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Izima Kaoru is a Japanese photographer currently living and working in Tokyo, Japan. Since 1993 he has been photographing actresses and models in staged fantasies of their perfect death.  He has each woman choose the designer clothes they want to be wearing when they die. The end results are these breathtaking scenes, where the very things that are disturbing are the same that make the photos so gripping.

“The death of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world.” - Edgar Allen Poe

The Unicorn by Nancy Hathaway is MUST have book for the true Unicorn enthusiast. Learn about the lore and history behind the much beloved and worshiped magical creature! I gifted a used copy to myself for Christmas for a mere $4.00 on Amazon. I have been looking for some good classic illustrations of a Unicorn for my next tattoo and this book was filled to the brim with them.

“Of all the legendary animals of art, folklore and literature, the unicorn is the one with the greatest hold on our imaginations. Other fabulous beasts are clearly inventions, existing only in a mythical landscape of our own collective creation. But the unicorn strikes us as more than imaginary. It seems possible, even probable - a creature so likely that it ought to exist.”

If you love Unicorns as much as I do, you absolutely need this book and you can buy it used or new for almost nothing on Amazon.

16 facts about myself

1. I have a lock of my hair from when I was 16 saved in a box. It’s bright fire engine red.
2. I like some extremely weird salty & sweet food combinations like cheesedoodles with ice cream sandwiches and dipping Wendy’s chicken nuggets in a chocolate frosty.
3. Pickles and mayonnaise gross me out. I especially hate mayonnaise.
4. I desperately wish I could speak elvish!
5. Some careers that I have considered throughout my life but never told anyone would be: an astronaut, a ballroom dancer, a parapsychologist.
6. One of my favorite movies ever is Kiki’s Delivery Service. I own it on VHS. gah!
7. I have an obsession with notebooks and paper. I have about 20 notebooks and stacks upon stacks of paper that I have never used, I just like to rub the paper between my fingers.
8. I took Taekwondo for 4 years. I won a gold medal in a tournament.
9. I have wanted to go to Japan ALL MY LIFE. On the plane going to China I tried to spot Japan out the window.
10. I have stayed up many a nights till 4am playing Zelda. A Link to the Past to be exact!
11. I can’t sleep with socks on.
12. When I was 12 I took a caterpillar from Virgina home in jar and when I got back to New Jersey it turned into a butterfly and I let it go.
13. I am allergic to fresh cherries but can eat maraschinos.
14. 1 have 27 beauty marks all over my body.
15. My two favorite Karoake songs are Rocket Man and Total Eclipse of the Heart.
16. I can touch my head to my knees.

What are your sweet 16 facts?

Post them here or on your blog and post a link back to me (or who tagged you). Then tag one (or 3 or 5!) blogger(s) to share theirs. I tag Sheena She. Marie. & YOU!

Before a night out at Donnie’s // Some NYE photos by Kupi // My new Unicorn Moleskine that I received for Christmas from my boyfriend. So amazing!!!

Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity on vi.sualize.us.

Flickr Photo Download: iknow.

I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that it is 2009. Could it really be true that all these days have slipped by me? 2008 was a monumental year for me and although I fell short of accomplishing many of the things I had set forth for myself, I grew as a person in ways that simply can’t be put into words. For the past five years of my life I felt that I was always on the verge of greatness, only to be let down by myself for not taking chances, for not having the courage to change. So in 2008 it was the moments that I took chances despite being scared out of my mind, that I am most proud of. Am I anywhere close to the place I feel I need to be? Hardly, but each day is a small victory and I slowly piece myself together.

Have you ever read the work of the French author Anaïs Nin? If not, I highly suggest that you delve into her diaries, each sprinkled with endless inspiration and wisdom. She writes from the very core of her heart with passion and clarity. In fact it was the following poem that inspired me to write this post:

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. - Anaïs Nin

This simple yet profound sentence perfectly sums up how I have been feeling the past year. Struggling with the fact that as an artist I am just not where I want to be. It is truly painful to be blocked, to watch the days go by without creating anything, for the ideas and images in my head to have no home and eventually fall away from me. But within the past month, I have had a creative rebirth, the artist in me wanting so badly to be born again, experience life all over with new perspective, new hopes and dreams. The world is going to shit, but I am surrounded by friends, family and a love that gives me life, a hope that everything will be ok. All of my life I have just wanted to create and inspire others and it is this burning desire to spread beauty and love in the world that is the very reason I wake up every morning. Creativity is the creator’s will for me. These words have never rung truer than this very day.

I wish all of you a year of life changing moments, passionate, extraordinary, delicious moments that can’t ever be forgot. All you have to do is take those chances, leap off that cliff and realize when you live with unshakeable courage there will always be arms there to catch you. I leave you with yet another quote by the great Anaïs Nin, one that I have taped up on the wall in front of my desk reminding me always to not live this life on default:

I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. - Anaïs Nin

Lots of love <3 GM

Kehinde Wiley - Brooklyn, NY - kehindewiley.com

Wangechi Mutu - New York, NY - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangechi_Mutu

Suehiro Maruo - Tokyo, Japan - maruojigoku.com

if you want to be featured here, send a link to your website or samples of your art (of any kind) to: ginamarr@hellojupiterart.com

Couldn’t imagine a sane & happy life without her.