nomadic pal num. 3 : aliénor meyer

 

QUICKLY

I AM: Aliénor, 23 (of Alienation) HOME: Rue Mouffetard, Quartier latin de Paris
I'M CURRENTLY: Launching a web tv and looking for a harp teacher.

I DIG: taking night trains + watching jellyfish + retro sci-fi + Tiaras + drawing on book pages
DESTINATION: Kingdom of Jordan. A road trip from the North – Amman + Petra + Wadi Araba + Wadi Mousa + Mount Nebo + Wadi Rum + Jerash - to the South  

WHAT: Culture & Adventure
WHY: because I’m fascinated with Middle East countries (especially Saudi Arabia and it’s a border country)

WHEN: december 2009
WEATHER: warm days, mild evenings
TRIP TUNES: Arabic music 

TRIP THREADS: cameras. I had a big and heavy bag to carry all way long my Canon SLR camera, three different objectives, an holga camera, a disposable camera and photographic films. We also shared with my sister all kind of scarves bought from Bedouin's women on the road and with whom we tied our hair.
CAN'T FORGET EVEN IF I TRIED: Ibrahim's (the driver) declaration of love to my sister Astrid in Wadi Araba while I pretented to be asleep « Me Love you »
NEXT STOP: I would love to see the Nothern Lights in Iceland

       

BEST

RELAXATION SPOT: Floating on the Dead sea with black argile on my skin and a view on Israeli mountains. 

MEAL: Bedouin's special rice and chicken eaten with fingers and a very good libanese (best middle east cuisine) restaurant in Amman, the capital.
DRINK: Not any, it is a Muslim country ! Just a fresh orange juice at breakfast.
ADVENTURE: Galloping in the ruins of Petra with pure Arab blood horses. Riding camels in the Wadi-Rum desert which looks so much like Planet Mars with its red sand and monumental rocks.
SLEEP/LACK OF SLEEP: We spent Xmas eve with a Bedouin family in Wadi Bousa valleys. They offered us a comfortable striped red carpet under their tent. Before going to sleep, the woman showed me her wonderful jewellery collection. Sweet dreams.
 

 Astrid

 

 Astrid + Ibrahim

 Bedouin night

 Bedouin jewels

 Crusaders

Dead Sea

 Jerash ruins

 Little girls loved my H&M jewels

 Relax

 Riding through the Petra mountains

 Sea level

 The castle of the Crusaders

 Wadi Araba

 Wadi Rum Desert

Petra

my kind of posse

I can never leave the house without some exotic reminder that the world I live in, is much larger than my local radius. Some days, it's in the form of a Balinese pendant I dug up at an Indonesian market, or perhaps, my most prized possession: a beautiful Kenyan Masai necklace which was given to me as a heartfelt Christmas gift. And sometimes, I can't resist but to mix it up: a colorful Guatemalan belt that screams color from my hips, as a turquoise Native American bracelet circles my wrist. I am truly happiest when I feel a lure from faraway lands that are not always within reach.

So it was only natural, that when my mother came back from France one summer, wearing all sorts of intricate jewelry adorned with gorgeous antique ethnic pendants, I went sort of mad for it all. Not only were the necklaces and bracelets and earrings she was newly sporting absolutely my style, but none other than my aunt had been stringing them together, as a side project to her busy interior design and architecture firm. Turns out that a combo of : an ongoing passion for jewelry, 6 years in Ecuador during her twenties, a love affair with North and Western Africa, and a constant need to travel due to business (from Jordan and Saudi to London and Honk Kong) had made her quite the expert in nomadic-like treasures. And so, though it could have been predicted, but quite unexpectedly, she started making jewelry based on a certain instinct - mixing modern city-like elements, with antique pendants reminiscent of the old-world charm of destinations such as Morocco.
As anticipated, the worldly results dazzled us all.

Each piece seemed to retain some sort of ancient magic from all of the civilizations she had deeply admired, which in turn, you couldn't help but admire- and ultimately, that was what made you fall in love with her designs. The pendants which captivated me most, and still do so to this day, were crafted by the Kuchi Tribe.

The Kuchi Tribe are a nomadic people, whose original traveling grounds were the mountains of Afghanistan. Due to the ongoing war in their country and the many natural disasters, such as floods, that have stricken their land, the nomads have almost all been displaced greatly reducing their numbers. A people that typically raises goats and sheeps as to exchange their dairy products for fruits and vegetables, the Kuchi nomads are not only impressive farmers, but also incredibly talented at the craftswork I was introduced to, all those years ago, dangling from one of my aunt's exquisite creations.

But not one more descriptive word from me, as I think the ethnic art speaks for itself:













OLB