Vanessa - Lullabies of the World

Many years ago, a friend gave me a CD called Berceuses du Monde Entier, a recording of traditional lullabies from around the world. It came back to mind when I was trying to find a present for a dear friend who was due to have her second baby. I quickly discovered that there are quite a few CDs with that name, and as I searched online for sample recordings from the different albums, I discovered a whole new world of animated lullabies. 

Many of the most beautiful animations looked like they were made by the same author, but, in typical YouTube fashion, had been uploaded by various people with no proper attribution. After a little further searching, I discovered they were part of a project called Lullabies of the World, made by Metronome Films in Russia. 

The project's website is a little out of date and doesn't have the animations, but does have a précis of what each animation is about (not always a direct illustration of the lyrics), an interesting insight into the animators' interpretation of each culture.

The South African lullaby, performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, is about flies that sing everyone to sleep.

The Japanese lullaby is about two constellations that meet once a year.

The French lullaby is about chickens who lay their eggs where the cook can't find them. The lyrics tell a slightly different story, with the chickens laying the eggs for the baby to eat. In the animation, the eggs hatch out of reach of the chubby chef and the baby plays with a growing brood of chicks.

A collection of the animations are available on the Metronome YouTube channel (strangely, not the same lullabies that are listed on their website). A wider selection, like the above links, are scattered across various YouTube accounts that don't seem to have any connection to the project. The resolution isn't fantastic but they come up ok on an iPad or smaller screen.

And lastly, while we're on the topic of lullabies, a few lullabies in Indigenous languages are popping up in our Mother Tongue project. This one by Brad Marsellos is utterly beautiful.

Sonya - Beijing Silvermine

Beijing Silvermine - Thomas Sauvin from Emiland Guillerme on Vimeo.

I've actually vaguely known about the Beijing Silvermine photo project for some time, just not in any detail. Earlier this year 4A centre for contemporary asian art hosted an exhibition of it, which I saw mainly through Instagram, and didn't quite get.

Their posts seemed to encourage people to take a selfie with a blown up image from the project, of a young woman in really colourful clothes, posing against the backdrop of a national park.

The same photo popped up again a few weeks ago, on The New Yorker Instagram feed. The project's creator Thomas Sauvin was an Instagram guest, and spent a week posting different images he had found. There were photos from a Beast series, featuring Chinese people posing with the craziest of animal sculptures, from giant octopuses to open-mouthed sharks. There was a series based on twin children, photographed throughout the country, a Sun and Moon series too.

 When I finally watched a short video about the project, it started to all make sense. Sauvin salvages old negatives that have been thrown away, and processes them, looking for photos of ordinary Chinese people since the advent of the Kodak camera.

What he finds and shares are wonderfully random moments, like someone stepping in front of the photographer's camera at an inopportune moment, and intimate moments too - like family snaps at home, on holidays, and on special occasions. And because it's film, there's a lovely scratchiness to the images that give them warmth, and really make them feel like an entirely different time.

Sauvin, as his name probably gives away, is a Frenchie, whose been living in China for the past ten years. I really love how the doco shows him working with local artists, assistants and photo technicians to help bring the photos back to life. I also think how he groups them is particularly special. Fascinatingly, over time he's discovered that many photos are taken in the exact same locations, often with the same pose from the subject, and very common composition. 

Read more: Thomas Sauvin's Beijing Silvermine, The New Yorker