Much Love Monday

For today's Much Love Monday, I love the world in colour. And when I write that, I am thinking about the English etymology of world, which is connected both to man and to abode. So, to think of the world in colour is to think of man in his many shades, and where he lives, how he lives...
Spring's gentle breeze and longer sunny arms have transformed my flat into a beautiful place to be. The other day, I was playing around with a Kinder Egg toy that has a magnifying glass, and looking, for fun, at old issues of my Marie Claire magazines, when I realised I could use both in a MLM photo montage. There is something to be said of looking at pictures of places in magazines - it's like going to Musée de l'Homme; one sees not only a room, but how it is set up for life. But not all photos of rooms inspire me in this anthropological ways.
Marie Claire Maison used to be my favourite magazine, but a few years ago, I stopped being able to connect the photos with narratives of lived lives. The substitute I found to share with you today is an online version of this fun: An Indian Summer (via). If you visit, why not play this perfectly springy Jane Birkin soundtrack, which comes recommended by An Indian Summer's curator.
What I like about the selection of photos is that most of the blog posts contain photos with ideas that could be applied in any home: a tonne of pillow cases made from French tea towels, for instance, or different ways to feed the inner child through colour (this and this are my favourite examples).

When I saw those examples of colour use, I suddenly remembered the Mughal illuminations I used to admire at the MET (like this). I thought about my love of colour. Though I have white walls, it suddenly occurred to me that my flat is full of colour, from the carpeting and furniture, to the multicoloured books, pictures and bunting. I thought about how I have always felt a chasm between the cartoonish child-like aspects of self and the demands of professionalism. But, looking through AIS, I remembered colourful folk elements, which one can see even in my flat, and began to think of how precisely through such arts and crafts, one can keep alive the child and the sophistication of the adult.
The post that spoke most to me in this respect is Global Chic, which featured a Norwegian blog's collection of photos of global corners from readers' rooms and homes.
This is an aesthetic I can stand behind. I have already written about my childhood home, and my affinity for universal unity. In the latter post, I quoted Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote of bringing forth that glad acceptance which constantly carries in itself the giving out of the best that we have. But I still feel that the best that we have may require, in some cultures, a conscious effort to preserve older roots of what the culture is. While culture is rather complicated, especially as mankind keeps moving, I believe that we can talk of "cultures". My ideal vision of a "world in colour" is where everyone exchanges the glimpse of the world they have. We do not all have to be the same, so in this ideal picture, there is no power play, but a teaching of each other so we can remember those beautiful parts of our humanity that we want to keep alive, to pass down to other generations.

Elements: Animus.