A huge thank you to all who participated as models, and to all those who have supported the project in other ways: it would not have been possible without you.
The portraits can be viewed here: https://redkimono.org/gallery/
common links
Final month of Red Kimono In The Window
Red Kimono In The Window at Conway Hall ends on 31st August 2016.
This installation of eight of the thirty portraits, with text and booklets, opened in March 2016, to mark the 5th year of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.
The accompanying booklets, are available for visitors to take, free of charge, in the Conway Hall Entrance on Red Lion Square, or by post if you send a request to: contactredkimono@gmail.com
‘Human’, 2015, by filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand
‘What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight? That we laugh? Cry? Our curiosity? The quest for discovery?
Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness.
Watch the 3 volumes of the film and experience #WhatMakesUsHUMAN.
Part 1 deals with the themes of love, women, work and poverty.
Part 2 deals with the themes of war, forgiving, homosexuality, family and life after death.
Part 3 deals with the themes of happiness, education, disability, immigration, corruption and the meaning of life.’
ww.filmsforaction.org/watch/human/
Ubuntu
‘Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term … It is an idea from the Southern African region which means literally “human-ness,” and is often translated as “humanity toward others,” but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”‘.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(philosophy)
“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity.
We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity”.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2008.
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‘7 Seconds’, by Youssou N’Dour featuring Neneh Cherry
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The song is trilingual: N’Dour sings in Wolof, a West African language, and French (plus singing chorus in English), and Cherry sings in English.
‘”7 Seconds” tells about first seven seconds in the life of a newborn, arguably unaware of problems in the world.’ Neneh Cherry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_Seconds_(song)
lyrics:
‘Boul ma sene, boul ma guiss madi re nga fokni mane
Khamouma li neka thi sama souf ak thi guinaw
Beugouma kouma khol oaldine yaw li neka si yaw
mo ne si man, li ne si mane moye dilene diapale
Roughneck and rudeness,
We should be using, on the ones who practice wicked charms
For the sword and the stone
Bad to the bone
Battle is not over
Even when it’s won
And when a child is born into this world
It has no concept
Of the tone the skin is living in
It’s not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I’ll be waiting
It’s not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I’ll be waiting X3
J’assume les raisons qui nous poussent de changer tout,
J’aimerais qu’on oublie leur couleur pour qu’ils esperent
Beaucoup de sentiments de race qui font qu’ils desesperent
Je veux les portes grandements ouvertes,
Des amis pour parler de leur peine, de leur joie
Pour qu’ils leur filent des infos qui ne divisent pas
Changer
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I’ll be waiting
It’s not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I’ll be waiting X3
And when a child is born into this world
It has no concept
Of the tone the skin is living in
And there’s a million voices
And there’s a million voices
To tell you what she should be thinking
So you better sober up for just a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I’ll be waiting
It’s not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I’ll be waiting
It’s not a second
7 seconds away
Just as long as I stay
I’ll be waiting
Songwriters: Cherry, Neneh / Mcvey, Cameron Andrew / N’Dour, Youssou / Sharp, Jonathan Peter / Fahrenkrog-Petersen, Joern-Uwe
7 Seconds lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Dinka youth, South Sudan, whiten their faces:
Dinka youth from a cattle camp near Akot, South Sudan sing and beat their sticks together in time to the music. Hair died orange with cow urine, the youth have also smeared cow dung ash (the white marks) on their faces, heads, and bodies as a beauty cosmetic. The cow dung ash has dual appeal, also actingas a mosquito repellent at night:
White face paint used by Canadian First Nations:
‘Charles Hankinson (Eagle Tail) of the Canadian First Nations Mi’kmaq band, dances in full traditional regalia at the Healing Horse Spirit PowWow. His face paint was “gifted” to him by his grandfather’:
airborne pollution does not recognise national boundaries:
out of Africa
One of our oldest bipedal hominin ancestors, Australopithecus arafensis, e.g. ‘Lucy’, lived in eastern Africa about 3.8 and 3.0 million years ago.
According to the ‘Recent African Origin model’ modern humans began to migrate from Africa between 125,000 and 60,000 years ago:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spreading_homo_sapiens_la.svg
According to Shi et al. the first wave of human migration into Japan occurred more than 30,000 years ago, via Tibet:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2605740/
map here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2687770/figure/F1/
red kimono 
