GAPING MAWS

Holy shit do I have a treat for you guys today...


They are gateways. Entrances to a realm as mysterious and fascinating as it is frightening. Countless tales have been told of the hosts of these passageways; countless more of those who have passed beyond. But little attention has been paid to the gateways themselves; the openings through which all become equal.

The time has come for that to change. For the gateways to be recognized; their beauty and their terror to be captured. Frozen in that moment of glory beyond which there is no return.

Welcome now to the realm of...

The Gaping Maws

The creator of WWW.GAPINGMAWS.COM insists:

"It is my goal to have the most complete collection of gaping animal maws that anyone can have"

Now, That is an attitude that fills me with merriment!
Yes, there are tons more like this.

INTO THE ABYSS

Hashima - Battleship Island

Hashima, Gunkanshima, Battleship island. Only 1 of 505 uninhabited islands off the coast of Nagasaki. The ancient Mitsubishi corporation bought this place during the industrialization of Japan back around the turn of the previous century. It became a coal mining facility, complete with typhoon proof sea walls. Tons of forcibly recruited workers from all over Asia were brought here and stuffed in huge concrete apartment blocks, especially during WWII. In the 60's, after the discovery of the wonder-element Petroleum, places like this were abandoned en mass. The bottom most photo depicts the infamous "Stairway to Hell."

Celine Clanet and Máze

In observance of SUFFERING VS. CONCESSION , which is one of the central themes of the holidays: this is just a tiny reindeer-specific selection from Celine Clanet's beautiful photographic portraits of Máze.

Celine Clanet on Máze:

Since 2005, I have been traveling regularly to Máze, a small Sámi village located at the highest point of the European map, far above the Arctic Circle, in Norwegian Lapland. There, I met quiet people, sometimes melancholic, captivating, who are very proud of their village and territory. They often have binoculars at hand, even in their homes, to gaze at these beautiful landscapes.

I have photographed Sámi people, houses, land and reindeer that were almost not here today. They barely escaped being flooded by the waters of a hydroelectric dam project that the Norwegian government planned in the early 1970’s and thanks to Sámi people’s protests and resistance was fortunately aborted.
But I have also photographed a reality that will undoubtedly transform in the coming century, due to global warming and cultural integration.

To me, Máze is an ambivalent symbol of resistance and helplessness.

Pride as well as suspicion, solitude and great beauty prevail there. In the most beautiful tundra of the Arctic region, I tasted Ante’s and Ole Ailo’s favorite season, when days get longer and temperatures become milder. The perfect moment, when time doesn’t exist anymore and night is gone, when they immerse themselves in their favorite activities: fishing through ice holes in Lake Suolojávri and riding the snøskuter in the tundra. And all these hours spent with friends, family, outside on a reindeer skin, in a hytte or under a lávvu, talking, joiking, or lying down doing nothing, saying nothing. Just being.