Showing posts with label PNG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PNG. Show all posts
Thursday, August 1, 2024
Friday, March 1, 2024
St. David's Day 2024
This handcrafted Doodle celebrates St. David’s Day in Wales (also known as Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant)! The artwork takes inspiration from the legend of Dinas Emrys wherein a king’s castle collapsed many times due to two dragons fighting in a lair below its foundation. Eventually, the red dragon prevailed and became a symbol of Welsh pride. Today, the flag can be seen waving throughout the country.
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Thursday, November 30, 2023
St. Andrew's Day 2023
Today’s hand-crafted stained glass Doodle celebrates St. Andrew’s Day, Scotland’s national day. Each year, 30th November marks a day of celebrating Scottish roots. The artwork features thistle flowers which represent resilience, strength, and protection.
St. Andrew’s Day celebrations vary across Scotland. The capital, Edinburgh, hosts storytelling and music performances, and street markets that sell everything from hand-made scarves to homemade sausages. In the seaside town of St. Andrews, bagpipes and drums sing over the crashing waves throughout a week-long festival.
Throughout Scotland, gatherings called Ceilidhs draw hundreds of people dressed in plaid kilts and carry into the night as they dance to both traditional and modern Scottish music. And it’s not a celebration without Scottish foods like cullin skink, a hearty soup dish made with smoked haddock, potatoes and onions.
Happy St. Andrew’s Day, Scotland!
Monday, October 2, 2023
Celebrating the Appalachian Trail
Today’s slideshow Doodle celebrates the Appalachian Trail — click the Doodle to explore the 2,190-mile footpath that spans across 14 U.S. states! The Appalachian trail is the longest hiking-only footpath in the world, and has served sightseeing hikers for nearly 100 years. It traverses through dense forests, across rushing rivers, and over mountain summits along the east coast. On this day in 1968 The National Trails System Act established the Appalachian Trail as one of the country’s first National Scenic Trails.
Benton MacKaye, a forester, conservationist, and lifelong outdoorsman, first proposed the idea in 1921. His original plan, titled An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning, outlined a stretch of several self-sustaining agricultural camps along the way. Many like-minded people started joining his cause, and the community eventually became known as the Appalachian Trail Conference.
In 1937, thanks to combined efforts of many trailblazers, the Appalachian Trail became fully connected from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Ten years later, a hiker named Earl Shaffer reported the first thru-hike from end-to-end and ignited a wave of interest. Over fourteen thousand people have completed the trek since.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Trails System Act in 1968, which declared the Appalachian Trail as one of the first national scenic trails and recognized it as federal land. Finally, in 2014, the last major stretch of land was acquired, turning initial dreams for the trail into reality.
Nowadays, in a collaborative effort to conserve its natural glory, the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and many volunteers maintain and manage the historic footpath. Thousands of pathfinders visit the route each year with the intention of completing the four- to six-month long thru-hike.
Happy trails!
Fumiko Enchi's 118th Birthday
Today’s Doodle celebrates the 118th birthday of Fumiko Enchi, a Japanese feminist and writer who rose to literary fame during the post-World War II era. She wrote several plays and novels about the unfair domestic lifestyles that women were expected to lead. The characters she created were direct reflections of her own experiences, and evolved as her career and life progressed.
Enchi was born on this day in 1905 in Tokyo. From an early age, she was exposed to the art of storytelling — her grandmother introduced her to kabuki theater. At 21 years old, Enchi published her first play titled A Birthplace, which was well received by the public.
Unfortunately, the writer grew ill and lost her home during World War II, causing her to temporarily retreat from the literary world. Enchi eventually found her way back to the pen and focused more on fiction, writing tales that explored the gender discrimination, lack of equality, and wrongful treatment of women caused by Japan’s patriarchal society. In 1953, she won the Women’s Literature Prize for her story Starving Days.
Throughout the rest of her career, Enchi published novels that featured strong, introspective female protagonists. She was particularly fond of works written by women during the Heian era and adopted similar topics: maternity, familial duty, lust, aging, and more. Enchi’s expressive voice gave these themes a modern twist and cemented her status as a leading Japanese writer.
Some of her most celebrated works include The Waiting Years (1957), Masks (1958), and A Tale of False Fortunes (1965). Enchi won several awards including the Bunka Kunsho (or Order of Culture), the highest honor a Japanese citizen can receive, in 1985. She was also elected to the Japan Art Academy, the nation’s premier institution for recognizing accomplished artists.
Happy birthday, Fumiko Enchi!
Friday, September 1, 2023
Sunday, July 2, 2023
Celebrating Diana Sacayán
Today’s Doodle honors Indigenous Argentine human rights activist Amancay Diana Sacayán. On this day in 2012, Sacayán became the first Argentine trans woman to receive a national identity card affirming her gender. The Doodle artwork, illustrated by Buenos Aires-based guest artist Juan Dellacha, depicts Sacayán as a joyful activist whose persistence, in spite of all the violence she suffered throughout her whole life, left a huge legacy.
A proud descendant of the Diaguita people, Sacayán was born in Tucumán, Argentina, on December 31, 1975. She and her 15 siblings moved to Buenos Aires, where she would spend most of her life. Sacayán enjoyed school until she was expelled as a result of coming out as transgender. She faced police persecution quickly and was arrested multiple times for her clothing choice and trans identity.
Sacayán fought tirelessly for LGBTQ+ rights during her life. She was involved with many activist groups, notably a member of the National Front for the Gender Identity Law and a leader of the International Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Association. She founded the Movimiento Antidiscriminatorio de Liberación (Anti-Discriminatory Liberation Movement), which was dedicated to improving human rights for the queer community, focusing on inclusion within schools, workplaces, and hospitals. Today, because of her activism, trans people can have their name and gender respected when they access health care.
1% of public sector employees in Buenos Aires are in the trans community, thanks to the Trans Labor Quota Law that Sacayán promoted. This law was expanded to the national level in 2020, but tragically, Sacayán was not around to see it. She was killed in a hate crime in 2015, and her murderer is considered the first person in Argentina to be convicted of a hate crime against the trans community.
Her resilience and accomplishments continue to inspire. She persuaded the public sector to include trans people, advocated for hospitals to use people's correct names, and set an example by being the first legally recognized trans person in her country. Thank you for dedicating your life to vastly improve trans rights, Amancay Diana Sacayán.
Guest Artist Q&A with Juan Dellacha
Today’s Doodle was illustrated by Buenos Aires-based guest artist Juan Dellacha. Below, he shares his thoughts behind the making of this Doodle:
Q. Why was this topic meaningful to you personally?
A: As part of the LGBT+ community, I felt very touched with the opportunity to illustrate Diana, who was such an important person to us and whose activism I admire. It is so important to see the faces of the people who have fought so long and so hard to have the rights we have today. I think of her as a heroine, she was an example to follow.
Q. What were your first thoughts when you were approached about the project?
A: When I received the proposal to work on a Doodle I was already excited, but when I was told that it was to celebrate Diana Sacayán, it was even more thrilling! I felt a lot of responsibility, but most of all, I felt very honored to illustrate a portrait that celebrated her.
The first ideas I had were about
representing her joy and her legacy. The first image that comes to my
mind when I think of her is her peaceful glance and her beautiful smile.
I think that the joy she transmitted and her tireless activism, despite
all the violence she went through, was revolutionary.
Q. Did you draw inspiration from anything in particular for this Doodle?
A: I googled pictures to capture her smile and joy and I also watched interviews. When you see her speaking, you can see she conveyed a lot of calm and wisdom, she had a quiet but firm way of speaking. Those subtleties can say a lot about a person and were a source of inspiration.
I also wanted to represent her native roots and environmental consciousness, so I included flowers and plants that are native from Argentina, for which I had to do some research, too. And what was a huge inspiration in particular was a poem that she wrote. It is called Cuando yo me vaya (When I leave). It talks about her after death and funeral, and it has all the things I wanted to communicate: her identity, her class consciousness, her native roots, her ideals, her humor and her joy.
Q. What message do you hope people take away from your Doodle?
A: Diana believed that the fight for LGBT+ rights also needed to have social, environmental, native and class consciousness too. It couldn’t be one without the other. I deeply agree with that and I think it’s very important to have that in mind, especially in the times we are living in. That’s why I was very interested in showing her intersectional activism, mixing all these different elements in one image that celebrated her, with Diana’s joyful smile in the middle.
Friday, June 30, 2023
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
St. David's Day 2023
Today’s Doodle celebrates St. David’s Day in Wales, or Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant in Welsh. On this day in the year 589, St. David was canonized and became the patron saint of Wales.
Each year on March 1st, a national St. David’s Day Parade is held in the city of Cardiff, where schoolchildren and bands march in traditional Welsh costumes. They wear bright red gowns and dark tall hats and carry the Welsh flag.
The flag of Wales features a red dragon atop a green and white background. According to the legend of Dinas Emrys, a Celtic king’s castle repeatedly collapsed due to two dragons fighting in a lair below its foundation. Eventually, a red dragon prevailed and became a symbol of Welsh pride. Today, the flag decorates buildings and homes throughout the country.
Today’s colourful Doodle was inspired by items found in Wales. The artwork was hand-crafted with cut acrylic glass inspired by traditional stained glass windows and prominently features Wales' National flower — the daffodil!
Happy St. David’s Day Wales!
Celebrating Mickey Chen
Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Taiwan-based guest artist Dyin Li, celebrates Taiwanese filmmaker and activist Mickey Chen, who focused on telling stories from people that belonged to disenfranchised communities. On this day in 1999, her film Boys for Beauty became the first LGBTQ-themed documentary to be screened at a movie theater in Taiwan.
Chen, fascinated by cameras from a young age, started creating movies in college. At 30, she made her directorial debut with Not Simply a Wedding Banquet (1997), a documentary about the first gay couple to have a public wedding in Taipei. It explored the struggles that members of the LGBTQ+ community faced in Taiwan.
In 1999, Chen released Boys for Beauty, an eye-opening exposé that followed the lives of three gay teenagers from Taipei. The film took a bold stance against gender norms and showcased the societal pressures each subjects’ relatives endured. It was a box office success and a pivotal achievement for Taiwanese cinema.
Boys for Beauty won countless awards and film festival placements, most notably the Audience Award at the 2000 Taiwan International Documentary Festival. Chen gave an inspiring acceptance speech that praised the LGBTQ+ movement and invited several directors to join her on stage in an act of solidarity.
Chen wrote and directed many more documentaries such as Memorandum on Happiness (2003), Scars on Memory (2005), and Fragile in Love (2007). She also published Taipei Father, New York Mother in 2011, a book about family tragedies that occurred during her youth. Throughout her career, Chen documented significant moments of LGBTQ+ history in Taiwan and opened the eyes of the public to them and Taiwan’s progressive LGBTQ+ societal views are a result of trailblazers like her.
Thursday, January 26, 2023
India Republic Day 2023
India gained its freedom from the British Empire in 1947 and began drafting its constitution soon after. The India Constituent Assembly took two years to discuss, modify, and approve the governing document, and when adopted, India became the country with the longest constitution. The adoption of this document paved the way for democracy and empowered Indian citizens to elect their own representatives.
To celebrate the national holiday, there are various parades around the country, with the largest one taking place at Rajpath, a ceremonial boulevard in New Delhi. After a ceremonial wreath laying to honor fallen soldiers, regiments of India’s armed forces and tableaus representing cultural and historical heritage march through the street. To conclude the festivities, the Beating Retreat ceremony takes place on the evening of January 29th. The saffron, white, and green Indian flag is flown as the Indian National Anthem plays.
Today’s Doodle artwork is crafted from intricately hand-cut paper. Many elements of the Republic Day parade are represented in the artwork including the Rashtrapati Bhavan (where the president resides), the India Gate, the CRFP marching contingent, and motorcycle riders.
Happy Republic Day, India!
Check out the behind-the-scenes process for today’s Doodle artwork
Guest Artist Q&A with Parth Kothekar
Today’s Doodle was illustrated by Ahmedabad, Gujarat-based guest artist Parth Kothekar. Below, he shares his thoughts behind the making of this Doodle:
Q. What were your first thoughts when you were approached about working on this Doodle?
A: I had goosebumps! I reread the email multiple times as I couldn’t believe it and with joy I informed my mother and sister about it. I’d never thought that I would get such an opportunity!
Q. Did you draw inspiration from anything in particular for this Doodle?
A: My inspiration was to create a portrait of India. The exhibition that takes place during the Republic Day parade is vast and humbling! I wished to weave various strands and elements of it together.
Q. Why was this topic meaningful to you personally?
A: During my school days, every year I would be mesmerized by the Republic Day parade. Receiving this opportunity enlivened that fascination and I thoroughly enjoyed diving into it as I went into details of every facet displayed on the papercut. I learned a lot through this process.
Q. What message do you hope people take away from your Doodle?
A: This papercut took me 4 days to complete — 6 hours a day. I wanted to demonstrate the complexity of India, with all of its interconnected facets! I'm hoping that the complexity of this artwork allows the viewer to get a glimpse of that.
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Friday, July 1, 2022
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Celebrating José de Almada Negreiros
01.06.2022-Wednesday-Celebrating José de Almada Negreiros-PNG.
Today’s Doodle, illustrated by guest artist Melissa Crowton, celebrates the life, works and creative legacy of José de Almada Negreiros. He was a multi-faceted artist, writer and choreographer of Futurism, and widely considered one of the most influential Portuguese and European artists of the 20th century. On this day in 1911, Almada Negreiros made his artistic debut at the age of 18 by publishing a cartoon titled “A Weighty Reason” in the 4th issue of A Sátira, a Lisbon magazine.
He was born on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe in 1893, and began his creative journey as a caricaturist. What started off with satirical sketches turned into a self-taught love for all things art. At just 20 years old, Almada Negreiros hosted his first exhibition in Lisbon. A year later, in 1914, he published his first poem and, in 1915, started a progressive literary magazine called Orpheu, which promoted Portuguese Modernism.
In the 1920’s, Almada Negreiros lived in Paris and Madrid, honing his craft and skills through collaboration and sometimes even isolation. When he returned to Portugal in 1932, he expanded his artistic repertoire to include stained-glass pieces, mosaic panels, theater plays, ballets, graphic designs and more.
Almada Negreiros was awarded the Columbano Prize by the National Secretariat of Propaganda in 1942 and the Domingos Sequeira Award in 1946, as well as numerous other honors and decorations throughout his lifetime. His works are displayed far and wide around Europe, most notably in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, the port terminals of Alcântara and Rocha do Conde de Óbidos, and in the lounge bar of the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon.
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