Balafon performance in the streets of Conakry, Guinea. ©1963 Emile Snyder Among the unique documents that have floated my way over the years was a manilla folder full of gorgeous black and white photographs my father took in the Ivory Coast, which was developed there, and some of them might have also been […]
Putting Together My Father’s Research With The Photos: West Africa 1963-64 Read More »
Commedia dell'Arte troupes crisscrossing the country to perform are often at the mercy of events they cannot control, like difficult audience members and lousy weather. Amid rain and misery, the kindness of an unexpected patron in a small village becomes a welcomed gift. Food, wine, and local stories fuel the actors' imaginations. The
From The Innamorati: The Libertini Create New Work in the Midst of Feasting Read More »
I posted a few field drawings of my mother Jeanette Snyder yesterday, and wanted to add some more of them because I think they are charming — and remind me of the days when field researchers lugged heavy tape recorders, cameras, and note books, just in case all that heavy technology failed, leaving only the
More Field Drawings: Darjeeling, India 1964. Tibetan Lhamo Performances. Read More »
I have been working through my mother Jeanette Snyder's papers — including a cash of drawings, and strips of contact sheet photographs (many that were never developed and for which the negatives disappeared many years ago) on her research of the Tibetan Lhamo in 1964. She rote a wonderful article "The World Beneath the Tents"
Bittersweet: An Afternoon Under the Tent Watching the A Ice Lhamo Perform Read More »
Sometimes in the midst of all our work, it seems impossible to find the breath or the balance to stay upright. I love this video of RIGOLO Sanddornbalance 2012 Art Installation – it has an almost instantly soothing effect. This is the way to work, breathing, focusing, a quiet intensity which balances effort on an
Remembering It’s All About Balance After A Couple Of Long Weeks of Work Read More »
While looking for the title of a specific book (Eros and Magic in the Renaissance by Culiano and Cook) that I knew to be in one of my research notebooks, I came across a little scrap of paper on which I had written a description of a masked ceremonial dance — probably something from the
I am swooning over these gorgeous illustrations from the Czech children's book The Forest Story," written in 1929 by Josef Kozisek and handsomely illustrated by Rudolf Mates. I would so have loved as a child to receive such a gem of of a book. (Via Will Schoenfeld's amazing 50 Watts, a website dedicated to sharing
A Forest Story And The Lush Illustrations of Rudolf Mates Read More »
My father Emile Snyder was a professor of African Literature and Languages, specializing in contemporary African Literature written in French and English. He taught at a number of universities, including the University of Wisconsin – Madison, the University of Dar- es Salaam, Tanzania, and Indiana University. In 1964 when he was just embarking on a
Kora, Calabash, and Drum: West African Musicians, Photographs circa 1964 Read More »
