FUNJOSH: May 2012

ROA Artwork Around The World

Graffiti art is common all around the world these days, and many of those who create it are anxious to retain their anonymity, as indeed Banksy was for such a long time. You may not know of one very distinctive artist called ROA as yet, but as soon as you catch sight of work attributed to this mysterious Belgian street artist, you will be captivated. He has a real passion for animal life, and he spent his youth in Ghent, Belgium. He started off modestly in his artistic beginnings, painting under bridges and onto walls.

Romantic Places.... in the world

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Santorini, Greece

Skye, Scotland

St. Moritz, Switzerland

Stechelberg, Switzerland

Tromso, Norway

Bled, Slovenia

Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Lake District, England

Lofoten, Norway

Nice, France

Paris, France

Paxi, Greece

Prague, Czech Republic

United Kingdom

RICE FIELDS OF JAPAN

RICE FIELDS OF JAPAN - Looks ordinary enough...... but watch as the rice grows!!!!!!

Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan , but this is no alien creation. The designs have been cleverly PLANTED!

Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye. Instead, different colour rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged
and grown in the paddy fields.

As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge.

A Sengoku warrior on horseback has been created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants.
The colours are created by using different varieties of rice plants, whose leaves grow in certain colours.
This photo was taken in Inakadate , Japan .....

Napoleon on horseback can be seen from the skies. This was created by precision planting
and months of planning by villagers and farmers located in Inkadate ,Japan ....

Fictional warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen, whose lives are featured on the television series 'Tenchijin'
appear in fields in the town of Yonezawa in the Yamagata prefecture ofJapan ....

This year, various artwork has popped up in other rice-farming areas ofJapan , including designs of deer dancers.
Smaller works of 'crop-art' can be seen in other rice-farming areas of Japan such as this image of Doraemon and deer dancers

The farmers create the murals by planting little purple and yellow-leafed Kodaimai rice
along with their local green-leafed Tsugaru, a Roman variety, to create the coloured patterns
in the time between planting and harvesting in September.

The murals in Inakadate cover 15,000 square meters of paddy fields.

From ground level, the designs are invisible, and viewers have to climb the mock castle tower of the village office
to get a glimpse of the work.

Closer to the image, the careful placement of the thousands of rice plants in the paddy fields can be seen.

Rice-paddy art was started there in 1993 as a local revitalization project, an idea that grew from meetings of the village committees.
The different varieties of rice plants grow alongside each other to create the masterpieces.

In the first nine years, the village office workers and local farmers grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki every year.

But their ideas grew more complicated and attracted more attention.

In 2005, agreements between landowners allowed the creation of enormous rice paddy art.
A year later, organizers used computers to precisely plot the planting of four differently colored rice varieties that bring the images to life!

TRULY A WORK OF ART!

A RARE COLLECTION

OLD PHOTOS - A RARE COLLECTION

Mahatma Gandhi at the Railway station in the early 1940s

The Sikh parade at the Gateway to India on the occasion of the departure of British Troops from India - 28 February 1948

Mahatma Gandhi with Lord Pethwick Lawrence, British Secretary of State for India - 18 April 1946

Nationalist Indian Muslim leaders after their meeting with the British Cabinet Mission on 16 April 1946

(l to r) Khawaja Abdul Majil (President of the All-India Muslim Majlis), Mr Zahiruddin (President of the All-India Momin Conference) and Mr Hisamuddin (President of the All-India Ahrars)Source:

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with his grandsons Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi - 1950

Photographer:Homai VyarawallaSource

- Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Adolf Hitler - Germany 29 May 1942

A newly elect president of the Indian National Congress, Subhas Chandra Bose, arrives at Calcutta's Dum Dum aerodrome after an eventful European tour