Florence. Italy. 2013-2019. It’s been a long, winding love affair. A lot of poetry, a lot of tears, a lot of cigarettes and laughter. Forever, somehow, will that city be associated with this aesthete. (and, of course, this diary) I’m always drawn back, somehow, even when I think it’s finally over. Life speaks to me ~ […]
…and that’s my promise to the world ~ to keep it that way. As time goes on, I find the same thoughts and feelings coming back to me, sentiments that I have had from the very beginning. Strangely enough, right now as we approach the end of 2018, I feel very similar to how I […]
* Ghana, Year III – l’épilogue White mists clear, revealing a horizon of pure gold. The spirit beckons you forth, as your journey reaches its final end. Moons have waxed, ebbed and waned. Many suns have risen, eclipsed and set… as is the nature of celestial bodies. In time you will learn to accept their failings… […]
Sahara… صَحَارَى How can one word still evoke so much? Even now, as time moves on at such quickening pace… Worlds begin to collide, continents drift. Again I am standing with feet between two lands. Yet for once I am not shaken, but stilled by this dissonance, this ambivalence… Life continues to move forward into […]
♫ – “Koan – Klaus Wiese” People have called me many things, given me many titles, accolades, nicknames and honours. In fact I have called myself many things. An artist, an Aesthete, a pilgrim, a wanderer, a muse. Truth is I am not any of those things – no Christopher Columbus, Byron, Dorian Gray; not […]
My time in the Gambia, West Africa, was met by different energies. Some dark, some bright. A chiaroscuro crosshatch of contrasting light. I was helped across the border by a self-professed prophet, crossed the mighty river, was harassed by local scammers, kissed an adult crocodile, got caught-up with a python, danced naked in tropical rains, […]
Many golden suns have circled the arc of the sky and your time in this magical land is nearly coming to an end… You have been welcomed into this coastal realm by all her people, you walked her sandy shores arm in arm, traversed her rocky plains and her dusty cities under her guidance, you […]
Burning red suns fall across a land of sand, colour and burgeoning hearts, where wild creatures tall as trees roam freely, the lion awaits, an oasis brings rest and peace, and the stars glow brightly in an ink-black sky. You are swallowed into another portal of culture – mesmerised by the colours of the world transforming before […]
Everybody’s Free. I Am Free. I Have Learnt the Truth of My Freedom. I Have Felt the Power of Falls. Ghana. Africa. 2015/2016. I took myself off one morning on an expedition deeper into the lush Volta Region. A place where mountains rise to blue skies flecked with fluttering bats, trees grow apparently to the heavens, […]
“Life for me is about moving on, staying strong, being free – progressing, always improving, doing, seeking, finding… and sometimes keeping. I’m happiest when I’m on a journey – whether inward or outward. I detest still waters of the soul – my spirit bursts and gushes forth, like a river. I am raw and alive. Freedom […]
I think of life as the cycle of a tree. Born from a shell, protected and warm, you take your first leap, break your primordial bond and dive, unseeing; you are plunged deep into the beyond you’ve been sensing and craving for some time. You are released. A giant tap root surges through the cold, […]
~ Feverish Flamenco, Arabic Baths and Dancing in Fountains ~ Sevilla, Andalusia, Spain. City of domes, fountains, arches and spires; home of Flamenco; collide of two great continents ~ Europe and Africa. The pride of the West fixed atop the exotic grandeur of the East. Seville bewitched my senses, enriched, seduced and beguiled me. I was […]
Dear Desmond. My little Desmond. My perfect little fragile boy. It’s me. I can see me there, reflected in your eyes. A black shadow… colour faded… I think about you every single day. I remember the smell of your afro hair, the sound of your giggling voice, the feel of your skinny legs wrapped around my […]
Take that fever! Been feeling ill a lot recently – seem to be getting one illness after another. This winter has been unkind… If you don’t know what neutropenia is you should look it up. It’s hell. But spring is finally here! Apart from planning my next trip through Africa (Ghana again, Burkina Faso, Mali, […]
As the taxi turned the corner, heavy and slow (as somehow we’d managed to squeeze in about eight passengers into a five-seater (of course, this is Africa)) the Adaklu Mountain first came into view. The air was hazy, heavy and humid, swirling vultures and black eagles the only thing breaking up the patchy white and blue […]
“Through the eyes of a child you will see the world just as it ought to be” – unknown. Welcome to Ghana, West Africa – a country with a people so open, welcoming, soulful, you will instantly find yourself in the arms of one great family. This is a story about my African family, and […]
Dodamarg. Maharashtra. India. Alone. Free. Alive. You are deep in the jungle in Southern India, wading gently downstream, on the very edge of a river: fast-flowing, powerful, and swollen with fresh monsoon waters. You are in the safest, shallowest waters, under the thick canopy of tropical trees. You are alone, and you have never felt more […]
“…Then with nothing at all, But the little we are, We’ll have conquered all time; All space, the sun, and the stars.” – Jacques Brel Take yourself on a journey through the centre of Europe, the heart of Belgium; to Brussels – a city of no fuss, no pretense – just a mirror; a canvas to arrange the colours of […]
I have had a season full of love and beauty. So blessed. How thankful I am! These last three months in Europe have been a blessing, truly – time spent around grand architecture, in medieval towns, with dear old pals, precious family, breathing clean air in the mountains, feeling the creative waters flowing, connecting with […]
Oh, the colour, the spirit, of India! Honestly, the sort of things I got away with in India would be impossible in Europe; and trust me, I’ve tried to crash weddings in England… and failed. Bangalore is a city of colours and flavours, and I was keen to taste as much as I could. I made […]
So majestic to see the wild peacock dash through the jungle, in his natural habitat, a predator, snake-killer, in all nature’s glory, prancing around in the undergrowth, then pausing, perfectly poised and vehemently vain, on a grassy verge, ready to be admired by my lens… A jungle prince. Happy to be admired, but with gaze ever ready […]
On my last day in Agonda, South Goa, I woke up to monsoon rains pouring into my rice-grass hut. Part of the roof had come off due to high winds… no more red sunsets for me. Instead of panicking or getting angry, feeling actually motivated by ‘nature’s alarm clock’, I began packing my bits back […]
White shores. Red sun. Agonda. A zen gift from the welcoming arms of India, and the Arabian Sea. A burning red disk sailing across the sky – my welcome to India. I’d heard tales of Indian sunrises and sunsets, but never did I expect such a divine glory as this. A welcome like this doesn’t […]
Leave your troubles behind… and GO! God knows how much I love packing my little rucksack, jumping on a plane, taxi, boat or train, watching the land I’ve lived in trail swiftly behind… letting go of all those troubles, loves, losses and gains, having only the bare necessities on my back, on my mind light, […]
Rural Karnataka, India. To find out more about the author click here. To see more photography click here. James Dee Clayton.
A little story from the road. Everybody knows Venice is my favourite city in the world, and this little story is one I’ll never forget. Let me tell you about the time I got perfectly lost in Venice… So I was wandering around, as usual, right off the heavily-beaten tourist trails in Venice, no bag, […]
How can you lose so much of yourself? How can time, troubles, so-called friends, and life’s little dramas pull you down so easily? How can everything you’ve done before suddenly be replaced, by this apparent chaos? This thick, tar-like blackness through which you can see no easy way out? Sometimes, we all lose our way. […]
On living the Simple Life in a rural Greek fishing village – Agii Apostoli – on the Gulf of Evia Simple words and pictures – by James Dee Clayton. A resting place for heart and mind… Having Greek family comes with its bonuses. Not only do I have a constant connection to this pure land I so love, […]
On Rome, my first Italian Home, Living with a Gay Family, Swimming in Volcanic Lakes, Dancing in the city’s Oldest Fountain, and the Art of Letting Go… Rome, the Eternal City – wasn’t my first Italian love, but she was the first place on la terra dei sogni – the land of dreams – that I called my […]
