Ami's art corner

in which jon’s body grows softer and martin thinks of it as proof of healing :]

i have a few resources i look to consistently but i'm gonna plug anatomy for sculptors as One Of The Most Useful. great if you're a 3D artist, INVALUABLE if you're a 2D artist. gives you turnarounds of specific limbs/fiddly body parts like ears. great especially if you're referencing a photo and start looking at an individual part like 'wait, what the hell is going on in there'

#im cackling

I was supposed to drop this on valentine's day but I was busy having a meltdown 😔

“The truth is Amina would never, ever imagine that anyone would be interested in her. But Saira’s not going to be the person who changes that.”

Between 2004 and 2023 Saira loses a sister, starts a band, gets and regrets a social media presence, breaks up the band and puts it together again, writes her first love song, headlines(ish) a music festival, listens to the worst song in the world over four hundred times, and falls in love for real. But this story is not about that. This is about music.

Stills from We Are Lady Parts season 2, coming May 30

april 9, 2021

do anglos know wrt the malvinas situation that argentina was a neocolony of the uk for a good chunk of post independence history

La Forestal was a British corporation that owned practically all of the Argentine Gran Chaco as a colony. In a very literal way: the HQ of La Forestal was a mansion (I think it's now abandoned) in the north of Santa Fe where the Union Jack was raised every morning and tea time was followed strictly.

The workers of La Forestal fell down quebracho trees to extract the tannin from it to feed Britain's industries. The trees were previously hard to cut (hence "El Impenetrable", the impassable forest) until the British came with chainsaws and motor vehicles. My grandfather tells me that when a quebracho fell, it destroyed the entire forest where it fell, preventing it to recover it, we're still dealing with the destruction of the native old forest today, what remains is only a shadow of the century-old trees from before. Workers; criollos, natives, inmigrants, were pushed to work from sun to sun to cut the inmense trees under the whips, sleeping in huts made of mud and covered by palm leaves. The conditions were so harsh that many commited suicide, letting out a sapucai (it's a traditional guaraní sharp cry) before killing themselves, as recorded in many books. The trees were grinded down on factories until they were tannin dust and sent to England. My grandpa tells me that you could tell how their Empire spread across the Earth, as the ropes they used to transport the trees were made in India.

Not a single pound was left here, not a single peso even. La Forestal didn't pay its employees, instead it gave them a coin (my Grandpa still has his one, it says "Obrero 14", he was a number) which you presented in the company store and they paid you whatever the company felt like you deserved. Sometimes they might say they gave you 2 kilos of flour, when in fact it's just one. What are you gonna do, complain? My grandpa said that they didn't even let you go to school so that you could tell you were getting ripped off by reading the weights.

And what if people had enough, what if they wanted to resist or form a union? Well, it could call of course the Argentine Army, since the Argentine oligarchy elected by a few rich families was in the pocket of the British Empire (to the point that some senators actually asked to be a colony). But since that was kind of a hassle, they often just brought in the cardenales, named by their red caps, gangs taken from prison, given machetes and free rein to do with the revolting workers as they wished.

La Forestal eventually faded away. The reforms of Perón brought workers rights, schools, clinics, housing, and strong unions. Eventually it was transferred to local owners who continued the operations in a much subdued way. But it wasn't out of the kindess of the heart of its former owners. The British found a better source of tannin in the acacia trees of their African colonies. God knows what they did there but I always tell myself I have to learn about it.

But yeah, why is Argentina so mad about the British? It must be because of some islands lol

🌫 I’ve been kissed by a rose on the gray 🌫

(Painting based on “This Lonely Knight” by arthureameslove. Click because tumblr killed the quality!)

[ insert smthn about Martin trying to memorize Jon's hands in case their time together is limited ]

[ID: A digital illustration for the Magnus Archives fanfiction "Beholding the GDPR" by shinyopals. It shows a forlorn Jonathan Sims sitting next to a mostly empty glass of red wine typing on his phone. Behind him is a stylized representation of his messages, sent through the company IM system. They read:

"Magnus Institute Instant Messenger - Martin Blackwood

Conversation history with Jonathan Sims

hi martin// fuck sorry this was a mistake you on't want this// daidy and i had a dricnk and// sosryrr - 01:17

hi martin// i suppose you're probably not reading these// i just wanted to see if you were ok?// i trust you i do. i promised i would. // i'm sorry, i know this isn't what you wnted// wanted*// you know where i am if you ever need my help. -23:42"

On the other side of the wall of texts Martin Blackwood, shown mostly from behind, looks at his phone. Fog gathers around him. Peter Lukas's hand emerges from the fog and reaches for Martin's shoulder. One text bubble above his phone reads "Please stop." End ID]

A sad sad wine drunk Jon for dearest @shinyopals and their world-famous fic that you've probably already read but should if you haven't :3

the dichotomy between the "immigrant" (someone from the global south who moves to the north) and the "expat" (someone from the global north who moves to the south) makes me feel fucking crazy. a white person who moves to asia is an expat but an asian who moves to the west is an immigrant. & how those terms are politicized and assigned class statuses, like the word "immigrant" tends to imply a blue collar worker (even if that isn't the case) while "expat" implies a white collar worker. the associations with "expat neighbourhoods" in asian countries is very very different from those of "immigrant neighbourhoods" in western nations. also how "immigrants" who dont assimilate are seen as "failing" and bad, lower class, a burden on society, etc. whereas "expats" not assimilating into local culture is expected and viewed as a sign of their higher status. the double standards are so insane

Jon & Martin posting because I’m a sicko