Lens Magazine - Issue 92 May 2022

Jaffna . José Jeuland © All rights reserved. 51

Vedda. José Jeuland © All rights reserved. People of Origin The Vedda are the earliest communities to rely heavily instead on known indigenous tourism to survive. These Veddas sell crafts people of Sri Lanka. to tourists to eke out some form of survival They used to live in tribes as they are not able to access natural throughout the dense forests of resources to live off the land. Sri Lanka before the Sinhalese and Tamil settlers arrived. Now, they have either assimilated into the Sinhalese majority or live in small pockets in reservations in the Sri Lankan jungles. Some of those that still live in the jungles practice the lifestyle of their ancestors- hunting with bow and arrows or traps and gathering honey and wild plants. However, government regulations that prohibit hunting in some areas have forced some of these 52 lensmagazine.net

Vedda. José Jeuland © All rights reserved. There are other reservations that With programs such as these country with beautiful beaches have created tourism programs that respect the culture of the and lush jungles. It is a place filled that hope to lift up the social Vedda and help them socially and with rich heritage and culture, and economic status of Vedda economically while educating cultivated by warm and generous communities while educating outsiders, it is hopeful that the people who have gone through visitors on the heritage and culture Vedda communities in Sri Lanka many hardships. of the Vedda. can continue to pass down their I am optimistic that the country When I visited one of the Vedda traditions to new generations. After will weather the current storm to communities in Gal Oya, the tribe all, this is the least that the original come out stronger and better and chieftain brought us around their people of Sri Lanka deserve. be able to avoid such political and ancestral hunting grounds and economic instability in the future. the caves where they used to live. During this difficult time for Sri Here is to hoping that the crisis will He also showed us the medicinal Lanka, I hope to showcase the soon subside, and Sri Lanka will plants used by the tribe and the beauty and resilience of its people be able to welcome visitors back tools used for hunting deer and and raise awareness of issues faced with her characteristic grace and other animals. by segments of the community. warmth. Sri Lanka is more than just a Lens Magazine 53

During this difficult lensmagazine.net time for Sri Lanka, I hope to showcase the beauty and resilience of its people and raise awareness of issues faced by segments of the community. Sri Lanka is more than just a country with beautiful beaches and lush jungles. 54

Jose Jeuland, Ex-Professional Triathlete turned Professional Photographer and a photojournalist contributor at Lens Magazine. Jose is an ambassador for The North Face, a FUJIFILM X-Photographer, and supported by EPSON, Manfrotto, BenQ, and Gravity Backdrops. Jose collaborates and creates content for these brands. Now based in Singapore, Jose is managing COCO Creative Studio, where he produces commercial photography and videography work. Jose works with international clients as JW Marriott, Shangri-La, The Fullerton, Grab, Amazon, Expedia, etc. Beach huts in Malo Les Bains Website: www.josejeuland.com ChrisVteodpdhae. JMoesiéreJiseu©laAnlldr©ights Website: www.cococreativestudio.com reseArvllerdig. hts reserved. Lens Magazine: lensmagazine.net/jose-jeuland Lens Magazine Instagram: @josejeuland Youtube: Jose Jeuland Twitter: @josejeuland Facebook: Jose Jeuland 55

SEX PLORATION HOTEL THOMAS lensmagazine.net DELLERT VAVA VENEZIA DELLERT 56

It's past midnight, in nothing more and we are in yet than our fantasy, the another hotel room darkest night and the in a city with no brightest passion of name. One can hear two lost souls in a city the night traffic on the of indifference. We are avenue below, the CNN modern lovers, part news on a screamingTV plastic and rubber, in the next room, part naked white flesh, competing with the part wild animals. Tied broken air condition up in a kind of mental from an era gone by, bondage. Our bodies breathing like a lung are longing for intimacy sick patient getting his and exploration. Our last rights. minds are set on giving We are both dressed and receiving. Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. Lens Magazine 57

lensmagazine.net SEXPLORATION HOTEL 58 Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved.

THOMAS VAVA VENEZIA DELLERT DELLERT Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. We are at that in competition with be dressed for Love, but moment, ourselves. Wearing we are naked inside. neither man stiletto high-heeled Venerable. We are the nor woman, shoes, fully fashioned fiction heroes, the last just predators and easy seamed stockings and survivors; we are the prey. The hotel room metal suspenders, human shields, the is lit up by the broken dangerous leather pink Love machines of neon light sign entering boots, and pink and the rainbow coalition. through a window like purple furs. But, It's The Helmut Newton through a camera lens. not a masquerade, wannabe models. We are posing in the not a school play, not Doomsday boy and red-light district for a fashion shoot. No. Domesday girl. ourselves in the mirror It's a desperate cry for of our own eccentricity. Love and compassion We throw ourselves into We are mannequins, we in a world of war and each other's nights like are robots, naive like atrocities, injustice, or kamikaze pilots from a innocent children, and crimes of pandemics lost army of lovers. We jet we are like prostitutes and of starvation. We are now embracing the for pleasure. are also starving, but universe and eternity. Dressed to kill, all for attention. We might Our bodies convert into Lens Magazine 59





SEX PLORATION HOTEL a spastic death dance, an epileptic Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. love song, and the room is suddenly lit up by ten thousand volts of pure Love lensmagazine.net and sex. An eternity of a second later, we lie motionless, next to one another and next to our unrecognizable human shells. Our skins are burning, hearts beating, and minds are blown away like paper dragons without an inside, empty like an erased hard drive. But we have managed to break out from our self-created jails. If not only for a second. 60

Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. We are now free from all our daily fears; we embrace one another and the universe Lens Magazine with tenderness. Eyes closed, hearts open. And tomorrow, we will wake up like nothing has happened and go back to our slave personalities, for that is what the new world order expects of us. To play our parts in the big setup, the prologue to the big sleep, the commercial apocalypse. The beginning of the end and the end of the beginning. But in our hearts, we will be able to keep the intimacy we shared like a seed of Love to bloom another spring again, another night, another time, and in another place. After all, we are still humans longing for eternal Love. Thomas Dellert All characters and all photography were created by Thomas Dellert and Vava Venezia Dellert. 61

Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. lensmagazine.net 62

SEX PLORATION HOTEL 63 Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. Lens Magazine

Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. VAVA VENEZIA and death. Through her against domestic violence, DELLERT photographs, she explores the sexual abuse, and parental most intimate moments of a alienation. She is also against Vava Venezia was born in woman reflected in a mirror the murder of unborn children Puerto Rico and graduated before her - mysterious, and an advocate for global from the University of mischievous, but at the Peace. Saint Leo of Florida with an same time lonely, nostalgic, Associate in Liberal Arts. Her and lost in her labyrinth of studies included psychology dreams. Me-too Pop Art in and political science. She also the tradition of female artists graduated from the Graham like Cindy Sherman, Barbara Webb Academy as a master's Kruger, and Sophie Calle. colorist and hairstylist. She was recently a finalist for She is pursuing a bachelor's the great Photographic Prize degree in cybersecurity in the Florence Biennale 2021, at Thomas Edison State with her photo included in the University. prestigious Biennale history Venezia works in the fields catalog. of Neo-Dada Art and New Surrealism, both of which Vava Venezia has also recently reflect her sense of humor competed in a variety of and innocence about life Women's Art competitions advocating for women's rights 64

Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. Lens Magazine 65

THOMAS Dellert has done principal DELLERT parts in Cameroon Macintosh Musicals like Les Miserables Thomas Dellert, also known and Miss Saigon and also as 'Thomas Dellacroix' and worked at the Royal Dramatic Tommy Dollar, Theatre under the legendary a nickname given to him by director Ingmar Bergman. New York \"Pop Art King\" Andy He works as a Photographer, Warhol back in 1980 when Producer, Actor, and Short- he did some hand-printed filmmaker. He also has, since silkscreens for Warhol. 2022, his own Pop Art fashion Thomas has had over 200 international art exhibits and line under the label \"Tommy has been the official artist for Dollar Original.\" Absolut Vodka and Mercedes Benz. He has directed the cult Since 2013 Dellert has been Musical The Rocky Horror collaborating with his wife, Show and played and directed Vava Venezia Dellert, an artist, many Cabarets and Nightclub writer, and photographer. Acts. As a singer/songwriter, he has over 250 recordings on your tube to his credit. On Youtube: CLICK HERE 66 lensmagazine.net

Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. SEX PLORATION HOTEL Lens Magazine 67

Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. lensmagazine.net 68

Thomas & Vava Dellert ©All rights reserved. THOMAS Pop Art Artworks: 69 www.thomasdellert.com DELLERT Photography Portfolio: photography.thomasdellert.com Design Artworks: thomasdellert. com/DESIGN--Tommy-Dollar-Original/ Fashion-label-Tommy-Dollar-Original Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/ UCPQ2bLFAZCqZhgq77sQ-B7g/videos VAVA VENEZIA DELLERT Art gallery: singulart.com/en/artist/vava-venezia-17969 Youtube: youtube.com/watch?v=0ym75eGVbjs Lens Magazine

ELLEN MITCHELL Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. BENCHES OF SEASIDE HEIGHTS 70 lensmagazine.net

In this series, Benches of For the past 5 summers, I’ve walked Seaside Heights, I candidly up and down the mile-long boardwalk, photograph summertime taking at least one candid photograph visitors to Seaside Heights, of every single occupied bench. I start NJ, as they relax, eat, and make the around 3PM when the harsh afternoon best of a day at the beach. I intend to light softens and end around 5PM when continue this series indefinitely, both as my shadow starts pushing into the an exploration of human behavior and frame. Sometimes I like my shadow in a chronicle of Seaside’s visitors over pictures, but in this series, I don’t. time. My goal is to eventually amass I feel like these pictures are about the photos over a period of decades so that subjects, and I don’t belong in them. they form a narrative about time, place, and history. Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. Lens Magazine 71

Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. lensmagazine.net 72

Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. At first, I tried to pick and gift to open, something which gives choose the subjects. I’d me great pleasure. circle back to the same When editing, I look for bench repeatedly, trying unexceptional moments but feel to capture an iconic image. But I very surprising and true. Also, I look soon found that my favorite photos for images that contain references were the ones I didn’t plan and to contemporary society, culture, barely remembered taking. What and politics. they depicted was more mundane, What I learn from these photos yet they captured something teaches me about the wider world surprising and very random that and also makes me feel more I would never have been able to intimate with Seaside, enriching appreciate in the split second my total experience and informing before I pressed the shutter release. the satisfying personal and creative So now I try not to look at the relationship I’m developing with the subjects at all. When I get home, town. each photo is a surprise, a sort of Lens Magazine 73

Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. 74 lensmagazine.net

Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. Lens Magazine 75

Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. 76

Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. Lens Magazine Ellen Mitchell is a photographer based at the New Jersey shore, where she grew up and currently resides. Her photos document the people, places, and dramatic situations she encounters during her daily life, revealing a humorous yet melancholic side of human behavior. I’m most comfortable as a quiet observer. I let things happen in front of me and press the shutter release. Most of my work depends on chance, resulting in offbeat photos in which the content and composition are ultimately unpredictable. I like to be surprised when I look at the images later on. Most of my work centers around two places that have been formative to me: the New Jersey shore, where I grew up and currently reside, and New York City, where, since 2000, I have at various times lived, worked and studied. Not only are the places themselves emotionally resonant to me, but each is a kaleidoscope of intriguing characters that present me with unlimited subjects. 77

I try not to look at the subjects at all. When I get home, Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. each photo is a surprise, a sort of gift to open, something which gives me great pleasure. When editing, I look for unexceptional moments but feel very surprising and true. Also, I look for images that contain references to contemporary society, culture, and politics. 78 lensmagazine.net

Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. My images are grounded in documentary practice (with 79 occasional technical experimentation, particularly motion blur) yet feel deeply personal and idiosyncratic, characterized by oddity, humor, and imagination. Shooting in places to which I have emotional ties keeps my focus on the personal experience - the way a place or situation can be perceived as both real and imagined at the same time, heavily colored by emotions and remembrance. My work is grounded in such subjective perception. However, I often include cues intended to suggest the individual’s significance in the wider world - particularly with reference to human social behavior, our relationship with nature, and our role as citizens of our societies and history. Lens Magazine

Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. Website: ellenmitchell.photography lensmagazine.net Instagram: @i.ellen.m Twitter: @i_ellen_m 80

I soon found that my favorite photos were the ones I didn’t plan and barely remembered taking. What they depicted was more mundane, yet they captured something surprising and very random that I would never have been able to appreciate in the split second before I pressed the shutter release. - Ellen Mitchell Ellen Mitchell © All rights reserved. 81

ALFRED lensmagazine.net FREDDY KRUPA 82

Exploring and experiencing the moment I try not to be enslaved to anything. Also, although it may sound paradoxical, as in my paintings, I try to avoid focusing on the obvious and cheap effects, the seductiveness of the obvious. I never think for a long time about the possible outcome because I always react to the moment, to the situation I am in. Again, as in painting, context is important to me; It gives authenticity. Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. Lens Magazine 83

Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. lensmagazine.net 84

ALFRED FREDDY KRUPA Exploring and experiencing the moment My grandfather Alfred of the fundamental compositional Krupa Sr. MFA (1915- elements. In my own retrospective, 1989) introduced I see that I approach photography me to the fields similarly to my painting; I remain of painting and photography even faithful to minimalism, reduction, before starting primary school in the synthesis, rhythm, and the game of mid-1970s, and later it was definitely perspective relations. my father, Mladen Krupa mag. (1949), Of course, as I mentioned, I try to break who also introduced me to film camera away from my own creative 'comfort,' shooting. so these works also demonstrate When I say that, I react for a moment, significantly different approaches then by that, I mean that a certain and moods. Finally, photography visual situation gives me a \"window (if possible) must contain a level of of opportunity\" for some exploration symbolism, multilayered. Lens Magazine 85

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Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. Freddy Krupa took his first photograph back likovni umjetnici - the portal of the Croatian in 1977 when he was five years old (The Zorki Association of Artists Zagreb): camera with the yellow dot for focus, March '...an academic painter Alfred Freddy Krupa 6, 1977, 'Grandfather Alfred in front of the presents his photographs taken with the monument to the painter Vjekoslav Karas'), and he Sony Ericsson C902 without any subsequent has been extensively studying photography since interventions (filters, effects, corrections, etc.); the the mid-1980s. This interest intensified during his images were created entirely spontaneously. While art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in the photographer, in his walks, looks for motives for the early 1990s and continues today. his paintings. Krupa used various types of analog cameras (from As in his work, Krupa retains a minimalist approach a 120 mm folding camera via the Polaroid and a to photography, a subtle sense of detail and camera for the now non-existent cartridge-based composition, and his fascination with nature in all 110 mm, to those for a classic 135 mm film). its transformations. In addition, for years, he has been involved in Krupa's recent exhibition at the Louvre in Paris photographs taken with a mobile phone(s). was also noted, where Krupa's work 'Clouds' was This is how we read in the preface to the virtual selected for display as part of the 5th Exposure exhibition of his photographs in 2015 (at Zagrebački Award.' Lens Magazine 87

Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. 88 lensmagazine.net

Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. 89 Lens Magazine

Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. 90 lensmagazine.net

A.F. Krupa by Matea Štedul © All rights reserved. ALFRED FREDDY KRUPA Exploring and experiencing the moment Alfred (Freddy) Krupa (Karlovac, June 14, 1971), Since the early 1990s, A.F. Krupa has often exhibited Croatian multidisciplinary artist. Graduated in geographically from Europe, through Central and East painting in 1995 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Asia, Australia to North and Central America. Zagreb. He also studied the history of art (non- Krupa, the author of the Manifesto of the New Art of Ink degree postgraduate research, mentor Academician (1996), is considered one of the pioneers of the New Ink Tonko Maroević) at the University of Zagreb (1997-1998). Art movement and one of In 1998 he became the first Croatian academic painter the leading representatives of modern European ink to win a research scholarship from the Government of painting. Japan at the Gakugei University in Tokyo with prof. Akira The original manuscript of the Manifesto is the property Itoh. of the archive of documents - the collection of records In 2005, Krupa completed additional pedagogical studies and works (Aktenarchiv) in Kassel. at The University of Zagreb and acquired the formal title of 'Professor of Drawing and Painting.' Lens Magazine 91

Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. Krupa's original works are part of numerous museum collections, including TATE - London (Special Library 92 Collection) / UK /, MoMA - New York (Manhattan Artists' Books Collection) / USA /, National Museum of Modern Art (MG, Modern Gallery) in Zagreb, Museum Silesia in Katowice / PL /, Orange Regional Gallery (ORG) in Orange / NSW, AU /, Museo Internazionale dell acquarello in Fabriano / IT /, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts - Cabinet of Graphics in Zagreb, Pratt Institute / Franklin Furnace Artist's Book Collection, RARA Collection at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb, and others. He has taught in primary, secondary, and higher education and has participated in several continuing and lifelong learning programs. He is the author of two books, several maps of graphics and drawings, and a series of illustrations and articles published in a number of collections of poems, as well as daily, weekly, and periodicals. Holder and winner of several decorations, awards, and recognition in the world and in Croatia.

Lens Magazine 93 Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved.

Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. 94

Moments. A.F. Krupa © All rights reserved. Exploring and experiencing the moment A certain visual situation gives me a \"window of opportunity\" for some exploration of the fundamental compositional elements. ALFRED FREDDY KRUPA WEBSITE: LINKTR.EE/AFKRUPA INSTAGRAM: @KRUPPAAF FACEBOOK: @ALFRED.F.KRUPA Lens Magazine 95

MIEKE DOUGLAS #FAKE lensmagazine.net DON'T ACCEPT PRETTY Pretty photos of flowers from my garden or recycled gift-wrapping carefully arranged on my office scanner? Look again. One scene, two narratives. A constructed reality. A small act of deceit. 'Special military operation to protect victims of genocide and abuse' or full-scale invasion and occupation of Ukraine? Another constructed reality. This one is more sinister. 96

Mieke Douglas © All rights reserved. Lens Magazine 97

Mieke Douglas © All rights reserved. 98