Aerial photography showing the damage that rabbits are causing to wildlife and habitat in Derrynane National Historic Park has been released by the OPW.
The Office of Public Works, which is responsible for the park, says there will be a rabbit cull to deal with overpopulation.
The OPW says the rabbit population has exploded in recent years at Derrynane causing extensive damage to dune grasslands which fall within two EU protected habitat designations – the Kenmare River Special Area of Conservation and the Iveragh Peninsula Special Protection Area.
This has resulted in large areas of bare sand that are subject to erosion.
Rabbit overgrazing also poses a threat to protected whorl snails, natterjack toads and choughs, according to the OPW.
The OPW has commissioned a dune grassland survey, following the completion of a biodiversity audit of Derryane.
Survey fieldwork has been completed and the OPW is awaiting the final report.
Ecologists have indicated that rabbit control will be one of their main recommendations.
The Office of Public Works says it’s intended that the control of the population will take place during the winter, and that control methods will include the use of humane traps.
The OPW has released a photo showing the damage caused by rabbits at Derrynane and says up until recent years, bare sand was not visible at these locations.
Damage to dunes in Derrynane caused by rabbits. Image supplied to Radio Kerry from OPW.
Photograph courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Happy Monday, everyone!
There’s a ton of fun things to do around town this week and weekend. The entire family can attend Panda Palooza, or Celebrate Petworth. Also, there’s new installations to view at the Washington National Cathedral and the Smithsonian.
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Arts and culture: Author Alicia Kennedy and chef Rob Rubba discuss the future of plant-based eating at Bold Fork Books (Mon, $10+, Northwest DC). View the contemporary works of nearly 50 living Native artists at the National Gallery of Art’s new exhibit “The Land Carries Our Ancestors” (Fri through January 15, free, National Gallery of Art). Awaken your inner creative at Yoga in the Galleries (Mon, Sat, $10+, Arlington). After a temporary closure, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s modern and contemporary galleries reopen with a new installation (opens Fri, free, Smithsonian American Art Museum). Watch songful movie Pitch Perfect at Alethia Tanner Park (Wed, free, NoMa). Meet some of the cast of the hit TV show The Sopranos at Capital Turnaround (Sat, $55+, Southeast DC). Comedian Leslie Jones is in conversation with journalist Tiffany Cross at Sixth & I (Wed, $40 for book and ticket, $12+ for virtual, Northwest DC). View paintings by pioneering abstract artist Alma Thomas (through June 2, 2024, free, Smithsonian American Art Museum). Journalists and politicians face off in a spelling bee competition (Wed, $30, Penn Quarter). Take a swing dance class, and watch a movie screening of Soul (Fri, free, Columbia). There’s jazz and cumbia performances, art vendors, and food at the Hyattsville Arts Festival (Sat, free, Hyattsville).
Community and heritage: Observe the new collaborative exhibition America’s Voices Against Apartheid to learn about the U.S. anti-apartheid movement dating back to the 1880s (through November 5, free, Kennedy Center). Interactive outdoor history exhibit “Beyond Granite: Pulling Together” will close soon (Mon, free, National Mall). Celebrate Latino culture at Fiesta DC festival and parade (Sat-Sun, free, Downtown). The Congressional Black Caucus weekend is back with a prayer breakfast, town hall, and party at Walter E. Washington Convention Center (Wed-Sun, $150+, Downtown).
Theater and shows: ExPats Theatre presents new stage play Scorched at Atlas Performing Arts Center (Sat through October 15, $45, H Street Corridor). It’s your last chance to see Bohemians and aristocrats party in Moulin Rouge! The Musical (closes Sun, $45+, Kennedy Center). The DC Shorts International Film Festival returns to town for its 20th year with more than 12 films to binge (Wed-Sun, $15, various participating locations). The Arlington Players take on a revival show of popular musical Into the Woods (Fri through October 8, $30, Arlington). Comedian Ben Schwartz brings laughter to The Anthem (Thurs, $49+, Wharf). Nova Night Sky Theater performs Romeo and Juliet (Thurs, September 28, $25, Fairfax, Arlington). Listen to live storytelling at DC’s StorySLAM at Miracle Theatre (Tues, $15, Capitol Hill). Local performance artist Brian Feldman wants you to read a monologue while washing dirty dishes at his home in his new show Dishwasher 2: I Pay You (through October 2, $17, Cleveland Park).
Music and concerts: National Symphony Orchestra Music Director Gianandrea Noseda opens a new season at the Kennedy Center with a concert and gala (Sat, $65+, Kennedy Center). Art rock singer Peter Gabriel makes a tour stop in DC (Wed, $65+, Capital One Arena). Alternative rock band The Breeders play at The Filmore Silver Spring (Thurs, $39, Silver Spring). Rap legends Wu-Tang Clan and Nas are live in concert (Tues, $22+, Capital One Arena). Jonas Brothers will perform songs from their five albums all in one night (Sat, $72+, Capital One Arena). Singer-songwriter Frankie Cosmos sings tunes at 9:30 Club (Fri, $22, U Street Corridor). Rapper Macklemore is sold out at The Anthem, but there are resale tickets available on third-party sites (Tues, $40+, Wharf). Songwriter Julie Byrne sings folk melodies at Songbyrd (Tues, $18+, Northeast DC). Music stars Rick Ross, Monica, Black Alley and Kenny Burns are performing together at The Anthem (Fri, $79+, Wharf). Janelle Monáe sings songs from her latest album Age of Pleasure (Sun-Mon, $95+, Wharf). Five-time Grammy-nominated performer Michael Feinstein celebrates the music of Judy Garland at Music Center at Strathmore (Thurs, $28+, Bethesda).
Sports: Watch baseball with your furry friends at Pups in the Park (Sat, $35 for adults, $10 for dogs, Nationals Park).
Bites and beverages: Learn how to make handmade empanadas at Galería La Cosecha (Thurs, $59, Union Market). Don’t miss Wunderfest at Port City Brewing. The event includes a yodeling competition, a sausage toss, and live music (Sat, free, Alexandria). German fare, beer, and yard games are the highlights of Zinnia Oktoberfest (Sat, $45, Silver Spring). Weiner dog races and stein-hoisting competitions are a part of the fun at Lovettsville Oktoberfest (Fri-Sat, free, Lovettsville). Oktoberfest at The Boro features polka dancing, food trucks, and pumpkin beer (Sat, free, Tysons). Dine All Night is the newest culinary arts companion to next week’s Art All Night (Thurs through October 1, prices vary, various participating restaurants).
Things to do with kids: Kids can make playful art while adults enjoy frozen coffee treats from Rossana at MoCA on the Move at Met Park (Sun, free, Arlington). All ages can enjoy story time, museum tours, and dance workshops at Fotos y Recuerdos Festival (Sat, free, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery). Youngsters can play with water toys and sift grain at Peirce Mill (Sat, free, Rock Creek Park). Kids can take an adventure through Maryland’s largest corn maze, drive a pedal kart, and race rubber ducks at Magnolia Meadow Farms (Sat through October 29, $15+, free for children under 2, Thurmont).
Plan ahead: Snag a timed-entry pass to Live! at the Library: Danzón Class with Corazón Folklórico, and join a conversation with journalists Bill Moyers and Judy Woodruff (September 28, free, but passes required, Library of Congress). Nationals and Commanders fans can celebrate together at Capital Crossover: Diamonds and Gridiron—a two-game series on both home fields featuring sport activations, music, and more (Thurs, October 5, $13+, Nationals Park, FedEX Field).
If you enjoyed these events, please don’t forget to share this post with a friend on social media, and sign up for our newsletter for more things to do.
Briana A. Thomas is a local journalist, historian, and tour guide who specializes in the research of D.C. history and culture. She is the author of the Black history book, Black Broadway in Washington, D.C., a story that was first published in Washingtonian in 2016.
Photos by Silverlens Gallery and Gregory Halili. All images © the artist, shared with permission
From a vast array of coral, shells, agates, and more, Gregory Halili (previously) shapes anatomical features and cosmic phenomena in intricate detail. The artist uses iridescent mother-of-pearl to accentuate round skulls or teardrops leaking from eyes, working with the inherent natural shapes and textures of materials he finds around his studio, located about an hour south of Manila.
Several years ago, Halili began carving lifelike miniature skulls into shells he found on beaches around the Philippines. He also uses oil paint to render minuscule details of individual eyes, painted on the reverse of transparent glass or crystal. Since then, his practice has evolved to include larger pieces that incorporate an array of smaller works and natural materials. He says:
I started to create these massive works filled with miniature paintings and objects. I’m a painter, but I learned to create sculptures, to weld, use cutting and power tools, and drill into stones and metals…My method and thinking process is still painterly, creating the works as layers, constructing and deconstructing them, and figuring out the forms and gestures as I create.
Halili’s Coments, a recent series of assemblages, expands on the ritual of searching for and recontextualizing found objects, ranging from metal to minerals to antiques. Each sculpture contains more than a hundred items found along beaches, at flea markets, and in antique stores. “These works are about renewal, return, and reincarnation,” he says, emphasizing how disused or abandoned objects find new life in his work.
Halili’s work is currently on view at the National Museum of the Philippines in Placuna placenta: Capis Shells and Windows to Indigenous Artistry. You can find more on Instagram.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Anatomical Details Emerge From Found Coral and Shells in Gregory Halili’s Intricate Sculptures appeared first on Colossal.
In Bhilai, India’s tranquil landscape, Atelier Varun Goyal designed The Courtyard House by seamlessly fusing design and functionality. Created for two brothers, this unique home redefines modern living while celebrating the essence of togetherness and individuality. The Courtyard House project was envisioned as two interconnected yet distinct homes for two brothers. The central courtyard plays a pivotal role in uniting these homes and preserving their family bond. Careful discussions with the clients aimed to strike a balance between shared spaces and private living.
The central courtyard unfolds as a tranquil oasis, connecting the two homes and intertwining their stories. The clean white exterior is punctuated with black framed windows that complement the multilayered black tiled courtyard and water feature.
The Courtyard House embraces sustainability throughout. The central courtyard helps maximize cross ventilation and natural daylight to help reduce electricity consumption. Natural materials, like reclaimed teak wood, Indian marbles, and terrazzo floors made from marble waste, contribute to a more eco-friendly design.
Upon entering the foyer, white marble flooring sets the tone for each of the home’s modern aesthetic that’s unveiled the further into the houses one goes. The living area, with its black walls and large windows, provides an intimate ambiance with views of the lush greenery outside. The family space merges with an open-concept kitchen, inviting gatherings and interactions.
The interior showcases a minimalist and monochromatic color palette of black and white hues. This choice adds elegance and sophistication, providing a timeless backdrop for architectural elements and furnishings.
The floating black staircase features a pared back design while also making a visual statement in the open living space.
High ceilings and white walls help to maintain cool indoor temperatures, as the white surfaces reflect both heat and light.
Private bedrooms come with dressers and their own private bathrooms clad in Indian marble that’s complemented with teak wood details.
Photography by Pankaj Anand.
In August 1944, Operation Overlord was in full swing. The Allies were fighting to break out across France, but standing in their way was the old fortress town of Saint-Malo. The town’s 12,000 Nazi defenders had been dug in since 1943 as part of the Atlantic Wall, expecting to hold out for 90 days or more.
An American force of 20,000 soldiers from the 83rd Infantry Division, with at least 2,000 French Resistance fighters, would lay siege to the city for nearly a month. By Aug. 13, the Germans were still holding out in the ancient citadel that overlooked the bay. That was the day Lee Miller, a young war photographer covering the war for the magazine British Vogue, arrived in Saint-Malo.
Miller, then 37 years old, had begun her photography career on the other side of the lens as a model but had been something of an expert in photography her entire life. The American-born Miller found herself in Europe pursuing that career when World War II broke out. Instead of fleeing, she stayed in Britain, picked up a camera and began a new phase of her photographic legacy: combat.
Now, Kate Winslet (“Titanic”) stars as Lee Miller in “Lee,” a new film that depicts Miller’s shift from artistic fashion photographer to combat photographer. This flashback-driven biopic follows Miller as she lands in Normandy to advance across Europe with the Allied forces for the destruction of the Nazi Reich.
Lee Miller grew up around cameras in Poughkeepsie, New York. Her father was an amateur but loved the art form, and he would use her as a model as he taught her everything about photography.
After a brief acting stint in Paris, she moved to Manhattan, where she was literally discovered by accident. Miller was nearly hit by a car in 1927, but the man who pulled her to safety was Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue Magazine; later that month, she appeared on the cover of the magazine.
For the next two years, Miller was one of the most in-demand models in New York City. But modeling didn’t fulfill her, so she picked up her camera and spent the next decade taking photos in New York, Paris and Cairo.
When war broke out in Europe in 1939, Miller was living in London and became an accredited photographer so she could cover The Blitz for Vogue. When the United States entered the war, she worked to get accreditation from the U.S. Army, too. She spent much of the war documenting the lives of nurses in England, but in July 1944, the Army began allowing female journalists to follow troops as the Allies pushed into greater France, if they had the backing of a major news outlet. Since Lee Miller was a photographer for British Vogue, the magazine made a case to send her to France to report on the work of nurses near the front lines.
Miller arrived in Normandy less than a month after the D-Day invasions of June 6, 1944, documenting evacuation hospitals on Omaha Beach. She slowly moved closer to the front lines. In August, the Allies were breaking out into neighboring Brittany, and Miller was sent to document the recently secured town of Saint-Malo.
But Saint-Malo was anything but secure, and Miller was the only photographer present to document the final days of the battle. She was able to get to the most forward observation posts as the two sides exchanged fire, followed some of the American GIs as they made the climb to the citadel, and even documented the first use of napalm in combat (though her photos were confiscated by the Army).
Frontline soldiers were amazed to find a female photographer among them, as were the Germans who surrendered at Saint-Malo. Even more amazed was the U.S. Army, who “exiled her to Rennes” after finding out Miller had been in a combat zone. Her exile didn’t last long, however; she would rejoin advancing elements of the Army as it liberated Paris and advanced on Alsace.
Miller also documented the liberation of the Buchenwald and Dachau Concentration Camps. Her most famous photograph was one where she was actually the subject. On April 30, 1945, the same day Adolf Hitler died by suicide, Miller and fellow photographer David E. Scherman entered the Munich apartment where Hitler once lived, intentionally dirtying the bathroom with her combat boots. Scherman photographed Miller bathing in Hitler’s tub.
After the war, she returned to Britain, where she continued her photography career. This phase of her life was marked by alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder. Her images, as legendary as they were, haunted her. She died of cancer in 1977.
“Lee” debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival this year and also stars Alexander Skarsgård (“Generation Kill”), Marion Cotillard (“The Dark Knight Rises”) and Andy Samberg (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) as David E. Scherman.
— Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, or on LinkedIn.
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Conceived by the Photoklatsch collective, Le Centre Le Lierre and its festival Le Réel en vue as part of their ongoing commitment to image education, this year’s Rencontres de la photographie documentaire will take place over five days in Thionville.
For this second edition, the theme of rurality and its representations will be tackled through two exhibitions to be discovered in the Youth and Multimedia Space of the Centre Le Lierre from September 20 to October 28, 2023.
PROGRAM
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
EXHIBITIONS from September 20 to October 28 2023 / Opening at 6:30 pm
Sol. Agricole
Alexandre Parant
Alexandre Parant invites us to rethink our relationship with the land and the world of agriculture, with a series of images taken on several farms in Moselle.
A Tout Bout de Champs
Photoklatsch, Centre Le Lierre, Centre Saint Michel and LAM (Loisirs Accueil MAnomois)
This collective exhibition brings together a range of photographic works produced over the course of 2023, all of which explore representations of rural life in the villages of Thionville and the surrounding area.
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Meeting with Marie Fantozzi (Photo editor), 8pm free admission, subject to availability
Marie Fantozzi worked for a time in the photo departments of Vice, Le Monde and Libération, and writes about photography. She’ll be talking to us about her behind-the-scenes job as an iconographer for the press.
Friday, September 22, 2023
Screening/meeting with Sébastien Cuvelier, 8pm free admission, subject to availability > Followed by workshop weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 9:30am, registration required
Sébastien Cuvelier is a Belgian photographer, born in 1975 and based in Luxembourg. His research focuses on the exploration of a self-projection tending towards a certain ideal. His latest monograph, Paradise City, a utopian quest for a lost paradise in Iran, was published by GOST Books. He is a member of the emerging artist platforms .tiff and Futures. His work has been exhibited across Europe, including at Rencontres d’Arles, Musée de la Photographie in Charleroi and FOMU in Antwerp.
Saturday, September 23, 2023
Atelier Photographie Argentique with Alice Petit, from 2 pm to 6 pm by registration only, all levels, recommended for ages 10 and up.
Artist photographer Alice Petit invites you to immerse yourself in the world of argentic photography. Join us for a photographic stroll through the streets of Thionville, and immerse yourself in the art of black-and-white argentic development, where each image comes to life thanks to your hands.
Ouverture du regard with Luc Dufrene and Julian Pierre, 8pm, free admission, subject to availability.
2nd session in the “Documentary Photography and Landscape” series, hosted by Arnaud Pagnier
workshops are free (subject to association membership) info and registration: [email protected]
Center Le Lierre
Youth and multimedia center
5 Rue du Four Banal
57100 Thionville
03.72.60.60.99
