Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

“I am NiSi,” An Artist’s Blog

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NiSi’s-Eyes“Hello Beautiful people,

“NiSi’s Eyes is simply that; her vision, her self expression, her art.  Her goal is to educate women, beautify women, and empower women.  Denise ‘NiSi’ Lee does this by providing beauty services, self protection tools, poetic expression, visual arts and mentorship.

“I am NiSi (pronounced nuh-si) of NiSi’s Eyes, and this is your one stop shop for all things NiSi.

“‘Beauty awakens the Soul to ACT’ is a quote that speaks to the idea of when you look better, you feel better.  When a person is confident about their outer image, their self-esteem boosts.  My goal is to relax my client and let them enjoy their time of pampering, but also allow people’s true self expression to shine through.

“When we work together to enhance your beautiful canvas, you’re sure to receive makeup tips, a friendly demeanor, flawless results and be apart of my community of beauty/art lovers (it’s optional but you don’t want to miss out on the amazingness that’s in store).”    –Denise “NiSi” Lee, “I am NiSi,” nisiseyes, Retrieved February 3, 2023

“In Kyiv, I saw Dante under sandbags – a modern image of the hell of war”

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“I took quite a lot of photdante-statue-under-sandbagsos on my phone when I was in Ukraine this year, but this one jumped out at me as I was scrolling through them. Here we have Dante – the Italian poet, philosopher, writer – with his marble head poking up out of the sandbags. It’s in a park on Volodymyr Hill in the centre of Kyiv.”

“It’s not just an arresting image. Dante is a harbinger of the Renaissance; he’s a symbol of culture and learning. And that is the opposite of war, which is a regression to dark times. This is what Ukraine and Kyiv are having to labour under – and so Dante finds himself stifled by sandbags. Of course, one also thinks of the Divine Comedy and the seventh circle of hell, which is violence. That’s what the people of Ukraine have been enduring: a modern circle of hell.”

“The fact that Dante had to be covered with sandbags tells you everything – the Russians are attacking things that are nothing to do with a military campaign. That is a particular hell, when civilians are seen as legitimate targets for an advancing army. And as soon as I see this image, all of this floods into my mind.”    –Clive Myrie, The Guardian, December 12, 2022

Edith Torony, Love that Moves the Sun and Other Stars (2019 painting)

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Love-that-Moves-the-Sun-and-Other-Stars-Painting

“My works are earthly, starting with Junkyard Symphony, an approach related to the exterior, ground and waste. The space is increasingly populated by ordinary or current objects, but also by characters, I am trying to maintain a playful manner through representation and recomposition. It passes into another register, the interior, the desires, the lust. but keeping the same horizontal plane. So this is how the personal mythologies were born, with sincerity, boredom, suffering, desires, or guilty pleasures. Beginning with Toxic Desire, I’m more interested in distinguishing my subjectivity and individual development. All the works were shaped around personal experiences. From the representations of the bad choices we make through our superficiality and a hedonistic living, to the assumption of this flat existence. We are captive in a sort of limbo of desires. And on this realm I build my works, as a sequential reinterpretation of Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.”    –Edith Torony, “Love that Moves the Sun and Other Stars”, Saatchi Art, 2019

“The Love that Moves” Card Drawing by Meredith Eliassen

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L’amor-che-muove-il-sole-e-l’altre-stelle-drawing

“‘L’amor che muove il sole e l’altre stelle.’ (The love that moves the sun and the other stars.) from Paradiso by Dante Alighiere [sic], 1265-1321. Image motif inspired by a card design by Robbin Rawlings. Drawing by Meredith Eliassen, 2016.”

–Meredith Eliassen, “Dante… on Love,” MME Designs’s Weblog, February 11, 2016

“Beauty awakens the soul to act,” a letter to an editor (Chico, CA)

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“I love this Dante Alighieri quote: ‘Beauty awakens the soul to act.’

“A few months ago, a friend of the Jesus Center offered a gift of a person, Shannon McConney to use her creative gifts to complete the beauty part of the Jesus Center space. I realized quickly that Shannon was not merely a decorator, but an artist so I introduced her to my good friend, Jess Mercer (known for her work in therapeutic arts and installations up on the Ridge). Well, magic quickly followed.

“Together they have designed, created, crafted, and installed an interactive art piece in our women’s multipurpose room where we hold most of our classes for the entire shelter population. When someone comes into our space, we want them to experience something other than rules, walls, doors, windows, and a safe place to store their things.

“Those are all great, but what is emerging here on Fair Street is art, words, color, texture, interactive elements that will awaken together with the handmade quilts, warm welcome, beautiful meals a human to act on their own behalf to find a pathway to their best life. This wall of 400 tiny houses will serve to awaken the imagination of those who may still be stuck in the darkness that comes when all hope is lost. As they choose to write their name and put it on one of the little houses, they are allowing themselves to dream of a life blessed by God and full of goodness and beauty.”   –Laura Cootsona, Letter to the Editor, Chico Enterprise-Record, December 11, 2021

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How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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