TURN OVER

Many people strive for ‘perfection’ in their life,

through their work, their family, and their love

lives. All the time we hear about, or are even

called ‘perfectionists’, and usually in a negative

context. There have been many great humans

throughout history that we choose to revere

and respect because of their virtuous deeds,

but were they perfect? It probably comes

down to how you look at it, ‘it’ being perfection.

Nobody’s Perfect is a cool motto that

appeared on Lisa Simpson’s hat when TV’s ‘The

Simpsons’ (you had better know who they are)

family went to Australia . Could imperfections

be paradoxically perfect in themselves? If you

look close enough at all of the great names

in recorded history you will see that besides

their crowning achievements they also carried

with them the faults and mistakes of the

average person. John Lennon beat his first

wife, Martin Luther King Jr. had extramarital

affairs…Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Einstein, and

even Mother Theresa must have done things

that were socially or morally unacceptable.

So, is striving for perfection a pipe-dream when

we realize that no matter what our lives are

destined to become, there will always be a

balance of negative influence in our actions?

What about the Buddha? Buddha means

‘perfect one’, and when he supposedly achieved

‘enlightenment’ he no longer had imperfections.

But look at what he had to go through to get

to that feeling/awareness. Was his life up to that

point flawless? No way. If you asked the Buddha

about his life I’m sure he’d say right away that

he only learnt what he did by making mistakes.

Could it be that we are all already perfect?

Everything in the Universe is scientifically

balanced. Negative electrons, positive protons,

and neutral neutrons do everything they can

to balance out in any and every situation

imaginable. By that logic, all of our faults

and imperfections exist inherently as part

of our perfection. How could we ever do

the most important work in life (learning

to love), if we already know everything?

Everyday we go to work and we do our utmost

to do the best job possible. We want things to

be perfect. Supposedly no circle ever drawn

has been perfectly round. I believe it’s the same

with people. You might now be asking, ‘If we are

all inherently flawed and have no possibility of

attaining a perfect state, what’s the use in even

trying? The answer is as simple as two Hydrogen

atoms coming together with one Oxygen

atom to make a single molecule of water.

We may always have faults, but if we do our

best with altruistic intention driving us forward,

we will make the world a better place. You

may still obsessively eat chocolate but if you

write up the achievable ‘2050 Plan for World

Peace’, people are going to forgive you. On the

other hand, if you sit at home hating yourself

because of your chocolate addiction, you

aren’t going to help the world, and in essence

you’re not going to achieve the balance of

energy (both positive and negative) that

you require to attain satisfaction in your life.

Within paradox there is always the other

side of the coin and so I have to suggest

yet another perspective. If everything in the

Universe is already balanced then doesn’t that

imply that no matter what we do, good or bad,

we will balance out evenly? It depends upon

what size picture you’re analyzing. If you’re

looking at human society as a whole you might

choose to believe that for every person that

is a little bit more negative than positive (with

their thoughts and actions), that there will be

another person in the world who is a little

bit more positive than negative. If more of

humanity is positive than negative, maybe the

balance of energies could show up elsewhere,

like in our surrounding environment?

The point of this article is to get you to

question your desire for a perfect life.

Maybe it already is. Maybe you are already

aware of it. If life was all happiness and joy

we wouldn’t know what happiness and joy

were, as we’d have nothing to compare them

to. If we never made mistakes, how would

we know we were even learning anything?

What would a life be without the experience

of learning? What would it amount to?

There’s no need to try and be perfect. Either

you already are perfect, or you will never

achieve perfection. There is a point in doing the

best you can everyday, even if today that simply

means getting out of bed. If everyone who

ever lived had doubted their abilities because

they had faults, nothing great would ever have

been done. If everyone compared themselves

to people who have already come and gone

and achieved greatness, then no one would

have had the courage to follow their dreams,

goals, and purposes. If Einstein had compared

himself to Da Vinci, and subsequently been

scared into inaction, we would never have

gained the knowledge that he shared with

the rest of us. Einstein wasn’t perfect. My bet

is he probably had a few problems with his

personal hygiene, you know, cutting his nostril

What

does

itmean

to be

perfect?

I’m human, I’m not perfect.

Art D

irected: Jack Sanders Photography: Cicely-G

race Ellison

When, in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan,

the artistic director of a New York ballet

school announces that Swan Lake will be

the season’s title performance, whispers

begin to circulate amongst the dancers.

Who will win the role of the white swan

and its black counterpart? One of those

dancers is Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman),

a shy, innocent ballerina who lives under

the strict watch of her troubled mother.

Erica Sayers (Barbara Hershey) was once

a ballerina, but sacrificed her career

to have Nina. Bitter and twisted, she

now lives her life vicariously through

Nina’s experiences, and maintains an

unhealthy influence over her daughter.

Director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel)

finally settles on Nina to play the lead, and

challenges her to release her inhibitions

in order to play both swan roles. ‘When

I look at you, all I see is the white swan,’

he says. ‘I never see you lose yourself . .

. perfection is not just about control, it’s

about letting go.’ And so begins Nina’s

harrowing descent into madness, as her

yearning for perfection begins to take a

consuming, strangling hold on her mind.

Natalie Portman’s Oscar-winning

performance as the tormented ballerina

is certainly award-worthy. It is with her

that we delve deep into the psyche of an

obsessive dancer. Black Swan explores

the lengths to which someone will go to

achieve their ambition. Hungry to refine

her talent, Nina embraces self-inflicted

‘the only person standing in your way

is you.’

physical and mental pain. Her simple existence

is dominated by ballet. She lives in a bubble

of strict regime, where her days consist of

little more than practice and preparation for

routines. Her mother ensures that nothing

comes between her daughter and her art. The

childlike décor of Nina’s bedroom, and her infantile

relationship with her mother indicates that she is a

woman who has not yet grown up. ‘He picked me,

Mommy,’ she exclaims with breathless

delight. Consequently, Nina has no close

friends, and any interaction with her peers

at the ballet school is distanced and strained.

Isolated from full adulthood and all that it offers,

the lack of stable, reliable relationships in Nina’s

life lends itself to the ease with which she falls.

Erica maintains parental control, preserving Nina

as her little girl. When their already shaky

relationship begins to dissolve, we see

glimpses of disturbing behaviour in Erica,

who stands in the dark waiting for Nina to

return home, and watches her sleep. Erica

becomes an uncomfortable, suffocating

matriarch. Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) is

Nina’s role model, and is loved by many at the

ballet school. When forced to retire due to her

age, Beth begins to unravel and, now prone

to suicide attempts and self-harming, spends

the majority of the film in hospital. But Nina

believes that Beth is ‘perfect.’ She aspires to

be like her idol, disregarding her mental state.

Both Thomas and another dancer, Lily

(Mila Kunis), seek to bring out the darker,

sensual side of Nina. Lily introduces Nina

to partying, alcohol, drugs and men. She is

Nina’s main dancing rival and a more suitable

black swan according to Thomas. She is

‘imprecise but effortless.’ She knows how to

let go without being emotionally affected,

unlike Nina. Thomas’s inappropriately sexual

teaching methods at first evoke an angered

reaction from Nina – to Thomas’s delight –

since he can see that Nina has fire within her.

“...perfection is not just about control,

it’s about letting go”

THE PRICE OF PERFECTIONBLACK SWAN

Swan Lake is a beautiful, tragic

story. The delicate art of

ballet sensitively describes

both the joy and turmoil

of its main characters. Tchaikovsky’s

accomplished composition of music

expressed through dance tells of

the love between a prince and a

cursed princess, who is bound

to an evil sorcerer. In their fight

to free her from her captor, they

realise that their only escape is to

leap to their deaths.

Words like ‘important’ and ‘controversial’

inevitably surface when you examine

the lengthy career of German composer

Karlheinz Stockhausen. A few facts to

kick off. He pioneered electronic music in

“variable form”. He has written graphical

scores that can be read from any direction.

Inspired by dreams of flying, he has

written works for a string quartet where

each participant performs from their own

helicopter hovering aWbove the concert

hall. In short, he does things none of us

really understand but sound really

quite impressive.

R

He was an astounding innovator who changed the course of

art. He was also a bit of a prophet. In honor of his passing, we

revisit a 1990 interview full of insights that still sparkle today.

Up until May 12, 2008, if you polled the cognoscenti as to

who was the world’s greatest living artist, the winner would

undoubtedly have been Robert Rauschenberg. But on that

date, Rauschenberg moved into another category of greatness.

And though his physical heart finally gave out after he chose to

remove himself from life support, his spiritual heart beats on

in his generous body of work and in the charities he founded-

including Change, Inc., which has provided emergency funds

for artists in distress for more than 30 years, and the Robert

Rauschenberg Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to raising

awareness of the many issues with which he was involved.

While Andy Warhol may be more associated with Pop art,

Rauschenberg was the prime mover of Pop and an enormous R

Leigh Bowery

26.03.61 - 31 .12 .94

unique

Leigh Bowery (1961-1994), undoubtedly one of the most

controversial and avant-garde personalities of the 80’s.

“About Leigh Bowery” aims to be a photographic cross-

section of the deeds of the artist, performer, fashion

designer, aspiring pop star and object of art that Leigh

Bowery has been. Though almost unknown in Italy, he has

changed the visual language of fashion, and his personality

influenced people

like Lucian Freud,

Boy George,

Antony & the

Johnsons and

David LaChapelle,

who all have shared

and spread his

avant-garde ideas.

For his ability to

change identity,

Leigh Bowery can

be considered as an

authentic witness of

the protest against

s t anda rd i z a t i on

and conservatism,

thus representing

the uniqueness

of every life that

does not accept

rules of conduct

or appearance, in a

pure new-romantic

style, bringing out the individual with the expressive

freedom of genius. Bowery offers himself in an image

that - in a transgender vision - goes beyond the separation

of masculine and feminine appearances and behaviour by

means of the body and clothes, originating new concepts

of glamour and beauty. Leigh Bowery is one of the most

extreme interpreters of the historical context he lives in:

the one of the abolition of every limitation in favour of

complete experimentation and contamination among the

languages of music, art, fashion and design. It is the decade

of Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990), the birth of MTV

(1981), the fall of the Berlin wall (1989), the release of Like

a Virgin (1984) and other music hits like Thriller (1982).

Moreover, with tv, and especially with the promotional use

of music videos, visual impact becomes essential for every

artist willing to enter the commercial circuit. Fergus Greer

and Johnny Rozsa met Bowery and collaborated with him

from 1986 to 1994,

when he passed

away because of

HIV. Through a

series of portraits,

both photographers

give to those who

could not meet

him a real visual

guide of Leigh

Bowery and all he

created with his

own image. Johnny

Rozsa collaborates

with Bowery in a

photo shooting

for the creation of

Christmas Card.

With an unusually

emotional view

for a fashion

p h o t o g r a p h e r ,

Rozsa depicts

Bowery’s genuine

transformism, which sacrifices the wearability of the dress

in favour of the show. As well as actively collaborating

with him, Fergus Greer is also a dear friend of Bowery’s:

he released the “Leigh Bowery Looks” book, with

previously unreleased photos. It is Wexactly with this

visual account that the more intimate acquaintance

between the two emerges. Greer captures al the profound

and hard work that Bowery carries on around his body.

“I try to have the best possible image thanks to my

individuality and expressiveness”. (Leigh Bowery)v

I don’t want to be remembered as a

person with Aids,

I want to be remembered

as a person with Aids,

I want to be remembered as a person with ideas.

I AM GOING TO BE A GREAT ACTRESS .

says Peter Greenaway, sipping

his mint tea, “but I do know

two things. You were conceived,

two people did fuck, and I’m

very sorry but you’re going to

die. Everything else about you

is negotiable.”

Negligible, too. For Greenaway,

there’s sex and there’s death

and “what else is there to

talk about?” He believes, he

continues, as relaxed as if

predicting rain tomorrow, “that

all religion is about death and

art’s about life. Religion is there

to say: hey, you don’t have to

worry – there’s an afterlife.

Culture represents the opposite

of that – sex. A very stupid

Freudian way of looking at

it, but one is positive and one

is negative. Especially against

people like you. All religions

have always hated females.”

Steam billows up from the cup

into his face. He looks half

David Attenborough, breath

fogging the lens as he explores G“I don’t know much about you,”

GPeterreenaway

I S S E Y

M I Y A K E

Miyake is considered the

first Asian fashion designer

to gain renown worldwide.

Known for blending

the flowing fabrics and

textile designs of the East with modern

technology and production methods of

the West, he experimented with natural

and synthetic fibers and advanced textile

science. The winner of nearly every

fashion award, he is known to dislike the title “fashion

designer” and prefers to be considered an artist whose

medium is fabric. Two of Miyake’s most popular lines

are the Pleats Please prints that are permanently pleated

yet flexible, and A-POC (A Piece of Cloth), a

single, ready-to-wear piece of clothing. The

Issey Miyake label also appears on numerous

non-clothing items, including perfume, hosiery,

and home furnishings.

Miyake was born in 1938, in Hiroshima, Japan, and was seven years old when the atomic

bomb was dropped on that city during World War II. His mother, a teacher, was badly

burned by the bombing and died four years later of complications. In an illness unrelated

“

“

to the bomb, Miyake suffered from a bone-marrow

disease at age ten. Ironically, it was the American

occupation in Japan that gave Miyake an introduction to

western culture.Miyake’s interests turned to the artistic

even as a child, and with dreams of being a dancer and

an artist, he took an interest in the pictures of fashions in his sister’s glamour

magazines. Admiring the

way clothes could drape

the human body to make

a statement, he decided

By the way, Marilyn Monroe was a size 14

contents

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Danny Bourke // Photography: Joe Earley

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