naturalia
After the debut of My Favorite Things with DRY issue #15 , you will find a new amazing edition of the volume!
Now let’s get some hints on what you will discover inside DRY issue #16…
IN THIS ISSUE:
Bakar
Floria
Sigismondi
Serena
Sy
Eike
Schmidt
Moataz
Nasr
Jr
Wolfgang
Natlacen
Sabine
Pigalle
ON THE NATURE OF THINGS
NATURALIA – Notes towards a new Wunderkammer
“Here my idea is to declare that art is the only possibility for evolution, the only possibility to change the situation in the world. But then you have to enlarge the idea of art to include the whole creativity. And if you do that, it follows logically that every living being is an artist – an artist in the sense that he can develop his own capacity. And therefore it’s necessary at first that society cares about the educational system, that equality of opportunity for self-realization is guaranteed.”
Joseph Beuys
We are passing through a dark moment in humanity’s journey. Even though the world represented by the media is always gleaming, glittering, filled with (useless) start-ups and philanthropic (lu- crative) initiatives, we are at zero level in the prospects for a growth of civilisation, understood as knowledge and critical capacity. Technology, science, the so-called egalitarian tools that should guarantee current well-being and an ever-better future are enslaved, as they always have been, but today to a dramatic degree, by those who want to wield power, beyond democratic appearances. A world that no longer offers fair prospects of growth except through consumer business models linked to the spectacularisation of our existence and so fails to create value. The latest data show that, due to the pandemic, increasing numbers of girls and boys will not have access to a guaranteed education for all and that early school leaving will reach record heights globally. Education is the first model of society that is presented to citizens. The relationship with teachers and fellow pupils is formative, a way of shaping our minds, our critical faculties, enabling our brains to work, possibly without the aid of tech-mech means. Today knowledge is supplied by algorithms that decide what we ought to encounter in our search. Algorithms carefully select not only our information but, even worse, our formation.
In this issue, a reflection on our nature as human beings, living and thinking, is essential, because we have heard so much about it lately. About our nature as free men and women. Who use their brains. Who wonder where we come from, what we are made of, how to resist and exist. So here are our thoughtful little Wunderkammern. We enter the worlds of art with seeds and plants, explosive and endangered biodiversity, of a visionary museum humanism. We discover self-exposure through photography, and the spontaneity that becomes sensuousness, or the mysticism that unfolds in the most loved sport of football. And then, the procession for the farmers who are disappearing, and the masks and leaves that are at the origin of nature. Two great scholars, historians, philologists and philosophers, lead us by the hand in a museum that tells of our fear of the decay of the body… In wonderful pages devoted to fashion, the natural elements are represented, air, earth, fire, wind: composition and decomposition, the leitmotif of our earthly existence… Different images unfold, different perspectives, which drive us to Epicurus and his ethical philosophy as an ascetic life of pleasure and virtuous. The Epistle to Menoeceus, a veritable manual of happiness, begins with the exhortation to practice philosophy, that means constantly increase knowledge, the only true source of happiness and wellbeing. In this letter to a friend, from the 4th century BC, Epicurus writes:
“We must then bear in mind that the future is neither ours, nor yet wholly not ours, so that we may not altogether expect it as sure to come, nor abandon hope of it, as if it will certainly not come. We must consider that of desires some are natural, others vain, and of the natural some are necessary and others merely natural; and of the necessary some are necessary for happiness, others for the repose of the body, and others for life itself.”
In this way nature urges us to recognise our frailty, and that happiness lies in the little things. Our souls are heavy, so let’s nurture them, like our minds.
“Of all this the beginning and the greatest good is understanding. Wherefore understanding is a more precious thing even than philosophy: for from understanding are sprung all the other virtues, and it teaches us that it is not possible to live pleasantly without living prudently and honourably and justly, nor, again, to live a life of prudence, honour, and justice without living pleasantly. For the virtues are by nature bound up with the happiness, and happiness is inseparable from them.”
SM
ON COVER NATURALIA
Bakar wears a brown wool coat with shoulder pads, trousers and gloves Rick Owens. Beanie Acne Studios
Photography Machine Operated. Starring Bakar. Fashion Director Woo Lee. Styling Elliot Long.
Hair & Make Up Megumi Matsuno. Set Designer Y Lan Lucas. Executive Producer & Art Buying Camilla Tisi @ToTheMoonStudio. Production Claire Burman @Cebestudio. Production Assistant Afeni Payne-Bonnick. Fashion Assistant Omar Stewart.
ON COVER NATURALIA
Floria wears a tulle mask Giambattista Valli
Photography Brandon Bowen. Starring Floria Sigismondi. Fashion Director Woo Lee. Styling Lisa Jarvis.
Hair Sienree Du @CelestineAgency. Make Up Erin Ayanian @CloutierRemixAgency. Set Art Direction Matea Friend. Casting Director & Executive Producer & Art Buying Camilla Tisi @ToTheMoonStudio. Production Andrea Sastoque. Photo Assistant David Friend. Fashion Market Editor Raziel Martinez. Fashion Assistant Damaris Leah Verde.
ON COVER NATURALIA
Serena wears a black mirrored turtleneck gown and necklace Burberry
Photography Constantin Schlachter. Fashion Director Woo Lee. Model Serena Sy @Makers.
Hair Sadek L @TheWallGroup. Make Up Min Kim @TheWallGroup. Casting Director Emmanuelle Delserieys @Creartvt. Fashion & Production Coordinator Andrea Colace. Fashion Assistants Esperanza Teràn & Nina Abdelfettah.
Don’t Repeat Yourself
-In USA/WORLDWIDE it will be out late JANUARY-
DANIEL STEEGMANN MANGRANÉ
MOATAZ NASR
GISEOK CHO
ROCKY BYUN
DAMIAN KRISL
