August is Dogust!

Learn Hebrew noun forms using the word for "dog" and its conjugations: Kelev and Kalba: כֶּלֶב וְכַּלְבָּה is now available on Amazon. Featuring illustrations of the Canaan dog. 

Btw, August 26 is International Dog Day

Happy International Cat Day to our feline friends and their humans!

A curated collection of art from museums around the world, depicting people from 5 continents in the company of cats. 

Queer romance movies centering couples of non-European heritage

A list of queer romance movies with couples of color and optimistic endings

A seal is a "sea dog"

Learn Hebrew noun conjugations using the word "kelev" (dog) as an example in the children's book. Kelev and Kalba: כֶּלֶב וְכַּלְבָּה.

The Hebrew term for "seal" is "sea dog" ("kelev yam"). Other languages also refer to various members of the pinniped clade as "sea dog". In Chinese, "sea dog" ("hai gou") refers to fur seals. In  German, "sea dog" ("seehund") refers to harbor seals. In Dutch, "sea dog" ("zeehond") refers to  earless seals (true seals).

Homoerotic poetry from 8th-19th century West Asia

Since medieval times, poets have been writing about same-sex desire in Arabic, Kurdish, Persian and Turkish

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Happy DOGust! For the Dog Lovers: Non-Eurocentric Dog Art!

Dear dog people,

August is DOGust. Tired of paging through the some arts app's mostly Eurocentric highlights looking for work created by artists from the global majority?

Good news.I've put together the following collection in Google Arts and Culture for your enjoyment :-)

Dog art from non-European cultures -  50 images of dogs and dog-like beings created by non-European artists in ancient and modern cultures

Happy International Cat Day! For the Cat Lovers: Non-Eurocentric Cat Art

Dear cat art aficionados, wishing you a Happy International Cat Day on 8/8!

Tired of paging through the some arts app's mostly Eurocentric highlights looking for work created by artists from the global majority?

Good news. I've put together the following collection in Google Arts and Culture for your enjoyment :-)

Cat art from non-European cultures -  52 images of cats created by non-European artists in ancient and modern cultures

Tales of married women murdered by their stepmothers even after they moved away from their abusive step-family

These 3 folktales from Armenia, India and Vietnam share strikingly similar motifs - and not just because a fish has a role to play in all three tales.The differences are just as interesting:

The Golden Maiden (Armenia):

There was a young woman who whose father married a widow who mistreated her and her younger brother. The stepmother pressured her husband into abandoning his two children in the mountains. The siblings managed to find their way home, but not before the brother had been magically transformed into a lamb. The stepmother wanted to eat the lamb, so the maiden took her brother and fled once more into the mountains. There, she met a fairy crone who took pity on her and changed her into a golden-haired fairy maiden with golden garments.

The golden maiden returned home with her brother and hid her golden garments. But she could not hide her golden hair. Her stepmother, on hearing how her stepdaughter came by her golden hair, sent her own daughter from a previous marriage to the mountains. But the fairy crone disliked the stepsister and turned her into a hideous being. Because of that, the stepmother hated her stepchildren even more.

Rock-cut architecture in Africa and Asia

Rock-hewn monuments from North African, East African, West Asian and South Asian civilizations:

Abu Simbel Temple (photo by Than217)

Bet Medhane Alem church (photo by Julien_Demade)

Mada'in Saleh" (photo by SammySix)

Cave 21 at Ellora (photo by Nandanupadhyay)

Detail of Naqsh-e Rustam (photo by Pastaitaken)

Click on thumbnails to view images on wikipedia.

Fantasy and mythology art inspired by the Middle East

Click image below to view Art from animation, book illustrations and graphic novels, produced by artists from diverse locales, including Turkey, Iran, Europe and North America:

Hissing at a Dragon

Detail from Dragons of the Oil Sea. In support of a former art school classmate Sahar Al Saud presently confined without adequate nutrition or healthcare. See Channel 4 interview with her mother: 'They are hanging to life' - Saudi king's ex-wife speaks out.

The cat is Tosca, beloved companion to Sahar and her younger sister Jawaher during their long years of confinement. Tosca passed away in 2009, leaving behind a grieving Sahar and Jawaher, who are currently surviving by distilling water and scavenging for food from the sea.

For the women's story, see socialbombing.org.

Research sources used for the dragon:

Dragons of the Oil Sea

In support of a former art school classmate presently imprisoned in deteriorating conditions. See vice.com report: Saudi Princesses Claim King Is Confining and Drugging Them.

Who is on the island? (From left to right)

• Gala the labrador - She passed away this year after she and her human companions (Jawaher and Sahar) underwent a prolonged period of food deprivation. You can see Gala's 'before starvation' and 'after starvation' photos here.
• Jawaher Al Saud- youngest sister of artist/activist Sahar Al Saud. She and Sahar are held captive in a seaside compound while their 2 sisters, Hala and Maha, are imprisoned at other locations. Go to SocialBombing.org campaign for the release of the four women.
• Sahar Al Saud - a painter and sculptor who is passionate about Saudi human rights. For months, she and Jawaher have been surviving under house arrest by distilling water and scavenging for food from the sea. Read her interview with muftah.org.
• Tosca the cat - beloved companion to Sahar and Jawaher . Tosca passed away in 2009, leaving behind Gala the Labrador, Gracia the German Shepherd and Jade, another cat. Gala has since died.

Henna Art from Around the World

Been listening to Rango, and their rendition of Henna Night is stuck in my head. :-) Hence the inspiration for this post:

henna-decorated foot in Morocco

henna-painted hands in India

Click thumbnails to view larger images on source pages.

Some African and Asian cultures that decorate brides (and, in some cases, grooms) with henna:

Cheetah Weeping

Inspired by the Zulu folktale concerning the origin of the black lines running down a cheetah's face from its eyes. These lines were the tear tracks of a mother cheetah weeping for her lost cubs. The young cheetahs had been stolen by a hunter who wanted to train them to hunt for him.

When the mother's grief came to the attention of an old man from the hunter's village, he informed the village elders of the hunter’s conduct. The villagers expelled the hunter. The old man returned the cheetah cubs to their mother, reuniting the family. But the tear tracks remained on the cheetah’s face as a reminder to hunters not to do wrong again.

The moral condemnation for keeping hunting cheetahs is certainly not universal. Listed here are a few (not all) of the peoples that had tamed cheetahs for hunting: