves. The wild gardening book became an overnight bestseller in the UK and, with advance screenings of Dare to Be Wild, was rapturously received in Japan.

Fans of Reynolds’ book include Jane Goodall—yes, that Jane Goodall:

Wild Buzz

Meanwhile, DeCourcy is generating buzz. As a passionate advocate for the bees that nurture wildflowers and food plants, she wants people to rethink the conventional culture of gardening.

Irish filmmaker and writer Vivienne deCourcy is a creative problem solver with a love of wild gardening. Image © Vivienne deCourcy/ Dr. Michael Sheehan

“We need to throw a lifeline to the wilderness,” says DeCourcy,
echoing a line from her screenplay.
© Vivienne DeCourcy/ Dr. Michael Sheehan

“Only by experiencing the wonder of wild nature locally can we appreciate what’s at stake and be moved to protect wild nature globally.”

One way to do this, she says, is to replace conventional lawns with clover.

“The typical lawn is a matte green desert that guzzles chemicals. It cannot support a single bee—a creature responsible for one in every three bites of food we take.”

But a clover lawn is a habitat, where nature’s balance can thrive. “It supports a myriad of pollinators, only needs mowing once a year, and, being chemical-free, presents no toxic downside.”

The grounds of Lismore Castle, Ireland showcase the beauty of wild gardening. Image © Joyce McGreevy

A Wild Idea

Suddenly, a smile lights DeCourcy’s face. “Imagine your clover lawn, then a hundred of them, and then thousands, and you can see how easily we could create a sanctuary for our friends the bees.”

“Oh, I see”: The seed of a wild idea can grow into gardens around the world.

DeCourcy and Reynold’s wild ideas took root in Ireland, spread to Ethiopia, and flourished in England and Japan. Now they inspire gardeners everywhere. That’s what happens when creative problem solvers dare to be wild.

See the trailer for Dare to Be Wild here. Follow it here.

Meet Reynolds here and discover her gardens here.

Explore Chicago’s Lurie Garden here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 1 Comment

Ireland/Nature Discovery/The World's Art & Design/USA

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