When visiting Qatar, do not let preconceived notions or lazy assumptions stop you from visiting the souk. Souks across the Middle East are the oldest known marketplaces in the world and even today hold immense importance as a historical epicentre. Qatar is the eminent point of East-meets-West; with its map resembling the shape of a hand, it holds together both the worlds and transcends through time, melting the old and the new.

La Casa Azul or The Blue House was where Frida Kahlo was born, lived most of her life, and also died in. She stood by her home, her country all her life and chose to rest where she was born, which is an admirable trait. A person can be born at one place. However, s/he may die several times elsewhere; in heartbreak, in trauma, in oppression. Reading about Frida’s life, how difficult it was since the beginning and how it never came to be easy till her last breath, those words came to life while visiting her house.

Emma Boomkamp’s studio gives away a sense of curious juxtaposition in just a single glance. Even before you have started exploring, studying her wide range of craft work, it is a space that commands attention, demanding that the viewer follow the lines, patterns, and layout of her designs like a traveller hiking through a forest trails born out of human footfall.

The term ‘symbolism’ traces its origin from the poetry of Charles Baudelaire, prominently his Les Fleurs du mal. As a literary movement, it flourished in late 19th century Europe and was soon incorporated in painting, architecture, and other mediums. As an art movement, it followed a distinct pathway and revived a romantic tradition rooted in mysticism, metaphors, and mythology. The European symbolic art movement emerged as an interesting interplay between ambiguity and intuitions, imagery and metaphors.

One of the greatest allures of nature is its endless bequeathals that clothe our bodies and adorn our homes. In the rugged mountainous state of Oaxaca, the southern Mexican home to various indigenous groups of people, the craft of textile-making is an ode to nature and the intricate relationship of the indigenous communities with natural resources.

While bathhouses and sweat lodges have a long association with purification ceremonies in human civilization, the temazcal is a distinct practice loaded with symbolic and spiritual connotations. From ancient Rome to Edo Japan, these cloistered spaces were privy to individual customs and social traditions.