What are you waiting for?

The Waiting Room

This is a website about the hybrid documentary The Waiting Room. whatruwaitingfor.com is a place in the web where we can find stories about people who are in the public hospitals of California. It also works as a critic to the changes of the American healthcare and a sharing spot of experiences. Here people share feelings of courage, frustration, fear, grief, faith and hope. They talk about language barriers, economy, health insurance, access to care and violence.

The website has a very straightforward main menu, captivating the viewer to explore the information available in it. Emotions, Issues and Photos is where we can find information about the stories, either written or visual. The information is also divided in those three sectors, making it easier for the user to chose which information is more relevant.

The graphic image of the website is simple and coherent. It mainly uses the colours red and white, which are linked to the hospital concept. It is also a warm website because of its content and the colours highlight this idea. At the same time, this website was created to send a very important message and that is also felt in the layout.

To conclude I believe the content of the website has a very clear relation with its graphic image and navigation system and so I believe it to be a very interesting creation.

City Life

Foam Magazine, City Life

The latest edition of Foam Magazine is about the City Life and its contemporary value. Question as how life in the city is characterized; how people spend their time; what is their relation to the environment; what relationships are developed between them. The editors don’t pretend to answer these questions judging cultures or ethnic groups, but yet portrait them with eight relevant portfolios. Mohamed Bourouissa, Takashi Homma, Nontsikelelo Veleko, JH Engström, Otto Snoek, Bertrand Fleuret, Reinier Gerritsen and Joel Sternfeld were chosen to show their work and how the city life inspires them.

Mohamed Bourisa has a cinematic style and was quickly recognized for it. The questions that rose from his work are related to stereotypes and the life in the suburbs of Paris. How power and relationships are affected by the economical disparity? These were the circumstances where Mohamed grew up and he now tries to explore with his ‘filmic photographs’.

Nontsikelelo chooses to approach the street style of the South African population. He tries to break with the clichés of how fashion can be in South Africa and shows young people’s distinctive outfits, usually created with handmade rudiments.

After an intensive study, Otto Snoek produced two monographs: Rotterdam and Why Not. Born and raised in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, lately have been focused in the identity of European Citizens. For that, Otto has been is different millionaire fairs around this continent, taking photographs of the ambiance of these parties.

What I found particularly interested in this edition of Foam Magazine is the way different professionals see the Life in the City and the different aspects they approach.