Venician Venus Fly/Beauty Trap

Modern Interpretation--Hot! Blogger Susie Bubble Modeling Natasha Lawes mask. Photo Courtesy Style Bubble.

Even on an unassuming Monday, Venice is a tourist venus trap. The city begs for walking only to lead you in circles through its labyrinth alleyways for hours; locals born in Venice speak of it's beauty with the wistfulness of intense love--Venice thanks them with exuberant real estate, out of pocket but in clear alluring sight. I wondered into a quiet Future Centre dedicated to communications research, the building had served before as a monastery then army barracks and office of defense before decaying in war years--emerging re-imagined from the rubble as the home of future invention.

Your Girl Swallowed Whole By The Venus Trap. Image, M. Makhene 2011.

It's quite like a beautiful tattered white shirt that you bought in your youth and venerated as a Sunday best bit. You outgrew it's lace and delicate designs during your punk-rock inspired reinvention but remembered it a hidden gem when an exacting occasion demanded, only to fall in love again with its quiet sense of self and reassurance in its beauty. Like Venice, this shirt knew all along you'd return to it, in awe of its hand-stitching and timelessness.

Drying Dirty Laundry In Public. M. Makhene, 2011.

The Adriatic Queen does not need you to worship her beauty, she does not need you to publicly postulate, calling on her Sundays. She knows you will return. She knows her power and is self-possessed in it. She understands the true beauty she holds behind her mask and knows how to fan it just so, leaving you smitten and repulsed, ready to swear her off but already plotting how you will unveil what's beyond that mask upon your return.

Related gossip:  The Venice Biennale is on, attracting a hive of celebrities and feted artists to prominent national exhibitions/pavilions. And in the case of South Africa, apparently, also some drama. One of my favorites, Mary Sibande, is in the show but the photographer genius Zwelethu Mthethwa pulled out of the show because of a lack of transparency. Much ado about nothing, or art doing its job best--casting harsh light inside our shadows?