cunningdennis

THE GRANDE VITESSE SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY: A NEW ART FORM IS BORN It’s exhilarating to be alive when an entirely new way of seeing things is uncovered. Reality is transformed. Or perhaps, more correctly, the state of reality itself is questioned. It’s beyond amazing to be as close to it as I have been. To be actually part of it, responsible for naming it, well that is something that seems impossible to conceive. But, please, just try to stay with me. I’ve called it: The Grande Vitesse School of Photography. Yes, I know about the train, and about Alexander Calder, but I assure you that I have personal releases from both the French Government and the Calder estate. They obviously realize the significance of this moment. It has not happened overnight, the development and implementation of ... read more

THE KINGDOM OF SWAZILAND: HIPPOS COME TO DINNER, WARTHOGS AT THE CAMPFIRE “When King Sobhuza II died at age 83, he left about 120 wives, with unofficial estimates putting the number of wives and mistresses at more than double this number. The current King Mswati III has 13 wives. The King was the center of controversy in 2001 when he married a 17 year old, two months after imposing a five year sex ban on the Kingdom’s teenage females. The “forced” chastity was imposed to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS. He ended the ban a year early.” Lonely Planet We enter Swaziland from South Africa and immediately I feel a different vibe. The Swazi man at the immigration counter is more interested in asking me about Barack Obama than he is about inspecting my Passport. The ... read more

AN INVITATION TO MY FUNERAL I am (was) fifty-nine years old. Almost no one knows that I have three daughters. It has been a well-protected secret of mine for many years. Things often come to the fore after a man’s death, into the light of day, as they say. So here it is. Now you know. My girls are grown women. Funny that I should use that word, girls, because I always told them that they were not “girls” but “ women,” or better still, “people.” Admittedly, I didn’t do such a hot job raising them. I barely knew what to say to them at times, retreating to the shelter of shallow talk about the weather. Perhaps the most helpful piece of fatherly advice I ever uttered was when I told Kathleen (and I remember this ... read more

A NON SEQUITOR GREETING ON FREEDOM DAY Hello to all my friends, There’s a man down the street who is slowly walling himself in, literally. I can’t help but thinking of Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” as we watch the red bricks rise. In itself this should not be an unusual sight. In fact, his house prior to the arrival of the sand and bricks and stone, was one of the dwellings in our neighborhood (perhaps 50%) that did not crouch behind a tall wall, a growling dog, and an automatic gate. In other cities, like Johannesburg, it would be a rarity to see a house that was not protected by a wall. And the walls in that city are higher, more formidable, and topped with razor wire. This one is a pleasant two story white structure ... read more

RUNNING WITHOUT SHOES, FLYING WITHOUT LEGS It’s clear he’s already strung as tight as Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, so for me the question is a rhetorical one. But I ask it anyway. “Are you nervous when he competes?” “Always,” he says tersely, then pulls a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lights up. Despite his apparent weakness for the butts, he looks incredibly fit. If there’s an ounce of fat on this guy I can’t see it. His elbows are perched on a railing in Stellenbosch University’s Coetzenberg Stadium as he surveys the field of runners. The orange composite track is perfectly lined, the lanes curving in the turn where we stand now awaiting the graceful lean of the athletes. His son, Juan Van Deventer, is pacing with the other runners near the starting line of ... read more