Friday Five: Lord Love a Lefty

Today is not only Friday 13th, but also International Left-Handers Day. Him Outdoors is a left-hander. He tells me that the world is set up for right-handers and that he faces challenges using everyday implements such as scissors, corkscrews and can openers. He is of the generation who were rapped across the knuckles when they wrote with their left hand, so he tried to write with his right. He is also of the generation that used fountain pens, and they are notoriously difficult to manage for those of the sinister persuasion (not my word; it's Latin!).

Barack Obama is left-handed

I admit I have not always been sympathetic, but maybe this is a case of my unconscious bias. Apparently anywhere between 7-17% of the global population is left-handed (depending on what you read) and their struggles are real. Take that comment above: the Latin for left is sinister and the French is gauche. Not very nice, is it? Especially when the relative words for right are dexter and droit, from which we get dexterity and adroit. Linguistics tells us it's right to be right. 

In their effort to counter the negative connotations, left-handedness has often been suggested to denote intelligence and creativity. Sadly there is absolutely no scientific proof for this and there is no difference in IQ levels after studies have been completed. There may be a link between a left-handed dominance and verbal skills, but this is not fully explored or understood. With Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey all being left-handed, there may also be a link between left-handedness and being rich, or maybe that's just a determination to overcome adversity and make the world conform to you, rather than the other way around.

5 Facts About Left-Handedness

1. There is a town in West Virginia, USA called Left Hand. Apparently it was named after the nearby Lefthand Run Creek. And in a 'take that' moment, there is no equivalent town called Right Hand.
2. The Australian children's entertainment group, Hi-5 uses a left hand in their emblem - one of the cast, Tim Maddren, is a left-handed musician who plays the guitar, piano, trumpet and 'a bit of drums'.Other famous left-handed guitarists include Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Courtney Barnett, and David Bowie, although the latter taught himself to play right-handed due to the fact that there weren't enough left-handed guitars in shops in post-war Britain.
3. Maybe it's because Australia is down under, but kangaroos are left-hand dominant, and all Australian sulphur-crested which cockatoos are left-handed (clawed)? I read this fact but I have yet to test it out - I'll note which talon the cockatoos use to throw tree debris at me next time I'm passing. 

4. This year the Dutch Reach method was introduced to the Highway Code in the UK. It is a method of opening a vehicle door that sees the driver use their hand furthest from the handle to open the door (in the UK this would be the left hand), therefore turning their body and allowing them to see oncoming cyclists before opening the door. The Dutch have been using this method for many years, but they just call it 'opening the car door'. Last year there were 140 cycling fatalities in the UK, and in 2007 (the last year for which I can find the figures for this) 8% of serious injuries to cyclists were caused by dooring (opening a motor vehicle door into the path of another road user). 
5. It is illegal to play polo left-handed - this is to do with reasons of safety, apparently for both horse and rider. Even princes are not exempt; the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge are both left-handed.

Left-hander Prince Charles playing polo with his right

Art imitating art: Kehinde Wiley

One of the things I like about going to new cities is visiting galleries with which I am not familiar, and just wandering about noting artworks that I like for whatever reason. I have no preconceptions and I tend not to go to a specific exhibit; I just like to see what is prized by the local populace.

Indio Cuauhtemoc (The World Stage: Brazil), 2017 by Kehinde Wiley

In Portland Art Museum, this vibrant piece of art caught my eye - how could it not; check out that background! I had not previously heard of the artist, so I looked him up.

Apparently Kehinde Wiley paints young men and women of the African diaspora in majestic poses based on the glorified portraits of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. The World Stage series expands the artist's view across the globe. For his Brazil paintings, Wiley began with the nationalistic monuments that stand in city streets and parks. He then selected Afro-Brazilian men from favelas, the poorest neighbourhoods in Brazil's cities, to stand in these aggrandized roles. Wiley depicts them in their everyday clothing against abundant floral backdrops.

His artistic choices draw attention to the troubling history of colonialism, the pervasiveness of American culture and fashion, and the ways we fetishize and desire 'the tropical'. The man in this painting poses like the statue of Cuauhtemoc, situated in Rio de Janeiro.

Cuauhtemoc was the last Aztec emperor who ruled Tenochtitlan from 1520 - 1521 before being executed by the Spanish. The government of Mexico gave the sculpture to Brazil in 1922 to recognise the 100th anniversary of Brazilian independence from Portugal.

I then learned that Wiley was chosen by Barack Obama to paint his official portrait which would hang in Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in the 'America's Presidents' exhibition. Again Wiley uses the style of having his subject seemingly floating among the foliage. This foliage comprises chrysanthemums (the official flower of Chicago), jasmine (symbolic of Hawaii where Obama spent much of his youth), and African blue lilies (alluding to the president's Kenyan father).

Barack Obama by Kehinde Wiley

Many people compared the image of Obama to the scene in The Simpsons where Homer attempts to avoid attention by backing into a hedge. Seeing similarities between modern photographs and classic works of art is not new, and technical folk have a lot of fun with it on the Net. An article in the New York magazine, Intelligencer, points out that this particular expression is both banal and bathetic.

The comparison between Wiley’s portrait and the iconic Simpsons moment is obviously meant as dumb fun, but it has an emotional resonance: a former president, watching from the sidelines, exiting quietly into history as his successor turns American politics into a petty, dysfunctional, egotistical mess.

The painting was unveiled in February 2018 together with Amy Sherald's portrait of Michelle Obama. These portraits mark the first time two African-American artists were commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery.

Michelle Obama by Amy Sherald

And this is why I like art galleries so much. They lead me down artistic pathways of mental exploration. Whenever I am looking; I am learning.

Welcome Mr President

This is groundbreaking news - let's hope the election of Obama to president of the United States does indeed usher in "a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other."

It is sentiments like these that have led some people to label him a socialist. It is sentiments like these that give me hope for America. I am proud and happy for Americans. They have made a decision which will hopefully affect the world in a good way.

He promised, "And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand." I hope so; I really hope so.

It's not going to be easy; there is a legacy of rampant republicanism and individual greed that needs to be overcome, but it gives me a thrill when I hear a prospective leader talk in terms of community and to use the words opportunity, prosperity and peace in the same sentence.

Barack Obama's acceptance speech was a masteriece. It may well all turn to custard but just now, for today, I believe in hope.

"It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to
be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands
on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this
day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America."