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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 GOES TO INDIA WITH LIBERATUM

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

🖌🤍 It is rather unfortunate that we live in

🖌🤍 It is rather unfortunate that we live in an age where being prolific is mistaken with great art, and where networking and a huge social media presence is synonymous with gigantic achievements. So you can imagine those working away in isolation creating masterpieces far away from the jungle of media attention believing that their art is not good enough. - Pablo Ganguli

𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐉𝐔𝐃𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆?

I’m too “much” as I get told often so I want to remind you this account is about bending your mind, the patterns and belief you have been conditioned to live by unconsciously and questioning if something is right for us as individuals as oppose to doing them because we where taught to by the patriarchy and because “ others do it”.

9 year old me remembers a Hippy at the park pushing her child on the swing happy as can be and another woman out aloud said“ for god sake did you see her the filth bag”!

I was 11 starting high school, my first week of school I cried almost every day in the toilets because I was picked on for having hairy legs while every other preteen had smooth baby bum like legs. I ran home, grabbed a razor, saved up instead of down clueless and sliced my knee open. It bled straight for 3 days after.

I am now questioning everything I know. It’s not a crisis I just finally feel WOMAN enough, ME enough, to ask myself the questions about what triggers me.

Last week I saw an image on social media of a women with armpit hair and felt so grossed out just looking at her feeling embarrassed for her. For me that was a huge sign of SELF REFLECTION. She’s just living her life, why am I so triggered why is my relationship with body hair so disgusted.

Every time I’ve had sex in my life I dare not let another touch me unless I was as sooth as silk. Every time I wore a dress I dare not wear it with stubble hairs on my legs. Every time my snail trail grew thick and black after pregnancy I dare not show it, quick hide it you look filthy I’d tell myself.

I needed to heal that part of my judgment towards others and myself.

I grew out my hair this month, and I probably never will again. But I found out a few things and discovered some truths and answered some of my own “whys”

I choose to shave for ME but when I don’t it doesn’t change my worth toward myself anymore.

It’s NEVER up to us to choose what makes people feel more like them and what is right for them. Your only in control of your own choices and Body.

What will you stop judging without understanding? - @shani.chantel 📸 @shani.chantel

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐑𝐄

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐄𝐋

20 years of Liberatum and 38 years of my own life so far. I started Liberatum at the age of 17 to connect cultures and communities who did not have access to the arts free of charge. So many memories. Looking back today at the past feeling humble and grateful, and very much looking forward to the future. Still haven’t changed my priorities: building cultural bridges and promoting freedom of speech through creativity. So much misinformation out there and so many governments wanting to shutdown people and lock those up who are different and who look different and who think differently. We have been “othered” for decades. No more. I THANK YOU ALL 💙🤍🕊. - Pablo Ganguli

𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊

𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐒 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔

Portraits of burn survivor and artist @w.i.k.i.d.e from Kibera Slum. He was only two when he got trapped in a house fire. He has undergone 17 surgeries to treat the burn scars and has experienced bullying as a child. However, he is resilient. He writes:

When I look in the mirror, I see myself as beautiful because I am kind of unique. When I was younger people would call me crocodile or leather skin and I would often fight them. I developed strong self-esteem by toughening and standing up for myself.

People have called leather skin, but I see that as a positive because it means that I have tough skin emotionally.

My advice for young people like me who have scars and experience bullying is for them to be positive and to use the rocks thar people throw at them to build a strong foundation of self- esteem. The bullies are weak. They can only use their words to hurt you but deep down they know you are strong and that is why they're afraid. They will try to demoralize you so you can't see your own strength and use it against them.

Photographer 📸 @justin_anantawan 👦🏾 @w.i.k.i.d.e

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐄

Lord, thou knowest better than myself that I am growing older and will soon be old. Keep me from becoming too talkative, and especially from the unfortunate habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and at every opportunity.

Release me from the idea that I must straighten out other peoples' affairs. With my immense treasure of experience and wisdom, it seems a pity not to let everybody partake of it. But thou knowest, Lord, that in the end I will need a few friends.

Keep me from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point.

Grant me the patience to listen to the complaints of others; help me to endure them with charity. But seal my lips on my own aches and pains -- they increase with the increasing years and my inclination to recount them is also increasing.

I will not ask thee for improved memory, only for a little more humility and less self-assurance when my own memory doesn't agree with that of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be wrong.

Keep me reasonably gentle. I do not have the ambition to become a saint -- it is so hard to live with some of them -- but a harsh old person is one of the devil's masterpieces.

Make me sympathetic without being sentimental, helpful but not bossy. Let me discover merits where I had not expected them, and talents in people whom I had not thought to possess any. And, Lord, give me the grace to tell them so.

Amen - Anonymous

Photographer 📸 @artdifo

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐔𝐈

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐌

Earlier this year, Liberatum received an invitation from @louisvuitton to collaborate with them to mark Monsieur Louis Vuitton’s 200th anniversary. Liberatum was chosen as one of 200 visionaries around the world including Drake, BTS, Frank Gehry and Gloria Steinem to contribute artistically to a special global project entitled #LOUIS200.

Happy Birthday Louis! Liberatum turned 20 this year and it gives us great pleasure to celebrate your 200th year of birth with our 20th!

The windows of the LV Maison Stores came alive with digital versions of our creation and the Louis 200 digital catalogue is also live – this can be seen at https://louis200.com and accessed via a QR code in the windows themselves.

The celebrations have expanded to include all Louis Vuitton stores globally with a focus on our Liberatum creation in every window for half a day on 14th October. Louis Vuitton has also showcased a reinterpreted and reimagined trunk created by Liberatum as part of the project.

Louis Vuitton is donating €10,000 euros on behalf of Liberatum to a charitable organisation. Liberatum will share the information on their donation shortly. Furthermore, the 200 trunks will be digitized and shared across Louis Vuitton’s social platforms before going to auction at Sotheby’s this coming December. All proceeds will be donated to an organization.

A Liberatum Original Artwork for Louis Vuitton envisioned by Pablo Ganguli:

Against the backdrop of a shimmering pink universe full of sparkling stars and luminescent planets, the artwork symbolises a galaxy full of dreams, profound life changing journeys and past experiences to expand human consciousness. Bodies of all shapes and ethnicities suspended in the air, flying into the universe in a magnificent sculptural form and gravity defying dance. It is a poignant representation of the uniqueness of the human interconnection and how deeply we influence and affect each other in our journeys. The tree of human life.

Liberatum Credits:
Photographer 📸 @kevinoux
Art 🖼 @myra.fiori
Producer: @braziliansweetheart
Creative Director: @auksas
Art Direction: @sizaaaa

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐈

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄

This little boy’s father Munzir lost his right leg when a bomb was dropped as he walked through a bazaar in Idlib, Syria.

His son Mustafa was born without lower or upper limbs due to tetra-amelia, a congenital disorder caused by the medications his mother Zeynep had to take after being sickened by nerve gas released during the war in Syria.

Mustafa will need special electronic prostheses in the future which, unfortunately, are not yet available in Turkey. - Siena International Photo Awards

Photographer 📸 Mehmet Aslan

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑

𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐌 𝐉𝐎

𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐌 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐆𝐘𝐏𝐓

For as long as we can remember, Egypt has occupied a notable space in our hearts. The history, the grandeur, all those engrossing fables. The immensity of its cultural treasures knows no bounds.

So it is not surprising to imagine our long love story with the idea of everything Egypt represented. And then it soon turned into a reality last month. We were there in the heart of it all. Meeting its youth was a joy. Smiling faces, energetic and curious inhabitants on every street welcomed us with open arms.

We shared delicious food with actors, artists, historians, hoteliers, hairdressers and architects from all over the land. It gave us an energising introduction to the country. A first step towards planting the seeds of building a Liberatum festival in the country. A place filled with vibrant artists and storytellers eager to engage with the world. To be continued.

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐎

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐆𝐄𝐒

In a world of conferences, festivals, summits and symposiums, it can be difficult—and time-consuming—to sort through the masses. Liberatum, founded 17 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 and Naomi Campbell, 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.

Architecture has continued to be a celebrated enterprise during Liberatum festivals and summits—as well as film, literature, social consciousness, music and art, amongst others—in the past years. 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). - @archdigest

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒

We aren’t born with a ready-made conscience. As we pass through life, we hurt people and people hurt us, we act compassionately and others show compassion to us.

If we pay attention, our moral sensitivity sharpens, and these experiences become a source of valuable ethical knowledge about what is good, what is right and who I really am.

Humanism thus sees life as a gradual process of inner change, leading from ignorance to enlightenment by means of experiences. The highest aim of humanist life is to fully develop your knowledge through a large variety of intellectual, emotional and physical experiences.

In the early nineteenth century, Wilhelm von Humboldt – one of the chief architects of the modern education system – said that the aim of existence is ‘a distillation of the widest possible experience of life into wisdom’. He also wrote that ‘there is only one summit in life – to have taken the measure in feeling of everything human’. This could well be the humanist motto.
- Yuval Noah Harari

Photographer 📸 @renanbenedit

A Liberatum weekend in Siwa, Western Desert of Egy

A Liberatum weekend in Siwa, Western Desert of Egypt near the Libyan border 🏝

A memorable Liberatum adventure in Egypt 🇪🇬✨

𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐌 𝐱 𝐋𝐎

𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐌 𝐱 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐍

Earlier this year, Liberatum received an invitation from @louisvuitton to collaborate with them to mark Monsieur Louis Vuitton’s 200th anniversary. Liberatum was chosen as one of 200 visionaries around the world including Drake, BTS, Frank Gehry and Gloria Steinem to contribute artistically to a special global project entitled #LOUIS200.

Happy Birthday Louis! Liberatum turned 20 this year and it gives us great pleasure to celebrate your 200th year of birth with our 20th!

The windows of the LV Maison Stores will come alive with digital versions of our creation and the Louis 200 digital catalogue will also be live – this can be seen at https://louis200.com and accessed via a QR code in the windows themselves.

The celebrations will expand to include all Louis Vuitton stores globally with a focus on our Liberatum creation in every window for half a day on 14th October. Louis Vuitton will also showcase a reinterpreted and reimagined trunk created by Liberatum as part of the project.

Louis Vuitton is donating €10,000 euros on behalf of Liberatum to a charitable organisation. Liberatum will share the information on their donation shortly. Furthermore, the 200 trunks will be digitized and shared across Louis Vuitton’s social platforms before going to auction at Sotheby’s this coming December. All proceeds will be donated to an organization.

A Liberatum Original Artwork for Louis Vuitton envisioned by Pablo Ganguli:

Against the backdrop of a shimmering pink universe full of sparkling stars and luminescent planets, the artwork symbolises a galaxy full of dreams, profound life changing journeys and past experiences to expand human consciousness. Bodies of all shapes and ethnicities suspended in the air, flying into the universe in a magnificent sculptural form and gravity defying dance. It is a poignant representation of the uniqueness of the human interconnection and how deeply we influence and affect each other in our journeys. The tree of human life.

Liberatum Credits:
Photographer 📸 @kevinoux
Art 🖼 @myra.fiori
Producer: @braziliansweetheart
Creative Director: @auksas
Art Direction: @sizaaaa

𝐁𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐔𝐒

Biphobia is a hard reality for all of us who happen to be attracted to both sexes. It’s 2019, and the word “bisexual” still lacks the kind of polite respectability that “gay” has only just started to earn. “Gay” can be vanilla and white picket fence – you have “gay marriages” and “gay couples”. “Bisexual”, on the contrary, still reeks of a certain kind of taboo and mystery. .

When you’re bisexual, regardless of your gender, you know that you’ll find yourself facing a specific set of tired stereotypes. First comes the confusion — “how can you like both? Are you really sure? Is it just a phase? Isn’t everyone a little bi anyway?” Then the assumptions and hot-takes: “bisexuals are all greedy. You’re just gay in denial. Wait, actually — you’re straight but looking for attention.” And finally, the mistrust: “if you’re bisexual, how can you ever be faithful?” .

Now, women and non-binary bisexuals certainly face their own type of erasure and prejudice, which is especially accentuated in light of the systematic sexism and queerphobia which cis males, of any sexual orientation, do not encounter. But for bisexual men, biphobia takes on a specific shape — one which undermines the very core of our public identity.

The simple fact is that within our society, masculinity doesn’t usually afford the same kind of fluidity that femininity, on the other hand, exudes. Since the patriarchy demands a stronger, monolithic role for men, the question of whether one “passes the threshold” of being a “real guy” forms the key nexus of the masculine identity.

For heteronormative standards, bisexual men fail the threshold twofold. Since Western society demands an implicit “heterosexual purity” for men, anyone who falls outside this exclusive box is automatically lumped as an “other”. Put simply, in the eyes of a heteronormative society, bisexual males are “gay” to all effects, and as such will receive homophobic exclusion and prejudice. - Andrea Carlo

Photographer 📸 @ronyhernandes 👩🏾👦🏾 @jabutaya @afrovocalista @_silvestrelucas

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐌 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐇

Liberatum prides itself in being able to create the most extraordinary cultural experiences around the world with the finest minds from culture, art, entertainment, technology, science, leadership and business.

A few years ago, we had the pleasure of taking Will Smith to India where he met glorious, happy faces from all walks of life in New Delhi, Agra and Mumbai among other places. The highlight of his trip was his Liberatum cultural event as part of the HT Leadership Summit of which Liberatum is the creative partner.

Liberatum was also delighted in introducing its other collaborator, the great Pelé to Mr Smith for the first time. Momentous meeting of great minds in India #liberatum

📸 @willsmith @westbrook @aidan

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

Here is the thing, is that I have problems, we all have problems, but what you do when you face with the hard times in your life, is what you made of it, is what you become. You don't become great by giving everything handed to you, no it is not the reality. What happens is you go through struggles, you go through the hardest moments in your life and then you find out what you made out of it. You find out how much fire you can go through in your life. It is not easy, it is never easy, it is always hard, it is always ugly and to be honest, it is what makes you you , so embrace it, embrace hard times in your life because they won't last . Embrace what you have right now in your life , because it could be gone tomorrow.
- @zuzu.valla

Team credits:

📸 Art Direction & Photography:
@zuzu.valla
Photographer assistant: @sara_carpentieri_
Stylists:
@chez_style
@yalk_style
Make up & Manicurist: @bryanna_angel_mua
Hair:
@laurenbellhair
Set Design: @ghost.them.on.set
Set Design assistant:
@eyeswalking
Models:
@livi.deane
Agency @zebedee_management
@laurenhilaire_zebedee
Agency @zebedee_management
@mollie_pearcee
Agency @zebedee_management
@sonia_veraofficial
@iamhannylalaa
Agency @zebedee_management
@be_more_nancy
Agency @zebedee_management
@rollinfunky
Agent: @slingshotldn
Francis Majekodunmi
Agency: @radicalbeautyproject @dragsyndrome
Retouch:
@ismagilova.retouch
Photomontage:
@aligmfoto

𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐂𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒. 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐘

I remember clearly the first time I saw Mörci ( @its_moerci ) , I was amazed by his inner grace and unique beauty.
The beauty of Mörci is beyond every form of codification: it is deep, unique and unequivocal.

As a photographer, my voice often speaks through the images I create and a message I always wanted to convey is that beauty cannot be standardized. You can not just create a box and say "this is beautiful and everything outside of it is not"!

A big part of my artistic research has been to find beauty in many places where people struggle seeing it. This is a way to embrace and bring value back to so many of the aspects of ourselves (as individuals and as a society ) that we have learned to reject and deny. - @francescocascavilla Francesco Cascavilla

Photographer 📸 @francescocascavilla

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓

Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something- and it is only such love that can know freedom.

The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end - you don't come to an achievement, you don't come to a conclusion. It is an endless river.

When I understand myself, I understand you, and out of that understanding comes love. Love is the missing factor; there is a lack of affection, of warmth in relationship; and because we lack that love, that tenderness, that generosity, that mercy in relationship, we escape into mass action which produces further confusion, further misery. We fill our hearts with blueprints for world reform and do not look to that one resolving factor which is love.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Photographer 📸 @robwoodcoxphoto

𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐒

Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.

When you say something really unkind, when you do something in retaliation your anger increases. You make the other person suffer, and he will try hard to say or to do something back to get relief from his suffering. That is how conflict escalates.

Around us, life bursts with miracles--a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life's daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there.

- Thich Nhat Hanh

🖼 Luis Ricardo Falero, Josep Tapiró, William-Adolphe Bouguereau

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