Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Natural Canvas – Artist Etches Beautiful Illustrations on Mushrooms

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 03:20 AM PST

If you like unique art mediums, you’re going to love Corey Corcoran’s work. The Boston-based artist uses mushrooms as canvases for his original illustrations.

Creating really good illustrations is hard enough on paper, but on the surface of Ganoderma applanatum (also known as Artist Conk mushroom) is even harder. You can erase a mistake on a piece of paper, but once something is etched into the skin of the mushroom, it can’t be undone. But that doesn’t seem to bother Corey Corcoran, on the contrary, it’s probably one of the things that attracted him to this weird choice for a canvas. He has to be very precise when engraving the fruits of his imagination into the mushroom, using the changing shades of brown to create truly unique works of natural art. The size of his works ranges from six inches to two feet, depending on the mushroom canvas, and the theme mostly revolves around plant life, insects, and people.

 

 

 

 

Photos © Corey Corcoran

via Neatorama

Natural Canvas – Artist Etches Beautiful Illustrations on Mushrooms was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Women Living As Men – The Sworn Virgins of Albania

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 01:44 AM PST

Earlier this year, we posted about Bacha Posh, the little cross-dressing girls of Afghanistan who spend their childhood dressing and living as boys. But there are places in this world where women swap genders for an entire lifetime. Albania is one such place, where sworn virgins exist in accordance with their familial code of ethics called Kanun, of Leke Dukagjini.

According to the non-religious Kanun tradition, families in some parts of Albania must be both patrilineal and patrilocal. This means the family wealth is always inherited by the men, and a woman moves into her husband's home after marriage. Marriages are arranged at a very young age, if not at birth, and once deemed eligible to marry, the woman must become a part of her husband's family. The role of a woman is severely circumscribed, reduced to taking care of the children and maintaining a home. A woman's life is considered to be worth only half of that of a man. For the followers of the Kanun tradition, dress is an important marker to distinguish between genders. The men wear trousers, close-fitting caps and wrist watches, while women are dressed in skirts, headscarves, aprons and sometimes even veils. That actually doesn't sound too odd, does it? But here's the twist – a woman can choose to become a man in a Kanun society, by simply dressing like one. So an Albanian woman who dresses like a man, is a man. A change in dress is all that's needed for a change in gender. Born out of a social necessity, women who become men in Albania are called Virgjinesha (the sworn virgins).

Photo: Jill Peters

The process for a woman to become a Virgjinesha is actually pretty simple. All she needs to do is take a vow under the law of Kanun to become a man. And from that day on, she becomes one. She has to dress like a man, walk, talk, act and work like one. She must remain celibate all her life. She is even referred to as a 'he'. She automatically assumes the role of the head of the family, and takes on certain important responsibilities like supervising the wealth of the family, defending the family in blood feuds and also receiving guests. The Virgjinesha becomes her family's representative in the community. This may seem like a huge sacrifice to some, but to the women of Albania it is actually a window of opportunity – to live a life of more freedom and social mobility.

Photo: Emilie Regnier

There are a couple of conditions that need to be met, however, before a woman is permitted to become a Virgjinesha man. Either she must choose not to marry her pre-arranged husband or anyone else, or, her parents may view the transition as necessary if they have no other male heirs. While the first is mainly to avoid having an arranged marriage, the second move is to make sure that the wealth stays within the family, as only men are allowed an inheritance. But then there are always exceptions to the rule. There are those rare times when a woman will choose to become a man simply because she is more comfortable that way. Case-in-point is Lule, who at the age of 19, decided to become a Virgjinesha in spite of having a brother. Today she is responsible for a household of 10, including her brother's children. Her family refers to her as 'he', and she runs a welding business while tending to the family's lands. Her hair is cropped short; she wears trousers and a wristwatch. Of course, she will be treated like all other men if the family is ever a part of a blood feud, but that is a small price to pay in exchange for basic rights and freedom.

 

78-year-old Pashe Keqi, a Virgjinesha who has lost almost all traces of ever having been a woman, says that times have now changed. Having made the transition over 60 years ago, she says, "Back then, it was better to be a man because before, a woman and an animal were considered the same thing. Now, Albanian women have equal rights with men and are even more powerful, and I think today it would be fun to be a woman." Dressed in baggy trousers, sitting with her legs open wide like a man's and speaking in a baritone voice, Keqi says she would certainly choose womanhood had she been born in Albania today. The ritual was more prevalent in the Albania of the olden times, when it was a small nation cut-off from the rest of mainstream Europe under a Stalinist dictatorship. Today, things are different, and most girls no longer want to be boys.

Sources: The New York Times, Jolique

Women Living As Men – The Sworn Virgins of Albania was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

The Paris Syndrome – A Bizarre Psychological Condition Affecting Japanese Tourists?

Posted: 27 Dec 2012 01:13 AM PST

Among a host of first world problems is the mysterious Paris Syndrome – that horrible feeling you get when you realize the beautiful City of Lights isn't all that you imagined it to be. And strangely, the worst to be affected by this bizarre condistion are the otherwise calm and collected Japanese.

As ridiculous as it sounds, Paris Syndrome is very real. Because of the way the city is represented in the media, especially the Japanese media, a lot of people labor under the misconception that Paris is a quaint, friendly little place with affluence reeking in its every corner. The women are imagined to be dainty and beautiful, the city is expected to smell like Chanel No. 5, parks filled with pigeons and waiters bursting into song at the drop of a hat. In fact, many Japanese really believe that Parisians are all thin, gorgeous and unbelievably rich. Inevitably, their bubble is burst on their very first day in the city.

Photo: Andreas Nilsson

Paris, just like any other city in the world, has its own share of pros and cons – a fact conveniently glossed over by most media outlets. The world prefers to immortalize Paris in a certain way, and that's perhaps the biggest contributor to Paris Syndrome. But the truth of the matter is that the fashion capital of the world does have an ugly side to it as well. Many Parisians are quite unaccommodating of foreigners, especially those who do not speak French. Conversations in any other language are downright unpleasant, even more so with people who seem to loathe your existence on their land. The service industry isn't always all that courteous to tourists either. The public transportation, far from being jolly metro cars, often consists of hot, overcrowded trains filled with screaming children and groping couples. Now, we're not saying Paris isn't beautiful, it is. But unlike cities like New York that have embraced their darker side, Paris is still presented as though it is the perpetually spinning world inside of a little girl's music box. The difference may not seem like much to someone reading this, but for a first-hand experience, it can be hard to digest.

Photo: Joel Kabahit

So what exactly happens to those suffering from Paris Syndrome? I was curious to know too. Apparently, these tourists are gripped with anxiety, a combination of physical and psychological symptoms that aren't very pleasant to deal with. It manifests in different ways for different people. Some are scared to go traveling again for a long time. Others suffer from acute delusions, dizziness, sweating, hallucinations, depression and feelings of persecution. In 2011, there were at least 6 cases of people who were struggling to come to grips with the fact that the city of their dreams does not exist, and had to be flown back to their own country for medical supervision. For most cases, a few days of good bed rest and hydration fixes the problem. The Japanese Embassy in Paris, however, does face a steady flow of calls and visits from Japanese tourists who want some reassurance that the city won't collapse on them.

 

Perhaps this isn't all too difficult to understand, given that Japanese and French cultures are poles apart. The culture-shock is probably pretty huge to digest, especially when getting simple, mundane tasks done can make someone feel harassed. It's not just tourists, but exchange students and Japanese who have moved to Paris for work, who suffer from the ailment. It seems the four most important factors contributing to the Japanese struggles in Paris are Culture Shock, Communication Barriers, Difference in Culture and Physical Fatigue. The French are known to be rather free about speaking their mind, often forcefully. This could be hard to digest for the rather mild-mannered Japanese who are always careful not to offend. After I read about the Paris Syndrome, I did feel a little sorry for the Japanese. Well, it should help them (and everyone else traveling to Paris) to remember that the Paris in the movies is almost entirely different from the one that exists in real life today. Sure there a lot of gorgeous sights to explore and photograph, friendly people, and delicious foods, but just like any other city in the world, it has its rotten apples.

Sources: The Atlantic, RocketNews24

The Paris Syndrome – A Bizarre Psychological Condition Affecting Japanese Tourists? was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

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