Akif Hakan Celebi 

'Striving to go beyond established styles and widen the boundaries of photographic expression'

http://hakanphotography.com/

Vivienne Westwood: ETHICAL FASHION AFRICA PROJECT

'It's incredible to think that we might save the world through fashion' - Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood and eco friendly fashion

Handmade, with love.

You get out of life what you put in. - Vivienne Westwood

Dame Vivienne Westwood, one of the most influential fashion designers in Britain, is currently launching her latest Ethical Fashion Africa Collection.  Handmade in Nairobi, Kenya, the new collection has been produced in collaboration with The Ethical Fashion Programme. The collection uses recycled materials from advertisement banners, safari tents, electrical wiring and recycled aluminum which would otherwise end up in landfills.  All of the designs have been hand crafted by marginalised communities of women such as single mothers, widows, HIV/AIDS victims and those living in poverty.

The Ethical Fashion Programme supports over 7,000 women who live in extreme poverty but who have the desire to lift themselves out and improve their lives. The programme’s extensive network allows people access to a job and income that altogether benefits not only themselves, but the entire community.  It also gives people the opportunity to pay for school fees, medical care and other basic needs that may not have been accessible prior to the programme.  In the future, these skilled women will train the next generation of workers, building the economy and ultimately raising the standard of living in Kenya.

You can buy your Africa Collection bag here 

Slaves of the Extraordinary and Mayamiko join forces!

2011 is proving to be an exciting year for Slaves of the Extraordinary!  We will be joining forces with the brilliant charity Mayamiko Trust for an exciting fundraising event!  Mayamiko is a non-profit organization that works to help people lift themselves out of poverty and end injustice through skills training, education, nutrition, sanitation and fairer trade practices. They work to support creative talents and turn them into sustainable activities.  Combining both our passions of ethical and sustainable practices, we plan to organize an amazing charity event that deviates away from the typical and leaves you with an exciting and entertaining way to raise money for a good cause.  Stay tuned for more details...

"Although the surrealists didn't consider themselves terrorists, they were constantly fighting a society they despised.  Their  principal weapon wasn't guns, of course; it was scandal." 

-Luis Bunuel

Here at Slaves of the Extraordinary, we are all about pushing boundaries, forward  thinking and visual imagery.  So, today we are going to pay homage to the brilliant short film that did exactly this; Un Chien Andalou.  

Un Chien Andalou, a surrealist film produced by director Luis Bunuel and artist Salvador Dali, is one of the best known surrealist films of the 10920’s avant-garde movement.  Neither the title nor anything else in the film was intended to make sense.  To describe the movie is to simply list its shots, as the film has no plot or coherent storyline.  Bunuel had stated that "No idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted.  We had to open all doors to the irrational and keep only those images that surprised us, without trying to explain why."  Thus, Un Chien Andalou was created in the hope of administering a revolutionary shock to society. 

"For the first time in the history of the cinema, a director tries not to please but rather to alienate nearly all potential spectators." - critic Ado Kyrou, 

It is simply a film that needs to be experienced.  Un Chien Andalou is possibly the most potent example of avant garde cinema and remans the most famous short film ever made.  In 16 minutes the duo turned the world of cinema upside down and completely changed it forever.  It remains hypnotising, breathtaking, and perfectly shocking to this day.  Bunuel and Dali showed the world  that art does not need to follow convention.  Boundaries are broken to pave the way for innovation.  They proved that extraordinary is the way forward.

"Be daring, be different, be impractical,

be anything that will assert

integrity of purpose and imaginative

vision against the play-it-safers,

the creatures of the commonplace,

the slaves of the ordinary." 

~Cecil Beaton