Celebrating beauty in the Lunar(tic) New Year

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Martin Moodie
Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

 

The world (including over two million Chinese immigrants in the US) is celebrating the Lunar New Year. Sadly it’s shaping more like the Lunatic New Year.

I wonder if the native American Indians had adopted similar measures to those now promulgated by President Trump how history might have panned out. A union of states built by immigrants now shunning them, or at least some of them. Or at least some of them shunning some of them. We live in dark times and perhaps the only saving grace about the repellant regime taking shape in the USA is the decency, compassion and humanity it is provoking in the millions of Americans who oppose what is happening in, and to, one of the world’s great democracies.

The repugnant Rudy Giuliani (no hint of an immigrant’s name there, right?), the former Mayor of New York, revealed yesterday that President Trump had (despite subsequent denials by his lackeys) indeed wanted a “Muslim ban” and had asked him to put together a commission to show “the right way to do it legally”.


Giuliani, who showed his true colours in a vile speech at TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes a couple of years back in which he hinted at things to come by offending half the audience and getting richly paid for the privilege, called Trump’s Executive Order “perfectly legal, perfectly sensible”. The former, fortunately will be judged by those with more balanced and astute minds than his, while the latter might be the case for the racist, the intolerant, the myopic and the bigoted but is entirely non-sensible, in fact indefensible, to millions of good men and women across the USA.

I’m not sure whether it’s harder to believe this is all happening or the fact that the President still has nearly four years (minimum) in office. Trump rhymes with Gump, as in Forrest from the movie of the same name, the slow-witted, kind-hearted, man from Alabama (played by Tom Hanks) who witnesses and influences some defining moments in America’s recent history. “Stupid is as stupid does,” said Forrest. Yup Forrest, you were right. Maybe you were just ahead of your time.

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On to brighter subjects in the Year of the Rooster. Move over Pixar, move over Disney. DFS Group’s joyous new Lunar New Year animated film launched to celebrate the Year of the Rooster is just a delight. Whoever at DFS came up with this concept, animation and execution take a bow. A celebration of the Lunatic (sorry, Lunar) New Year that is truly something to crow about. A celebration of travel and exploration. Watch it. It might go some way to restoring your faith in humanity and the simple beauty of things. And, heck, if you’re a Democrat (or a non-Trumpite Republican), you can just dream of being able to fly away from it all on that lovely red paper plane.

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And finally, more kudos, this time to Dubai Airports for a lovely initiative in which it has set up a demonstration area in Terminal 3 and invited passengers to have a seat, and offer their thoughts on the airport’s – you guessed it – seating arrangements.

But it’s not just about the seats themselves, it’s also about the environment surrounding them, as Dubai Airports addresses a self-perceived shortcoming in how it  conveys ‘Sense of Place’ and showcases Dubai’s culture.

As a result, the airport operator has partnered with renowned Emirati artist and designer Aljoud Lootah in an intriguing display that forms the centrepiece of the project . In 2015 Ms Lootah created her iconic ‘Yaroof’ installations inspired by Yaroof fishing. These feature octagonal frames and arabesque patterns that depict the shape of Yaroof fishing nets. The installations are accompanied by short stories and vignettes to further amplify the Dubai experience.

“What captivates me most is the process of Yaroof fishing,” said Aljoud Lootah. “I remember seeing the fishermen on the shores in the late afternoons when I was a child in the rural areas. They would stay for hours pulling the nets down to the shore and it created a beautiful picture.”

Please, again, take a few moments out to watch the sublime video below. In a world turned ugly and feral, the beauty of cultures and human communication are more important than ever.

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