Alain De Botton is a Thinker
“I think ‘philosopher’ carries quite a lot of baggage.”
Amid the cultural wreckage of a city that tore itself apart in an explosion of tension and rage last year, editor Patrick Pittman’s search for a smile takes him to a shopfront in Bloomsbury, London. The School of Life, the sign says. Ideas to live by, it says. A place of play and whimsy and big talk, it is accessible, warm, stylish, and serious. Kind of like the man behind it. Founder and philosopher Alain de Botton knows that living is hard. That the world is a place of urgent protest and war, famine and disease. But against that backdrop, questions of the self are critical. What is a functioning society, after all, without happiness? Without dignity? And, for that matter, without love?
We also learn about: Living Architecture
Photo: Siddharth Khajuria
Robyn Davison is a Nomad
“It makes more sense to keep it all moving.”
Robyn Davidson is a woman of forty-odd addresses and counting. She is, without doubt, free. And being free is hard work. In 1977 she walked solo across Australia’s desert with four camels and her dog, Diggity, when she was twenty-seven years old. Her subsequent book, Tracks, instantly became an international bestseller. Lesser known are the stories of her tempestuous relationship with Salman Rushdie, and hanging out with the Sydney Push crowd. Plus there’s her magical ability to summon up pianos wherever she goes. Anna Krien wonders how to capture this woman on paper. Deftly, Robyn Davidson manages to Houdini her way out of definition.
We also learn about: The Sydney Push and Australia’s Afghan Cameleers
Photo: Leah Robertson
Alan Rabinowitz is a Big Cat Protector
“I promised them I would try to be their voice, because I felt that the reason they were behind cages was because they couldn’t speak.”
Alan Rabinowitz has dedicated his life to saving big cats. His non-profit group Panthera has become the world’s leading big cat conservation organisation. Its motto, ‘Difficulty is the one excuse which history does not accept’ is a phrase that could just as easily describe Alan’s life. He’s in a battle against time, fighting on multiple fronts. At the turn of the century there were over 100,000 tigers in the wild; today, scientists estimate there are fewer than 3,200. And a decade ago, just after the birth of his first child, Alan was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia. Not that it’s stopped him. Not that anything would.
We also learn about: hungry tigers and weeping for The Moth
Photo: Atsushi Nishijima
Brené Brown is a Grounded Researcher
“I started as someone looking for answers and ended as someone who has found joy living in the questions.”
Over two million people have watched Brené Brown’s TED talk, ‘The Power of Vulnerability’, which was nominated by our readers as one of their standout favourites. A professor of sociology at Houston University, she studies human connection and all the nasty things that get in the way: what makes us feel shame? What makes us afraid? Why do we never feel we are enough? With her babysitter running forty-five minutes late in a storm, interviewer Berry Liberman was disintegrating into a shame minefield, answering Brené’s carefully-coordinated skype call with her twenty-month-old daughter on her lap, waving and smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, but could I call you back in ten minutes?” Brené laughed a big, hearty, Texan laugh and almost cheered. Phew.
Photo: Felix Sanchez
Del Kathryn Barton is an Artist
“All I can say is that the work does mean everything to me and it is like a life source.”
In Del Kathryn Barton’s paintings, young figures stand surrounded by animals, birds and flowers with long, phallic stamens; multi-breasted women suckle rabbits in iconographic poses; and landscapes sprout vulvas and seemingly animate trees and vines. It’s hard, looking at one of her works, not to imagine their creator as some kind of tantric-voodoo earth-mother priestess. But Jessica Friedmann finds lunch amid Del Kathryn’s muggy domestic chaos is about as human as it gets.
We also learn about: Scary fairytales and artist Louise Bourgeois
Photo: Toby Burrows
Cloudy Mobiles, Chet Baker and so much more
- A Readers’ Feast: A Dumbo community event
- Abigail Forsyth is a Cup Winner: KeepCups
- Emma Byrnes Jess Wright & Lara Davis are building a Fabric Empire: Harvest Textiles
- Historical Profile: Chet Baker
Comments
Mary 20 Jan 12:30PM
I would love to read the full versions of your Dumbo Feather Issue 30. I'm inspired already....