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

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

THE LONGINGS OF THE OTHERS Bangladesh is one of t

THE LONGINGS OF THE OTHERS

Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim countries where prostitution in registered brothels is legal. The Kandapara brothel in Tangail is the oldest and one of the largest, it has existed for some 200 years. It has been demolished in 2014 but has been established again with the help of local NGOs. .

Here live and work more than 700 sex workers with their children and their madams. Most of the women were either trafficked or born inside the brothel and secure in this way their livelihood. Their customers are police men, politics, farmers, fishermen, factory workers, groups of teenage boys.

The brothel district is surrounded by a two meter wall. In the narrow streets there are food stalls, tee shops and street vendors. The brothel is a place with its own rules and hierarchies which are often completely different from the mainstream society. The most vulnerable stage is when a young woman enters the brothel – she is called a bonded girl. Officially, they must be 18 years old, but most of them are underage. Bonded girls are usually 12 to 14 years old. They have no freedom or rights. They belong to a madam, have debts and are not allowed to go outside or keep their money. .

From the moment that a woman has paid her debts, she is free to leave the brothel. But these women are socially stigmatized outside and tolerated only in these brothel areas, so they to stay and continue supporting their families with their earnings. - Words and Photo by 📸 Sandra Hoyn @sandrahoyn

THE EXPERIENCE OF AWARENESS Everything that ever

THE EXPERIENCE OF AWARENESS

Everything that ever happened to you, you experienced right within you. Light and darkness, pain and pleasure, agony and ecstasy—all of it happened within you. If someone touches your hand right now, you may think you are experiencing their hand, but the fact of the matter is you are only experiencing the sensations in your own hand. The whole experience is contained within. All human experience is one hundred percent self-created.
- Sadhguru 📸 @imagesbyabhishek

THE SIN OF THE BADLY BEHAVED People of color, wom

THE SIN OF THE BADLY BEHAVED

People of color, women, and gays — who now have greater access to the centers of influence that ever before — are under pressure to be well-behaved when talking about their struggles. There is an expectation that we can talk about sins but no one must be identified as a sinner: newspapers love to describe words or deeds as “racially charged” even in those cases when it would be more honest to say “racist”; we agree that there is rampant misogyny, but misogynists are nowhere to be found; homophobia is a problem but no one is homophobic. One cumulative effect of this policed language is that when someone dares to point out something as obvious as white privilege, it is seen as unduly provocative. Marginalized voices in America have fewer and fewer avenues to speak plainly about what they suffer; the effect of this enforced civility is that those voices are falsified or blocked entirely from the discourse. -
Teju Cole 📸 @stuperk63

DO YOU SEE AND FEEL REALITY? . Why do we discrimi

DO YOU SEE AND FEEL REALITY? .

Why do we discriminate against others based on the color of their skin? Why is racism so widespread even in countries such as India as well as Brazil and Mexico where the population is not Caucasian or fully white. One automatically thinks racism is a 'white' issue or only a big problem in the western world. Not true. .

Even people of color discriminate against other people of color in their own country and also those with white skin. We have to ask ourselves what's at the root of this terrible prejudice. What causes it? We as humans can never fully realize our gifts and potential if we still believe someone is better and superior because of their skin color. That kind of thinking has to end if we are to flourish as humanity.
When you fall in love, you fall in love with the person, their soul, their character, personality, eyes and smile. Not their skin color or ethnicity. .

Of course it is wonderful to be different and to have different racial background, ethnicities and heritage but that is just a small part of who we are. Our dreams, ideas, upbringing and our life stories make us who we are and that's why it is so important to not allow racism to hurt our stories and the journeys of millions of others. .

You would never say you dislike your country or another country because of its shape on the world map, so why would you say that about a person's skin color or ethnicity? - Liberatum 📸 @artwolfe

THE DEFINITION OF BEAUTY . Liberatum is here to c

THE DEFINITION OF BEAUTY .

Liberatum is here to challenge your perceptions of beauty. .

The mission of Liberatum is to present global audiences with remarkable programmes of the highest calibre featuring world-renowned cultural icons as participants to promote social change, freedom of expression and raise consciousness about important issues affecting humanity in order to create a better future.

Liberatum was founded almost 19 years ago in Papua New Guinea by a 17 year old Indian teenager named Pablo Ganguli as a unconventional cultural organization to spread positive ideas and empower societies around the world. .

Over the years, Liberatum has evolved into a distinctive global multidisciplinary and multimedia cultural powerhouse collaborating with the world's finest minds, visionaries and pioneers on significant and inspirational programs and projects worldwide ranging from climate change, cultural diplomacy to women's rights and LGBT issues to fighting against racial discrimination. All created for the public and open to the public. .

Liberatum's unique and diverse programming of celebrated forums, summits, festivals, films, installations, creative content and multimedia events bring together thinkers, artists, activists, authors, leaders, architects, mavericks and dreamers from all over the world to champion freedom of expression and the importance to connect people and cultures through creativity, ideas and artistic expression. Will Smith, Gore Vidal, Nicole Kidman, VS Naipaul, Vivienne Westwood, Noam Chomsky, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Francis Ford Coppola, Cher, Wole Soyinka, Joan Smalls, Stephen Frears, Franca Sozzani, John Hurt, Valery Gergiev, David Hockney, Marilyn Minter, Paul Schrader, Ed Ruscha, Kehinde Wiley and the United Nations have been some of the participants among thousands of Liberatum collaborators and guests. 📸 @bernardomoreiraa We love this photograph of Amanda Carvalho shot by Bernardo Moreiraa

THE STRENGTH OF A MOTHER To describe my mother wo

THE STRENGTH OF A MOTHER

To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow. – Maya Angelou 📸 @lulahyers 👩🏽👶🏻 Djes Bèl and her baby, Eli Wyo @ixe___brer .

As amazing as it is, becoming a parent for the first time has its challenges: You’re navigating a major life transition on little sleep and without the benefit of experience. But you adjust, your confidence grows and the stretches of sleep at night extend—and you may soon feel up for expanding your family again.

When you do, don’t be surprised if everything feels less intense. Science proves becoming a mother for the first time is generally more intense both physically and emotionally than the experience with later children. “First-time motherhood is so hard because it’s just so new,” says Diana Spalding, certified midwife and Motherly’s Birth Editor. “No matter how much you prepare, there's no way you can fully be ready for everything that comes with it.” - Motherly

YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE Be like the sun for grace an

YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE

Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear. - Rumi 📸 @braziliansweetheart

THE PAST IN AUSTRALIA “I am very sorry for the f

THE PAST IN AUSTRALIA “I am very sorry for the fire that burns in the lands stolen by the whites from the Aborigines. I hope that with this tragedy we can never forget these people and the history. They are not doing well, and we shall always remember that this is their home !!! we can't talk about the environment without talking about racism first !!!! I have been praying for Australia for a loong time. Save Australia. Save the Aborigines.” - Lea T @leat
To fix the climate crisis, we must face up to our imperial past

It’s time to join the dots between our overlapping crises of – and shared solutions to – environmental degradation, damaged health, racial oppression and gender injustice.

Nature narrates the colonial story, through its vast mines, its desecrated rivers, and emaciated territories. Across continents, mangroves, grasslands, rainforests, and wetlands were cleared to make way for quarries, plantations, ranches, roads and railways.

As historian Richard Drayton explains, imperialism – the expansion of empire – was ‘a campaign to extend an ecological regime: a way of living in Nature’. Entire landscapes had to be subjected to control and exploitation. Overuse, pollution and deforestation were the norm.

Colonies were arranged to maximize and facilitate extraction. Profit was the compass. French colonial planners divided ‘useful Africa’ from ‘useless Africa’. Lands were surveyed, zoned, parcelled, and mapped. All these endeavours relied on a narrative of emptiness, of nothingness.

The New World’s territories were vacant fields, lands of nobody, terra nullius – open for conquest and colonizing. The Arctic, the Outback, the Wild West and the Amazon were (and continue to be) enduring metaphors that allowed colonisers to depict territories as barren wastelands. But these lands were not empty. The fiction of negation, and discovery, was used to justify the clearance of native habitats and inhabitants.

Nature was a blank slate, to be reconfigured and rendered useful. Where colonizers arrived, maps were redrawn, inhabitants ousted, and new methods of production installed. - Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik, Open Democracy 📸 @bookhopper

NOBODY IS TOO SMALL TO HAVE A FUTURE . Reshma, a

NOBODY IS TOO SMALL TO HAVE A FUTURE .

Reshma, a young woman from Siliguri (West Bengal) in India was an aspiring model and a bar dancer. She lived with her mom and later to achieve her goals, started living and working alone. She started working in a multinational company later just to earn some good and quick cash. In between her struggles she met a guy, a decent one who cared for her. .

When everyone else and Reshma herself thought that he could be the guy for her, whom she can marry, Reshma cama to learn that he was already married and that the guy was cheating on her.
After leaving him for good, Reshma started a new life, with simple things and expectations. But life had already written a bitter story for her. The guy returned in her life and started harassing her with warnings and physical abuse. Reshma tried to get away, she was even tied with ropes along with her mom and was abused physically. .

After such hardships, finally when she thought that she got rid of the guy, one day on her way to work, 2 random street guys attacked her face and body with Acid. As confirmed with Reshma, the guy who harassed her before was the guy who planned this attack. .

To our surprise, He still calls Reshma sometimes to abuse and scare her. Isn’t this something we should think upon?

After telling her story, there was this one sentence she said at the end which made me cry. “No one is so divine and great who can buy the past and no one is too small to have a good future. I am gonna live a better life because I know I am strong. Nothing worse can happen to me now”, said Reshma.
In a country with millions of people around, there are innocent people getting harmed and the culprits are out there, roaming free.

It is a shame for every citizen of India when such an incident happens. 📸 Photo and words by @lets_draw_light (Edited slightly by Liberatum)

A SILENT NECESSITY . The Indian government announ

A SILENT NECESSITY .

The Indian government announced last year that it is in the process of putting a cap on the price of sanitary napkins.

The National List of Essential Medicines is also reviewing the prices of other hygiene products including soaps, adult diapers, hospital hand gloves, and floor disinfectant. The final list of essential items that will come under price control will likely be released in the next two months.
The move has the potential to make period products and soap more affordable for millions of people who menstruate in the country and don’t have access to safe hygiene. “The idea is to ensure that all these products are available and affordable to the common people as they play a crucial role in disease control and maintaining health and hygiene,” a government official said, according to the Times of India. Some of these products will be available for free at primary and community health centers, the official added.

As many as 210 million people lack access to improved sanitation in India and 88% of people who get periods use unsafe materials like rags and sawdust instead of sanitary pads. These dangerous alternatives to period products put 70% of women at risk of severe infection, according to the Indian ministry of health.
While education and adequate facilities are also needed to end period poverty and promote safe hygiene, more affordable products definitely won’t hurt. The cultural shame attached to periods and a shortage of resources stop people who menstruate from going to school and working every day. It has been estimated that as many as 1 in 5 girls in India drops out of school after they get their periods because they don’t have access to safe facilities or period products. - Global Citizen 📸 @katysmithphotos 👩🏻 @yarahamedmodel

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