A Dose of Wisdom

“No human community can exist without culture.”

This is the wisdom shared by Vaclav Havel.

Vaclav, a former playwright and elected first president of the Czech Republic, shared this bit of insight as part of the Wisdom project.

Wisdom is the work of 34 year old New York based photographer Andrew Zuckerman who completed the project in 2008.

Inspired by the idea that one of the greatest gifts a generation can give to the next is wisdom gained from experience, the project consists of a collection of 50 photographs/interviews that capture the wisdom of legendary leaders and visionaries, over the age of sixty-five, from the worlds of politics, science, sports and the arts.

Wisdom exists in the form of a book of portraits, a film and a travelling exhibition.

The latter (the exhibition’s Canadian premiere) is on display at Toronto’s elegant Brookfield Place (formerly BCE Place) until August 5^th, 2011.

Each copy of the book comes with a download code for a 60-minute film comprised of interviews from the project.

Among the global personalities featured are people such as Actor/Director (and all around Dirty Harry) Clint Eastwood, Diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner Henry Kissinger, first woman to become United States Secretary of State Madeline Albright and Actor Robert Redford.

There are also two notable characters as far as Poland and Canada are concerned. The first is Zbigniew Brzezinski, Warsaw born, McGill University educated, former United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter.

The second, is world renowned architect Frank Gehry who was born in Toronto and hails from Polish Jewish ancestry.

Wisdom is an inspiring and rewarding exhibition. If you’re in need of a gust of in your sails make sure to check it out. Best of all, it’s free!

And if you’re looking to combine the show with a nice dinner – we recommend either Ki  (Modern Japanese) or the eclectic Marché which are just steps away.

Enjoy your dose of wisdom!

But before you dig in, check out this trailer for the film…

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Life…According to Photog Marcin Moka

Check out these great photos by Toronto based photographer Marcin Moka.

Marcin (who has been shooting for 7 years) specializes in “creative photojournalism” but does a fair bit of wedding photography as well.

We recently asked him how he got into photography in the first place and what his favourite places to shoot are:

I was lucky enough to have lived on the French Riviera while in University, which in my view is one of the most beautiful spots on earth. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera to capture the memories so when I came back to Canada, I picked up my first point & shoot camera. I immediately fell in love with photography and have been at it since.

If I had to pick my three favourite places where I’ve shot, they would be:

1. Manhattan’s Lower East Side – I love the graffiti, the grime and the endless details that you encounter in that dense urban area.

2. Old City of Jerusalem – the atmosphere, the history… the tension. It’s difficult encapsulating it all in photos, but it’s exhilarating to try.

3. The quaint, sleepy towns of South Western France – far from the droves of tourists, they have this romantic-nostalgic feel that’s hard to find elsewhere. 

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