2013-05-21T00:12:09-04:00 Annie Lennox http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=annie-lennox Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Annie Lennox Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2207370 2012-12-28T19:00:00-05:00 2013-02-27T05:12:02-05:00

Annie Lennox http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annie-lennox/
I'm fascinated by remains of buildings and objects from the past. If it were possible to travel back in time, I'd probably be first in line for the ticket. Of course that's impossible (sigh!) but I've discovered that one way to get closer to this notion is to study old photographs or recorded film. Photography can actually act as a magical portal, through which you can connect to frozen moments of time in a two-dimensional form, albeit in black and white or sepia tone.

In the Lowry Arts Centre bookstore on the ground floor of the building, you can look at books with photographs of the artist (LS Lowry) himself, standing somberly in his old fashioned trench coat and hat, sketch pad in hand, on an anonymous street corner, or on stairs leading up from the cobbled towpath of an old industrial canal, in profile against a background of industrial smoke plumes, rising darkly from a horizon of industrial chimney stacks, reaching up like blackened fingers against an industrial polluted sky. If I use the word 'industrial' once, I'll use it four times!

Lowry's Manchester and Salford were very different from today's version.

Swathes of previous existence have been erased, but the remains of a proliferation of historic buildings are still (miraculously) standing, having survived the cull of the early 70s; in spite of nature's rampant dereliction which often appears to be winning the war against men's grandiose creations.

Decades ago, I passed through Manchester quite often on tour, but touring rarely gave me opportunities to take in the views, stroll down the streets, or smell the roses. I mainly just passed through and glossed over.

Somehow, having the exhibition at the Lowry gave me an opportunity to see things differently, in a more up close and personal way.

I have an iPhone. I mainly use it to send and receive texts and emails, but the function I'm mostly in love with is its built-in camera. I love to point and click wherever I am. As long as my iPhone's in my bag or pocket I can do just that, easily and discreetly. When I've captured the object of my interest, I can either delete it or keep it. And lots of times, I can time-travel back to where I've been and what I've seen in my own existence. It's not just 'seeing' in the normal sense; it's looking deeper. That's what I like to do most of all; I like to look deeper.

So, to cut a longish story just a little bit shorter... I became fascinated with Manchester and Salford, and started taking pictures of what I saw there.

The first picture was taken through net curtains in my hotel room, and after that I knew I had to continue. I got up very early one morning, and went for a drive around the vicinity, capturing things that spoke to me, and from hundreds of images that emerged, I started creating collages on my laptop.

This is where I have the chance to become very quiet, and very deep within myself. I discovered this over four years ago after having back surgery, when I was more or less obliged to lie in a hospital bed for several days.

Rather than resorting to television on the wall, I retreated to photographic images stored in my laptop, where I found myself compelled to cut and paste.

Cut to Glorious Manford Salchester. There is actually no such place in the world, but in the universe of my collage, it becomes quite tangible. The title is a gentle prod at invisible boundaries between two places and their identities. People of Salford can be mildly offended if you lump them in with their Manchurian neighbors, and I have to assume it's probably the same in reverse for the good folks of Manchester; although somehow I doubt it, as it's usually the smaller guy who feels defensive in the need to assert autonomy.

To sum up, my photographs are about the way I see things. Light and shade... banal and mystical... ancient and new. The small details of inconsequence, focused in on and transformed to an 'other worldly' place. The world of Glorious Manford Salchester.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.831876 2011-03-08T00:00:00-05:00 2011-11-17T09:02:45-05:00

Annie Lennox http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annie-lennox/
The statistics are sobering. Across the globe, gender-based violence causes more deaths and disabilities among women of child-bearing age than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined. Even in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo, it's safer to be a soldier than a woman. Women do two-thirds of the world's work for a paltry 10 percent of the world's income and own just 1 percent of the means of production.

On the centenary of International Women's Day, I urge you to stop and think.

Last year, I did just that. I participated in one of 119 bridge events for International Women's Day involving 20,000 women across four continents. It was a moving and powerful show of strength. I saw many wonderful women there, standing up for equality, justice and peace. But I was struck by how many other amazing women weren't there. It seemed to me that some people must think we already have equality. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, huge gains have been made since 1911, but we still have a mountain to climb. We need to persevere with this for the sake of our daughters, our granddaughters, and the generations to come.

Motivated and inspired, I became convinced that collectively we could make a loud noise. I want this year's centenary celebrations for International Women's Day to be a turning point, a catalyst for tangible and positive change.

Despite the fact that half of the world's population is female, women's rights have become marginalized as a "minority issue." Many young women feel that the label of "feminist" is, at best, irrelevant to their lives and, at worst, a stigma to be avoided at all costs. Sullied by stereotypes of hairy, arm-pitted man haters, the concept of feminism and its principles of equality and anti-sexism need to be refreshed and reclaimed by a new generation. Feminism shouldn't be an F word. We should embrace it.

From Milwaukee to Malawi, women are being short-changed on life chances. From India to Illinois, women face violence just for being female. Of the 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty worldwide, the vast majority are female. For many, just getting an education is a real struggle, major decisions such as who to marry and when to have children are made for them by others, and without economic independence or a say in their own future, the chances of women escaping the poverty trap are virtually nonexistent.

Whether you're a woman or a man, this affects you. And you are part of the solution. The impact of inequality is felt by every woman worldwide -- your friends, your family, your colleagues, your neighbors, the people you emailed today, the woman in the car next to you, the faces you saw on television and the voices you heard on the radio. How many have been abused or faced discrimination today?

The 100th anniversary of International Women's Day is a moment in time. Let's make it a moment that counts. Let's make it a moment that lasts.

Annie Lennox is a singer, song-writer and performer, a renowned international icon, and the winner of numerous prestigious awards, including several Grammies and an Oscar. Annie is also an internationally recognized and highly respected political and social activist. As a Global Ambassador for Oxfam, Annie has taken part in a wide range of activities, events and international trips, working hard to raise awareness about on AIDS and women's issues.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2009:/theblog//3.374058 2009-11-30T13:21:16-05:00 2011-05-25T14:45:21-04:00

Annie Lennox http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annie-lennox/
One person stood out from the assembled gathering, wearing a black T-shirt, with "HIV positive" strikingly emblazoned in contrasting white lettering across his chest.

It was Zackie...of course.

In South Africa, and in international HIV activist circles, his name is somewhat legendary. His campaign to secure treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS has taken him to court, and led him to publicly and personally refuse antiretroviral (ARV) medicine until it was made available to all those who needed it in his country.

Needless to say, he won his case. His work as founder of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has made a massive difference to the 5.2 million people living with HIV in South Africa today. Our chance encounter in the Garden State of George is the reason why I became a TAC campaigner and supporter.

In 2003, inspired by Zackie and the work of TAC, I launched the SING campaign to support women and children who are infected or affected by the virus. Later, I became an Oxfam Global Ambassador to support their work calling for Governments to deliver the $10bn a year needed for universal HIV and AIDS, prevention work, treatment and care.

In the last few years we have seen vast improvements. Infection rates are falling, and better access to medication has helped cut deaths by 10 per cent over the past five years. In Zambia, 50 times more people are receiving medication compared with six years ago, thanks to free distribution of anti retrovirals. In neighboring Malawi, the government provides ARVs to three-quarters of those who need them.

But progress has not been fast enough.

Across the world 2 million people died of AIDS-related causes last year, and fewer than half the 9.5 million people in need of ARVs receive them. The hardest thing to bear is that these are not inevitable statistics; they are the result of the rich failing to keep their promises to the poor. With the New Year a mere month away, the 2010 deadline set for universal AIDS treatment by world leaders when they agreed, the Millennium Development Goals will be missed.

Quick action however will reduce the human cost of these broken promises. Additional investment is urgently needed in public health services, in developing countries, and in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which has a proven record for saving lives.

With wealthy countries budgets under pressure as a result of the economic crisis, it now may not seem the most promising time to be asking for more resources. But the money found for bank bailouts shows what can be done in response to a crisis. Two million (mainly avoidable) deaths a year is certainly that.

More could also be done to make existing money go further.

Governments should pressure their domestic drug companies to sign-up to a patent pool for HIV medicines that would accelerate the development and bring down the cost of new treatments. It will take political bravery to make the case for extra investment, and take on the vested interests of pharmaceutical companies.

But Zackie's courage and that of many more exemplary activists like him demand it.
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