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A CONVERSATION WITH STEVE MCCURRY IN INDIA

A Liberatum conversation with Steve McCurry on his travels and love story with India

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PHARRELL WILLIAMS ON SYNAESTHESIA

WILL SMITH TALKS TO LIBERATUM

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Global Multimedia and Multidisciplinary Cultural Organization Empowering and Inspiring Minds to Promote Social Change and Raise Consciousness

PEOPLE OF COLOR AND THE POWER IN SPEAKING OUR OWN

PEOPLE OF COLOR AND THE POWER IN SPEAKING OUR OWN LANGUAGE .

This is a bright new decade full of hope and optimism. It’s important to remember that the goals which the most powerful businessmen and women, and leaders at the World Economic Forum gathered this week aim to achieve is all dependent upon you. You have the power. They are all there in your name. For you. Don’t ever forget that. Their power means very little if they do not have your support. .

Also, I have a message to all my LGBT friends around the world. Here’s lighting a candle to a new era. To no more being told what appropriate clothes to wear. To no more being bullied at schools. To no more having to have sleepless nights for fear of finally coming out to parents. To no more officially ‘coming out’ as it is as natural as being straight. To no more being mentally tortured by family. To no more being physically assaulted and raped by homophobic men. To no more being ridiculed. To no more being expelled from a country for being gay. To no more having hearts broken by straight men. To no more being burnt alive. To no more being killed by governments and religious groups. To no more being laughed at by people in power and corporations. No more worrying about people’s reactions about dressing up and wearing make up. .

Here’s to wearing whatever we wish and sleeping with whoever we choose. We are Black and Brown and Proud. We, LGBT, people are just as able, intelligent and loving as non LGBT ones. Here’s to truly spreading peace and kindness instead of just talking about it on social media. This is one of Liberatum’s key missions. I don’t want children to go through the painful young life I went through because of my sexuality. Children should not have to get used to tears and pain because of the colour of their skin and how they feel inside. - Pablo Ganguli 📸 @edgarazevedo 👦🏾 @missundaztood190 @davidokanjo 🧰 @_negabraba @afrobaphooficial

YOU ARE NOT YOUR NAME There is no such thing as a

YOU ARE NOT YOUR NAME

There is no such thing as a person. There are only restrictions and limitations. The sum total of these defines the person. You think you know yourself when you know what you are. But you never know who you are. The person merely appears to be, like the space within the pot appears to have the shape and volume and smell of the pot. .

See that you are not what you believe yourself to be. Fight with all the strength at your disposal against the idea that you are nameable and describable. You are not. Refuse to think of yourself in terms of this or that. There is no other way out of misery, which you have created for yourself through blind acceptance without investigation. Suffering is a call for enquiry, all pain needs investigation. Don’t be too lazy to think. ― Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj 📸 @robertolourencoph 👦🏽 @alexsdejesus @robertolourencoph 🧰 @a.r.natural

THE BURDEN YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND I believe that

THE BURDEN YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND

I believe that black has been oppressed by white; female by male; peasant by landlord; and worker by lord of capital. It follows from this that the black female worker and peasant is the most oppressed. She is oppressed on account of her color like all black people in the world; she is oppressed on account of her gender like all women in the world; and she is exploited and oppressed on account of her class like all workers and peasants in the world. Three burdens she has to carry. - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, 📸 @thato_za 👩🏾 @keneilwe_lekay @koketso_icon

WHEN LOVE EMBRACES YOU When love beckons to you f

WHEN LOVE EMBRACES YOU

When love beckons to you follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth...... But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself." But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully. - Kahlil Gibran 📸 @coffee_session.art 👦🏾 @plucky.lucky @smoke_himself

AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE . What’s the worst possibl

AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE .

What’s the worst possible thing you can call a woman? Don’t hold back, now.

You’re probably thinking of words like slut, whore, bitch, cunt (I told you not to hold back!), skank.

Okay, now, what are the worst things you can call a guy? Fag, girl, bitch, pussy. I’ve even heard the term “mangina.” Notice anything? .

The worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. Being a woman is the ultimate insult. Now tell me that’s not royally fucked up. - Jessica Valenti 📸 @spencertunick

MARITAL RAPE IS NOT A CRIME IN THE WORLD’S LARGE

MARITAL RAPE IS NOT A CRIME IN THE WORLD’S LARGEST DEMOCRACY

It’s 2020 and India remains one of 36 countries where it is not a crime for a man to rape a woman — as long as they are married.

This asterisked exception features in Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code that defines rape as a criminal offense. A man commits rape if he has sexual intercourse with a woman against or without her consent, or if she is a minor. (The legal age of valid consent is 18 in India.) However, Exception 2 to Section 375 exempts unwilling sexual intercourse with a wife over fifteen years of age from this definition of rape, thus making it legal for men to rape women — who happen to be their wives — aged 15 and above.

Most countries in the world recognize that rape is rape, and that rape is a crime. So, what’s holding India, a burgeoning ‘superpower,’ back? A careful analysis points to several factors: an outdated IPC dating back to the Victorian era; a rigidly patriarchal society, across India’s myriad religions, that suppresses women’s voices and agency; and, a culture where marriage and family, in the dated sense of the words, still hold utmost significance as the building blocks of society.

But arguably, the most stubborn obstacle in the way of India criminalizing marital rape is none other than the Union Government itself. Despite the fact that at any given point, there are several writ petitions before the Supreme Court and the various high courts, filed by individuals and civil society organizations challenging the marital rape exemption to Section 375 — the government has continued to shield men who rape their wives by citing the same few reasons repeatedly. One critical glance is all it takes to break the reasons down to their barebones: misogyny and misconceptions.

Argument 1: It’s against Indian culture

Argument 2: Once married, women’s perpetual consent is implied

Argument 3: Women will misuse any law against marital rape - Pallavi Prasad, The Swaddle @theswaddle 📸 @binti.period

AN ERA OF THE COURAGEOUS . It takes a lot of cour

AN ERA OF THE COURAGEOUS .

It takes a lot of courage to fight biases and oppressive regimes, but it takes even greater courage to admit ignorance and venture into the unknown. Secular education teaches us that if we don’t know something, we shouldn’t be afraid of acknowledging our ignorance and looking for new evidence. .

Even if we think we know something, we shouldn’t be afraid of doubting our opinions and checking ourselves again. Many people are afraid of the unknown, and want clear-cut answers for every question. Fear of the unknown can paralyse us more than any tyrant. People throughout history worried that unless we put all our faith in some set of absolute answers, human society will crumble. .

In fact, modern history has demonstrated that a society of courageous people willing to admit ignorance and raise difficult questions is usually not just more prosperous but also more peaceful than societies in which everyone must unquestioningly accept a single answer. People afraid of losing their truth tend to be more violent than people who are used to looking at the world from several different viewpoints. Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question. - Yuval Noah Harari 📸 @ryanmcginleystudios

THE GIFT OF VULNERABILITY . We cultivate love whe

THE GIFT OF VULNERABILITY .

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.
- Brené Brown 📸 @pheonix.wild

DON’T IRON MY HAIR Recent efforts to ban hair d

THE HOME OF FAITH A home is one of the most sacr

THE HOME OF FAITH

A home is one of the most sacred of places.
It is a sanctuary into which men flee from the
world’s perils and alarms.
It is a resting-place to which at close of day the weary
retire to gather new strength for the
battle and toils of tomorrow.
It is the place where love learns its lessons,
where life is schooled into discipline and strength,
where character is molded.
– J.R. Miller

It takes a lot of living to make a house a home
It doesn’t make any difference how rich you get to be
How much your chairs and tables cost, how great your luxury
It isn’t home to you though it be the palace of a king,
Until somehow your soul is wrapped round everything.
– Paraphrase of Edgar Guest poem, Home 📸 @stevemccurryofficial

THE SKIN OF ACCEPTANCE . Gerry, 75, and Darwin, 7

THE SKIN OF ACCEPTANCE .

Gerry, 75, and Darwin, 70, beloveds for over 20 years.

I refuse to accept the wide spread (mostly western) human belief system in regards to what is beautiful, especially when it comes to the sacred vessel we call our bodies.

Why do we accept to believe that one thing must be more beautiful than another? Why cannot we embrace a million-billion definitions of beautiful?

The divine: skin that drapes, stretches, sags, wrinkles, burns and rebuilds like spiraling Fibonacci across our fragile and strong bones made from the same stuff as the stars all combining to create this phenomenon that comes to life for a short amount of times that we call... bodies.

Many from my human tribe and other humans who wish to sell me things "that will hide the evidence that I am growing older" tell me that as I grow older, I am worth less and less and that elder bodies are anything but beautiful.

These elder bodies: the temples to decades of wisdom, heartbreak, strength, failure, triumph, THRIVING. How, I wonder, could they be anything but beautiful?

Gerry: I love my body. I use a cane, i am having vision problems and my breasts reach to my waist, but you know what? I like me!

Darwin: I still have body issues. I would love to loose some weight. *censored for IG - 📸 Text and photo by @jadebeallphotography

WELCOMING THE UNKNOWN The Unknown is not the Unkn

WELCOMING THE UNKNOWN

The Unknown is not the Unknowable; it need not remain the unknown for us, unless we choose ignorance or persist in our first limitations. For to all things that are not unknowable, all things in the universe, there correspond in that universe faculties which can take cognisance of them, and in man, the microcosm, these faculties are always existant and at a certain stage capable of development. We may choose not to develop them; where they are partially developed, we may discourage and impose on them a kind of atrophy. .

But, fundamentally all possible knowledge is knowledge within the power of humanity. And since in man there is the inalienable impulse of Nature towards self-realisation, no struggle of the intellect to limit the action of our capacities within a determined area can for ever prevail.
- Sri Aurobindo 📸 @mar_______vin for @ffw 👩🏾 @neyzona

THE CULTURES OF THIS PLANET Culture is an elevate

THE CULTURES OF THIS PLANET

Culture is an elevated expression of the inner voice which the different peoples of the Earth have heard in the depths of their being, a voice which conveys the vibrant compassion and wisdom of the cosmic life. For different cultures to engage in interaction is to catalyze each other's souls and foster mutual understanding. - Daisaku Ikeda 📸 The Samburus @jimmy.nelson.official

LIBERATUM LIFE-CHANGING CULTURAL ADVENTURES In a

LIBERATUM LIFE-CHANGING CULTURAL ADVENTURES

In a world of conferences, festivals, summits and symposiums, it can be difficult—and time-consuming—to sort through the masses. Liberatum, founded 19 years ago by Pablo Ganguli, an Indian-born then-17-year-old living in Papua New Guinea, has worked to change that, by creating multidisciplinary cultural moments that wrap diverse artistic endeavors into one.

Liberatum participants, guests, honorees and collaborators have included Pharrell Williams, Francis Ford Coppola, Nicole Kidman, Cher, Tilda Swinton, Gore Vidal, Sir Richard Branson, Tracey Emin, Naomi Campbell, and Will Smith, and in 2010, Ganguli brought architecture into the fold by having the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the late Zaha Hadid, as a guest at a festival in Istanbul.

The Liberatum festival in Mexico City in March 2018 hosted three renowned architects: Pritzker Prize winner Alejandro Aravena; Odile Decq, who gave a talk on why the world of architecture is still enormously male-dominated; and Mexican architect Fernando Romero, perhaps best known for designing Mexico City's Soumaya Museum. (Other guests included Hilary Swank, author Alice Walker, Cleo Wade, Nan Goldin, and Deepak Chopra). Romero, who is debatably the most famous Mexican architect and is currently working on the new international airport for Mexico City, held a cocktail party at his private home for honorees and speakers at the festival. He shares a 1955 midcentury-modern home ("I didn't have to do anything when we bought it") with his wife, Carlos Slim's daughter. .

He also gave a talk during the main event with Aravena on the future of their trade (a major bonus of Liberatum for city residents is that the festival, with the exception of private events for speakers, are free). "Pablo came here, and we had a conversation. And that's how we decided to have this event," Romero explained, punctuating Ganguli's ability to bring together the top leaders in multiple fields. - Carson Griffiths @archdigest

THE EVIL WITHIN US ALL The greatest error of a ma

THE EVIL WITHIN US ALL

The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine and strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires and thoughts, but not himself. - Ramana Maharshi 🎨 William-Adolphe Bouguereau

FEMINISM AND FEMININITY . Feminism and femininity

FEMINISM AND FEMININITY .

Feminism and femininity are not mutually exclusive. It is misogynistic to suggest that they are. Sadly, women have learned to be ashamed and apologetic about pursuits that are seen as traditionally female, such as fashion and makeup. But our society does not expect men to feel ashamed of pursuits considered generally male - sports cars, certain professional sports. .

In the same way, men's grooming is never suspect in the way women's grooming is - a well-dressed man does not worry that, because he is dressed well, certain assumptions might be made about his intelligence, his ability, or his seriousness. A woman, on the other hand, is always aware of how a bright lipstick or a carefully-put-together outfit might very well make others assume her to be frivolous. - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 📸 @maximushka

LOVING FROM THE SOUL There is love and Love. You

LOVING FROM THE SOUL

There is love and Love. You love your family — your father, mother, sister, brother, husband, wife, etc. But you do not love your neighbour. You love your son or daughter, but you do not love all children. You love your father and mother, but you do not love everyone the way you love your father and mother. You love your religion, but you do not love all religions. Likewise, you have love for your country, but you do not love all countries. Hence, this is not Love; it is only love. Transformation of this love to Love is the goal of spirituality. In the fullness of Love blossoms the beautiful, fragrant flower of compassion.

Love just happens. Nobody thinks about how to love, or when and where to love. Nobody is rational about love. Rational thought hinders love. Love is a sudden rising in the heart. Love is an unavoidable, unobstructable longing for oneness. There is no logic in this. It is beyond logic. So do not try to be rational about love. .

It is like trying to give reasons for the river to flow, for the breeze to be cool and gentle, for the moon to glow, for the sky to be expansive, for the ocean to be vast and deep, or for the flower to be fragrant and beautiful. Rationalisation kills the beauty and charm of these things. .

They are to be enjoyed, experienced, loved and felt. If you rationalise about them, you will miss the beauty and charm and the feelings they evoke. Sit by the seashore. Look at it. Feel its vastness. Feel the rising up and down of the waves. Feel and be amazed at the creation and the creator of such magnificence. What good will it do you to rationalise about the ocean? - Amma 📸 @jadebeallphotography

A HEART IS NOT JUDGED BY HOW MUCH YOU LOVE... . A

A HEART IS NOT JUDGED BY HOW MUCH YOU LOVE... .

A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others. - The Wizard of Oz

Love is not selective, just as the light of the sun is not selective. It does not make one person special. It is not exclusive. Exclusivity is not the love of God but the "love" of ego. However, the intensity with which true love is felt can vary. .

There may be one person who reflects your love back to you more clearly and more intensely than others, and if that person feels the same toward you, it can be said that you are in a love relationship with him or her. .

The bond that connects you with that person is the same bond that connects you with the person sitting next to you on a bus, or with a bird, a tree, a flower. Only the degree of intensity with which it is felt differs. - Eckhart Tolle 📸 @ronyhernandes 👦🏾👩🏾 @lhommestatue @vaimalanda

WRATH OF THE EFFEMINATE MAN Out of the 5000 gay m

WRATH OF THE EFFEMINATE MAN

Out of the 5000 gay men surveyed by Attitude magazine on masculinity, a staggering 71 per cent said that they had been actively turned off by a prospective partner because they had shown signs of femininity. If that wasn’t bad enough, 41 per cent then went on to say that they believed effeminate men gave the gay community a bad image. Right. It’s a troubling pattern that goes hand-in-hand with the group of gays who would prefer to be called androphiles, because they don’t like “traditionally gay” things like Lady Gaga. Who knew shaking my ass to “Poker Face” at G-A-Y made me an embarrassment to homosexuals everywhere?

All jokes aside, from my own personal encounters of internalised homophobia, this sadly doesn’t come as much of a shock to me. Growing up, my own mother – in an attempt to protect me – would often say “don't act/walk/talk like that”. That being the unspoken word replacing ‘camp’ or ‘feminine’. For years I was so ashamed of my own feminine qualities, that when on dates I would say very little or speak quietly because I was worried my voice would give me away. Even now, I find myself trying (and failing) to butch myself up when surrounded by extended family members, or straight men I am unfamiliar with. And while you may be thinking ‘boo hoo it's all just because nobody wants to sleep with you’; these conversations are dangerous.

After years of reading Grindr profiles with slogans like “masc4masc” and “no fats, no femmes, no Asians” – the other two statements are a whole other discussion in themselves – I decided to not use apps like them, to benefit my own mental health and self-esteem. But the effect of constantly being fed the message that femme equals bad is hard to ignore. There have been multiple occasions where I have been told that I was “more gay in person” than I appeared on the app. Unsettling, considering I am gay. - Dominic Cadogan, Dazed 📸 @rodyoli 👦🏾 @afeminadaplus

THE CONVERSATION ABOUT PLEASURE We are constantly

THE CONVERSATION ABOUT PLEASURE

We are constantly reminded by the moral police to cover up and only seek pleasure in moderation with a particular emphasis on procreation. .

If religious groups would have their way, we would be severely punished for our sexual desires. It would be a disastrous sin to engage in any kind of activity that makes us feel satisfied about our sexual apetite. .

What is wrong with a bit of harmless S&M between two consenting adults these politically correct times? And why are we so obsessed with age differences in sexual relationships provided both parties are willing and legally able? .

Why can’t a woman over the age of 50 enjoy a fulfilling sex life with whoever she pleases? It would be wiser to focus on issues that are really critical such as taking care of wildlife and fighting against racism. - Liberatum 📸 @polkurucz

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