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8 Things You Didn't Know About The Artist Vincent Van Gogh

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The work of post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh has been widely celebrated in the time since his death, at the age of 37, in 1890. In recent years, two Academy Award-winning films featured his work -- "Lust for Life" and "Midnight in Paris" -- though the Dutch artist died believing his life's work was a failure. Legend has it that the artist only sold a single painting in his lifetime, and van Gogh was no star in the art world. He lived a life plagued by self-doubt, crippled by numerous behavioral conditions.

When van Gogh completed "The Starry Night," arguably some of his finest work, the artist didn't even think it was any good -- a sentiment the world's initial response seemed to confirm. However, in 1941, the painting became part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; in 1973, a museum in Amsterdam opened with its primary commitment to house works by van Gogh.

A recent Vanity Fair article called into question the details surrounding van Gogh's final years and untimely death. Accordingly, The Huffington Post examined more of the unknown. Here are eight things you didn't van Knowgh:

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1. Vincent van Gogh apparently placed lit candles in his hat so he could paint at night.



It is not exactly certain that van Gogh painted with candles lining the brim of his straw hat -- in one letter to his brother, Theo, van Gogh mentions "Starry Night over the Rhone" was painted "actually under a gas jet" -- but the story is often repeated.

In another letter to his brother, van Gogh stated, "It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly colored than the day." If the stories are true, van Gogh would seek out cafes at night to paint, wearing his candlelit straw hat beside other customers. In a letter to friend and fellow artist Anthon van Rappard, van Gogh wrote about a fable in which a candle represents a woman and a moth a man:

Viewed thus, men don’t play a very noble role -- well, but that is in fact the case. It doesn’t apply in general, though, because ... does the candle burn for the sake of the moth? If one knew that -- well then -- it might well be worthwhile committing suicide that way.


Image: Flickr user Asia Datnova



2. Although it has been believed that Vincent van Gogh committed suicide, he may have been murdered.

vincent van gogh dead

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith released a book in 2011, called Van Gogh: The Life, which claimed that van Gogh did not commit suicide but rather a local teen bully murdered him. Art historians have still not fully embraced this theory -- the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam still lists his death as a definitive suicide -- but Vanity Fair published an article in November 2014 that featured a forensic scientist's skeptical take on the possibility that van Gogh shot himself, due to the artist's inability to hold the gun so close to his body and the absence of burn marks on his hands.

As pointed out in Naifeh and Smith's book; the gun was never found, the easel van Gogh claimed to be painting on was never recovered and the walk van Gogh claims to have taken from a wheat field to an inn where he was staying is unbelievably long for someone with a fatal wound (it was about a mile). Though speculative, the author's also discuss van Gogh's paintings around the time of his death as far too lighthearted and that van Gogh made it clear he was against suicide in various letters.

For what it's worth, the idea van Gogh committed suicide did come straight from van Gogh himself, as at the inn he claimed that he wanted to die and refused medical help, saying to his brother, "The sadness will last forever."

Images: WikiCommons



3. Somebody else might have cut off Vincent van Gogh's ear.



First off, the entirety of van Gogh's ear was not removed. A portion of his left earlobe was cut off. According to a report by Le Petit Journal, just three days after the incident, van Gogh did in fact give a part of his earlobe to a prostitute, but whether he cut the earlobe off himself is highly questionable.

Van Gogh had been living with friend and fellow artist Paul Gauguin at the time of the incident. Gauguin was an expert fencer. The two would often fight violently, and the night van Gogh's earlobe was cut was no exception. Although the two both claimed that van Gogh had cut the earlobe off himself, this may have been to cover up shame on the Dutch artist's part. Also, van Gogh may have had a tendency to lie. Van Gogh liked Gauguin more than Gauguin liked him and van Gogh's brother, Theo, had gone so far as to bribe Gauguin to keep living in the house.

For some reason, van Gogh claimed he had no recollection of the night, although he did write to Theo: "Luckily Gauguin ... is not yet armed with machine guns and other dangerous war weapons."

Image: Flickr user Herman Schouwenburg



4. Vincent van Gogh painted "The Starry Night" while peering out the window as a self-admitted patient at the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy.

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In January 1889, van Gogh was discharged from a hospital in Arles following the incident that wounded his left ear. However, he felt as if his mental health had not recovered and a few months later, in May, van Gogh checked himself into the Saint-Paul asylum. As the Van Gogh Museum points out, Theo van Gogh wrote his brother shortly after:

It pains me to know that you’re still in a state of incomplete health. Although nothing in your letter betrays weakness of mind, on the contrary, the fact that you judge it necessary to enter an asylum is quite serious in itself. Let’s hope that this will be merely a preventive measure. As I know you well enough to believe you capable of all the sacrifices imaginable, I’ve thought that there’s a possibility that you may have thought of this solution to encumber less those who know you.


While in the asylum, van Gogh painted many of his now classic works, including "Irises," "The Olive Trees" and "The Starry Night."

Van Gogh referred to "The Starry Night" as a failure. He wrote to his brother about paintings, stating that he would be mailing several his way. (Theo tried without success to sell the paintings). Van Gogh noted that the painting "says nothing to me." It was not even "a little good," he wrote, like other paintings mentioned in the letter. Without enough postage to send all the paintings he had intended, "The Starry Night" was left out of the package.



5. Growing up, Vincent van Gogh would walk by a tombstone with his own name, due to the early death of his infant brother.

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Van Gogh was born and raised in Zundert, Netherlands. His father, Theo van Gogh, was named pastor of a Dutch Reformed church in 1849. Van Gogh's brother by the same name, Vincent, died at the age of 1 and is buried in the church that still stands today.

Zundert still celebrates itself as the birthplace of van Gogh. The town includes Vincent van Gogh Square, commemorative statue of van Gogh and his brother, Theo, and a Vincent van Gogh house. The original house on the Zundert main street at Markt 29 was unfortunately torn down.

Image: Getty



6. Vincent van Gogh didn't start painting until he was 27 or 28, but his oeuvre included nearly 900 works -- an average of about 2 per week -- before he died at 37.

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Before he pursued painting, van Gogh attempted to be a lay minister, teacher and art dealer, among other professions. Then, as Van Gogh Gallery points out, he wrote his brother, Theo, in late December 1881:

Theo, I am so very happy with my paintbox, and I think my getting it now, after having drawn almost exclusively for at least a year, better than if I had started with it immediately ... For, Theo, with painting my real career begins. Don't you think I am right to consider it so?


Van Gogh created almost 900 paintings and more than 1,100 works on paper before his death. Prolific, yes, but van Gogh may have had a form of epilepsy (which he was diagnosed with in his lifetime) and a behavioral condition called Hypergraphia which causes those afflicted to have an intense need to write, or, in van Gogh's case, paint.



7. The distinct yellows that Vincent Van Gogh used in his paintings have faded and browned over time.

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Van Gogh used a signature yellow in his paintings that was made possible by the industrial revolution and a new pigment called chrome yellow, a "toxic lead chromate and like many of the pigments of the period was chemically unstable."

Unfortunately these yellows, used in paintings such as "Bedroom in Arles," have significantly faded and browned over the years and so contemporary viewers aren't quite seeing the original luminance of the works.

This change is permanent, according to Koen Janssens, the leader of a group of researchers who tested samples of the browning paint. "To reverse this chemical reaction would likely cause more damage to the paintings,” he said.

Images: Getty



8. The oldest living person met Vincent van Gogh in her lifetime and remembered him as "dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable."

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Born in 1875, Jeanne Calment had the longest confirmed human lifespan when she died in 1997 at 122. She lived her life in Arles, France, where van Gogh spent time in 1888. During that year, van Gogh came to a shop Calment's uncle owned to buy paints. Calment later described van Gogh as "dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable."

Calment was 12 or 13 at the time and, according to a New York Times obituary, also said van Gogh was "very ugly, ungracious, impolite, sick -- I forgive him, they called him loco.''



BONUS: Vincent van Gogh painted over 30 self-portraits, but photographs of the artist may exist.

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The portrait (at right) is an oil painting by van Gogh, completed Dec. 31, 1886; the photograph (at left) was also taken in 1886. It was bought at an antique store for $1 in the early 1990s. Forensic scientists believed they confirmed it was an original photograph of van Gogh in 2004.

The Van Gogh Museum did not authenticate the photograph at the time and only a handful of photos of van Gogh at a much younger age have been deemed real. The address below the photo has also been called into question as it marks a Canadian location, and van Gogh never lived outside of Europe. The eyes seem a bit unfamiliar, but maybe it just takes an impressionist's vision to fully see the resemblance.

Images: WikiCommons

Marina Abramovic's 'Generator' Asks Us To Embrace Simplicity, Face Our Aloneness

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Much of art today has been diminished to a purely aesthetic pleasure, and one that many opt to visit for the promise of self-publicity. Think of Jeff Koons’ retrospective at the Whitney this summer. Whether you visited the exhibit or not, you likely knew it was there, as your Instagram and Facebook feeds filled up with "the Selfie of Summer."

Other recent viral art sensations in New York included Yayoi Kusama’s “Fireflies on the Water” and Random International’s “Rain Room” at MoMA. Both exhibitions, like the Koons retrospective, were exploited for their photographic beauty on social media. Taking a photo of ourselves in an art exhibit serves multiple purposes -- not only do we appear engrossed in the New York art world to our followers, but it also makes for a great profile picture.

But what if we just stopped, for one minute or one hour, and actually allowed ourselves to experience art first-hand, sans electronic interference? If anyone is a strong advocate for the fully immersive and personally challenging experience of art, it is the Godmother of Performance Art herself, Marina Abramovic.

With her latest exhibit, “Generator,” she asks something specific of her audience: to remove all electronic devices and succumb to (almost) complete blindness and deafness. So when you enter Sean Kelly Gallery you’re asked to first sign a waiver permitting the gallery to photograph you (more on that later), and to stow away your items in a locker -– cell phone and watches included. Eventually a gallery assistant ties a black cloth over your eyes, hindering all sight save for a sliver of light beneath the bridge of your nose, and places noise-canceling headphones on your head. You’re then led gently by an assistant for a few steps until, finally, all human contact is lost. You are alone, blind, sounds muted, and whatever you do next is entirely up to you.

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Such an experience may sound baffling, maybe even pretentious or uncomfortable to some unfamiliar with or skeptical of performance art. Especially the radical, provocative and controversial type Abramovic has been known for since the 1970s. Some may have a rather forgettable experience, such as Ken Johnson of The New York Times, while others may have a deeply powerful, personal and emotional experience. I had the latter.

As I began taking my very first steps into the unknown and unseen gallery space, a sudden stifling fear began to bubble from my chest. All I could hear was the growing pressure of my breath as I walked slowly, cautiously, unsure of what I was supposed to be thinking or supposed to be experiencing. Eventually I made contact with a cold plaster wall and latched onto it like a piece of ship wreckage in an open sea. I walked along and clung to this wall, to the security and closure it gave me, as I began to see nothing but my insecurities and my innermost anxieties presented to me clearer than the blanket of black across my eyes. Turning away from the walls, fighting contact with them, attempting to engross myself in the openness of the space, I was suddenly overcome with a rush of tears I hadn’t expected.

I spent nearly 30 minutes in “Generator” and over that period of time my previously timid outstretched arms fell weightlessly to my sides. At some points, I made contact with other people in the gallery. Smelling the perfume of what I assumed belonged to a nearby woman, I drifted towards her, reached up and touched her shoulders. We grab hands and she squeezed mine for a moment. I squeezed back as we stood there facing each other in silence. Then she was gone. For the rest of my visit, I sat on the floor in solitude, I stretched my arms as I walked in circles, imagining myself flying I explored as much of the space with my mind and my hands as I could.

No one, of course, will experience “Generator” the way I did, nor will they experience it as Johnson did or any other neighboring gallery visitor. The beauty of Abramovic’s piece is that it creates an empty space for you to fill with yourself, as much as you want for as long as you want. It asks nothing more of its visitors than to simply let go, to embrace the unfamiliar and the unknown, whether it be a stranger you make contact with or the inability to share your experience with anyone but yourself. “Generator” forces us to be alone with ourselves, to feel the buzzing energy of our bodies and minds, to face ourselves in a way that our currently technology-suffused society hinders us from recognizing.

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There is still the one problematic aspect of “Generator,” however, and that is the exhibit’s Tumblr that posts live stills of the blinded visitors within the gallery. You can go home after your visit and search for images of yourself within the white-walled space. Some friends of mine have turned these into their profile pictures, while I am equally guilty of posting about my experience on social media, urging others to visit (as well as including photos of myself in this story). It is a bit hypocritical to advocate a technology-free experience and promote it via technology, proving that we're still obsessed with injecting ourselves into art for all to see.

While Abramovic’s intentions for the Tumblr are still unclear to me, it would be ignorant to deny the significance and influence that social media has in our lives. Perhaps as long as we’re abstaining from it during our encounter with the art, then engaging with it afterwards is excusable? Or perhaps not, and this merely reflects the difficulty our culture faces with embracing simplicity and aloneness.

Still, it is the actual time spent in “Generator” that truly matters. For a period of time we are stripped of all external interferences, thrown into an unknown environment, deprived of nearly half of our senses, and given the opportunity to create our own experience. Abramovic may have removed herself from her art, which feels paradoxical to an artist who has based so much of her legacy on challenging her own physicality and exploring the shared experienced between artist and audience. But as Abramovic told me after my time in “Generator,” the art is no longer about her, but about us. She is giving back that which she has come to experience and understand through art. She wants audiences to have their own chance at exploring it.

Sans Abramovic, does “Generator” as a piece of art turn us into artists? Not necessarily. But it is does what all good art should: enable us to experience, contemplate and question ourselves in a way we might not have in our daily lives. And for that, “Generator” is worth visiting.

“Generator” continues through Dec. 6 at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York City.

A Poetic Exploration Of The Hunting Tradition In America's North

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Photographer Clare Benson comes from a long line of hunters. Growing up in northern Michigan, she remembers her father, now 82 years old, winning archery championships and reminiscing about his time as a hunting guide in the Alaskan wilderness. For her, the tradition of hunting -- and the rugged northern landscape that serves as its backdrop -- represents themes of memory and mortality, ones she's managed to weave in and out of her work for some time.

Her series "The Shepard's Daughter" addresses her connection to hunting most directly. The images show Benson, her sister and her father trekking through snow-covered scenes, respectfully carrying the spoils of hunting trips past. She pointedly juxtaposes portraits of her family members lounging in contemplation with photographs of the animals they hunt, skin, cook and eat. Set in a vast world unfamiliar to most urban dwellers, Benson paints a picture of a hunting tradition we don't often encounter.

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The Shepherd's Daughter, 2012


The project, she explained in an email interview, grew out of a fascination with her family history. "My mother died when I was eleven, and as I grew older I became interested in solving the mysteries of who she was. I didn't have the chance to know her as an adult. The work evolved to be more about my father, my upbringing in northern Michigan, and my connection to this landscape where generations of ancestors have lived; ancestors whose stories are unknown to me, yet so connected to the world that I was born into."

Benson's father is the "shepard," of course, guiding the photographer through a world she seems born into, but not wholly a part of. She is an active observer, enmeshed in the routine, but separated at the very least by a camera lens. Notably, there are no weapons present in any of the photographs, instead the viewer is drawn to this physical relationship between man and animal and wilderness.

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Pieta II, 2013


Michigan institutes a strict hunting calendar, as well as a lottery system that governs limited-license game like bears and elk. Therefore many of the pelts owned by Benson's family stand as very physical testaments of time, stringing one generation's totems to another. Benson and her sister battle the weather and the elements to honor this tradition, and while the viewer never can never quite grasp the thoughts expressed in each subject's face, a sense of deep reverence resonates with each photo.

Hitler's 100-Year-Old Watercolor Painting Heads To Auction

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BERLIN (AP) — A 100-year-old watercolor of Munich's old city hall is expected to fetch at least 50,000 euros ($60,000) at auction this weekend, not so much for its artistic value as for the signature in the bottom left corner: A. Hitler.

Nuremberg's Weidler auction house says the painting is one some 2,000 painted by Adolf Hitler and is thought to be from about 1914, when he was struggling to make a living as an artist, almost two decades before rising to power as the Nazi dictator. It has drawn interest from around the world, with most viewing it as a curiosity or as an investment, said auction house director Kathrin Weidler.

It's being sold by a pair of elderly sisters, whose grandfather purchased the painting in 1916.

Though Hitler's paintings surface fairly regularly, Weidler said this 28x22 cm (11x8.5 inch) scene, unimaginatively called "The Old City Hall," also includes the original bill of sale and a signed letter from Hitler's adjutant, Albert Bormann, brother of Hitler's private secretary Martin Bormann.

From the text of the undated Bormann letter, it appears the Nazi-era owner sent a photo of the painting to Hitler's office asking about its provenance.

Bormann wrote back that it appears to be "one of the works of the Fuehrer."

The starting price is 4,500 euros, and Weidler, whose auction house has sold several Hitlers over the past decade, said she expects it will go for 50,000 — but wouldn't be surprised if sold for double that.

If it does, however, it will be because of the name in the corner alone, she said.

"It's perfectly well done, but I'd rate its artistic value as fairly minimal."

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Kristin Chenoweth Loves Her Gay Fans And Thinks Jesus Would Too

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Kristin Chenoweth doesn't find her commitment to her faith and her support for the gay community to be mutually exclusive. In fact, in a HuffPost Live interview on Thursday, the Tony Award-winning actress explained how the two actually go hand-in-hand.

"I think what I do -- it's very Pollyanna, it's very funny to say this -- [I think] that thing, what would Jesus do? What would He do? He would love," she told HuffPost Live's Ricky Camilleri in an appearance to promote her new live album "Coming Home."

In accordance with this, the Broadway star emphasized that she loves "all people in general, unless they're just hateful, and then I don't like them."

"The greatest gift we can give ourselves is to love each other," she said. "I happen to not think being gay is a sin, [and] I have a really tough time with people who judge people for their sexuality."

Earlier this year, Chenoweth, 46, shot a video in support of same-sex marriage as part of the Human Rights Campaign's Americans for Marriage Equality effort, and performed alongside composer Andrew Lippa in "I Am Harvey Milk" at New York's Lincoln Center.

Watch more from Kristin Chenoweth's conversation with HuffPost Live here.


Sign up here for Live Today, HuffPost Live's new morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!

6 Best Parts Of 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1'

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"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" is already a blockbuster. The first part of the franchise's two-movie finale grossed an estimated $17 million from Thursday night screenings, putting the film on course to have the year's biggest debut weekend. That's good news, because despite some naysaying about the decision to split "Mockingjay" into two films, "Part 1" is the year's best blockbuster not named "Guardians of the Galaxy." Ahead six things to look out for at the theater this weekend.

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman is just excellent

They don't give out Oscar nominations to "Hunger Games" movies, but a very easy argument could be made about Philip Seymour Hoffman receiving a posthumous nod for "Mockingjay - Part 1." Like Dick Cheney mixed with his villain from "Mission: Impossible III," but if they were both "good" guys, Hoffman's Plutarch Heavensbee is a wonderful Machiavellian schemer. He commands scenes with a sly humor and uneasy menace. The film is dedicated to his memory and stands as a shining example of the work that was lost when Hoffman died.

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2. Gale has stuff to do!

In the previous two "Hunger Games" films, Gale has been relegated to casting longing looks in Katniss' direction. Here, with Peeta a prisoner of President Snow, Gale shines! He's heroic, charming and committed to the cause, while also being supportive of Katniss. Book fans know that won't necessarily last into part two, but it's fun to see now. For once, the "Hunger Games" movies have given Team Gale an actual reason to exist.



3. Everything Effie does

True thing Effie Trinket, Captiol refugee turned District 13 freedom fighter, says in "Mockingjay - Part 1": "I miss my wigs."



4. A "Mockingjay" trailer is key to the movie

A funny thing about "Mockingjay": It has more in common with "Wag the Dog," "Zero Dark Thirty" and "The Manchurian Candidate" than "Twilight" or "Harry Potter." There are more conversations about political maneuvering and subterfuge than action and adventure. A large part of the plot hinges on Katniss' ability to act as a symbol for the revolution, the Mockingjay, in propaganda videos. Eventually, after a comical sequence that intentionally involves some of the worst acting Jennifer Lawrence has done since "The Bill Engvall Show," Katniss succeeds. That results in a propaganda video which looks like it was ripped straight off the Lionsgate YouTube page. Let's applaud Team "Hunger Games" for putting so much meta commentary about marketing into a mass-market blockbuster.



5. Jennifer Lawrence's cry face deserves its own Oscar

Look at this emotion:



6. Hi, Lorde's song is great

That is all.

Yes, The Storied Met Opera Just Ended Its Season With A $22 Million Deficit

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NEW YORK (AP) — New York City's Metropolitan Opera says it has ended its 2014 fiscal year with a $22 million shortfall in its budget.

But the opera company said in a statement Thursday that steps including new labor contracts are expected to bring in enough savings to balance the budgets in the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years. The Met says its cost controls also include cutting 22 administrative staff jobs and reducing departmental budgets by $11.25 million. Its statement didn't reveal the size of the overall budget.

The Met, the nation's largest performing arts organization, ran a $2.8 million deficit last season on a budget of $327 million.

Fifteen unions representing about 2,500 workers reached labor agreements with the Met over the summer.

What Should the Smithsonian Do with Its Show of Bill Cosby’s Art Collection?

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As rape allegations against Bill Cosby have continued to emerge this week, with a fifth and sixth woman stepping forward to publicly accuse the iconic comedian, the backlash has been swift: NBC and Netflix have both dropped plans for new projects with Cosby, while TV Land announced it would stop airing reruns of The Cosby Show indefinitely. But Cosby’s collaboration with the art establishment remains alive and well, as dozens of works from Bill and wife Camille Cosby’s personal collection are currently on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art.

Would You Guess There Are Fewer Amish Today? You'd Be So Wrong

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There’s no denying that the Amish are fascinating to the rest of us ("the English," in Amish terms).

They’re the topic of reality television shows and documentaries, a particularly memorable Nancy Drew novel and the Academy Award-winning 1985 film "Witness." Vanilla Ice "went Amish." We buy their furniture and jam, and may occasionally spot their buggies when driving on country roads through America’s heartland.

Many may not realize, however, that though the Amish make up only a tiny percentage of Americans (less than 0.001 percent), the Amish population has grown enormously since the early 1960s, with much of the increase occurring in the last two decades.

The Amish in America trace their roots to the Anabaptists, who appeared in Switzerland during the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s. Anabaptists, or "rebaptizers," were noted for their second baptism of adults who had been baptized as infants in other Christian traditions. They believed that only adults could make the decision to follow Jesus Christ and therefore did not practice infant baptism themselves. They also believed that the church should not be associated or interfered with by any state.

In 1693, Jakob Ammann, a Swiss convert to Anabaptism, sought to revitalize the movement after it had been driven underground by civil and religious authorities threatened by its rapid spread. Ammann preached that Christians should adhere to strict guidelines, including not cutting their beards or wearing fashionable clothes.

He also advocated shunning excommunicated members (still a practice in some Amish communities). This led to a split between his followers and other Anabaptists living in France and Switzerland at the time. Ammann’s followers became known as the Amish, and they emigrated to the Americas in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Modern-day Mennonites are similarly descended from the 16th century European Anabaptists, but do not believe in separating themselves from the rest of society, as the Amish do.

Amish communities are today found in 30 U.S. states, as well as in Ontario, Canada. The first North American settlement began in about 1738 in Pennsylvania, and their count has steadily grown until it boomed in recent decades.











Source: Joseph Donnermeyer





The Amish are a Christian denomination who value simplicity, local church authority, pacifism and separation from the world. Because of their strong sense of community and belief in helping one another in times of difficulty, they do not participate in government programs like Social Security (Congress exempted the Amish from Social Security payments in 1965, though they do pay income, property and school taxes) and typically don’t have insurance (they were also granted an exception to the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate).

Amish children attend school, many at one-room private schools, typically through the eighth grade. Though for most children in the U.S., school is compulsory until age 16 or older, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its 1972 decision Wisconsin v. Yoder that Amish children could end formal education at age 14. After that, most participate in vocational training.

The Amish take seriously the Bible's command not to be “conformed to the world.” For this reason, they do not connect to public utility grids. Contrary to popular belief, however, they do use modern technology -- some of the time and very selectively. For example, “Amish hackers” have found ways to operate modern conveniences through traditional means, like kitchen blenders that work on air pressure or farming tools powered by hydraulics.

According to Joseph Donnermeyer, an Ohio State University professor who has studied the Amish for the past 25 years, the group could surpass 500 settlements in 2015 (there are currently 484). The term “settlement” refers to a loosely defined geographic area where the population is mostly Amish. Donnermeyer, with the help of an Amish librarian who lives in Ontario, tracks settlements -- the definition he uses is a community where there are at least three Amish families, they are able to hold a church service, and cars are not permitted. Car use typically provides a clear-cut technology boundary between the Amish and other groups called Plain Anabaptists, he said.

He noted that about two-thirds of current settlements have appeared since 1990. “Up until then,” Donnermeyer said, “[the Amish] were able to absorb families into existing communities.”

Many newer settlements are small, with only one or two church "districts" -- essentially, congregations. Donnermeyer said that these districts are the “exact opposite of a megachurch.” They typically include just a few dozen families, who hold worship services in members’ homes.

According to the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, there are about 290,100 Amish living in North America. This includes adults and children, although only adults who have been baptized are considered full members of the church. (Amish are typically baptized between the ages of 18 and 21, since the church emphasizes that joining is a voluntary decision.) In most Amish communities, children make up over half the population.

It’s difficult to get an accurate estimate of the Amish population in specific communities because there is no central church registry. But as more families move to a settlement, more church districts usually spring up. Newer settlements with many districts indicate rapid growth, Donnermeyer said, and older communities tend to be larger.






Source: Joseph Donnermeyer

According to Donnermeyer, much of the current population growth is due to the Amish's large families. There aren’t many converts to the Amish way of life (those seeking to join must be willing to learn the dialect and be baptized), and not too many leave the fold (though we seem to be particularly fascinated by those who do -- see "Breaking Amish," "Amish: Out of Order" and various other shows on the topic).

The oldest currently active Amish settlement in the U.S. is in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was founded sometime around 1760 and now has 187 church districts. So far in 2014, eight new communities have sprung up, though Donnermeyer predicts there will be more before the end of the year.

“With the Amish population changing so fast,” Donnermeyer said, “every time I think I’m up to date, someone sends me a note asking me if I’ve heard of a new [settlement].”

'Flying Dog' Photos Capture Furry Friends In Freefall

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Not since Underdog have canines looked so awkward in the air.

Julia Christe, a German photographer and dog lover, wanted to capture her favorite breeds from a unique perspective, so she asked some pet owners if she could shoot their pooches in mid-flight.

The pups had their pictures taken as they were dropped onto a mattress by their owners. Despite pulling some pretty precious faces, the puppies in the photo shoot are all okay. We're betting some of them even wanted to go again, since dogs are just awesome.






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These Photos Show Why Hope Is Alive And Flourishing In Detroit

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Farmers and dancers; avid cyclists and socially conscious 7-year-olds: these probably aren't who -- or what -- comes to mind when outsiders think of Detroit. But they're a few of the thousands of people who call the city home, and the subject of a new exhibition.


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Lucia, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School, Corine Vermeulen, 2014



In the last couple years, photographer Corine Vermeulen took photos of hundreds of Detroit residents in temporary portrait studios she set up across the city. About 80 of those images, as well as audio interviews, are featured in "Photographs from the Detroit Walk-In Portrait Studio," which opened last week at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

"When you do portraiture you have a box you put your subject in," Vermeulen told The Huffington Post. "In that rectangle, somehow you can have infinite possibilities."


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Dalana and Her Daugther Danyla, Catherine Ferguson Academy, Corine Vermeulen, 2011


Vermeulen's inspiration for the project came from one image by Walker Evans, an acclaimed photographer of American life during the Great Depression. Evans' 1934 shot of a New York photo license studio sparked Vermeulen to imagine setting up her own temporary studio in one of Detroit's many vacant buildings. So when her friends bought an abandoned house, she camped out for five days, inviting anyone passing by to come in and get their photo taken.


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Ron, East Side Riders, Corine Vermeulen, 2013



Vermeulen moved to Detroit in 2006 from her home in the Netherlands. When she first arrived, she primarily made work that dealt with land use and the idea of nature reclaiming parts of the city.

"I felt like when you look at the landscape here in Detroit the cycles of history are very visible," she said at a panel discussion about her work last week. "Certain parts look almost pastoral."

But as Vermeulen spent more time in the city, her work led her to get to know people behind the community gardens and urban farms she was documenting. Her focus shifted, and she began taking photographs of people and became concerned with countering existent narratives about the city's emptiness.


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LaTiece, D-Town Farm, Corine Vermeulen, 2013



"I came as an outsider, so it took me quite a couple of years to get a real sense of reality, she said. "I wasn't maybe so aware of the enormous problems that Detroit has, [and was] still kind of seeing it through rose-colored glasses."

She now finds it critical to show diversity of experience, and issues of race and class permeate her work, as they do so much in Detroit. Having grown up in the Netherlands' social democracy, she said those issues only entered her art after getting to know the Motor City.


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Nul, Recycle Here!, Corine Vermeulen, 2013



Vermeulen zeroed in on Detroiters who were making powerful strides, often steeped in social justice issues, to improve their lives and city. She chose locations like an urban farm that works to improve food security, a new place-based elementary school, a recycling center that also serves as a neighborhood hub and art park, and with the East Side Riders, a group of cyclists whose passion and elaborately decorated bikes have been a push in Detroit's bike culture.


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Alexandria and Demetrius, East Side Riders, Corine Vermeulen, 2013



While photos in the exhibition take a hopeful tone, Vermeulen underscored that she's not trying to make out Detroit to be a utopia, even as she celebrates her subjects' efforts.

"[They are] responses to crisis," she said. "What we have to really realize … is that they were born out of necessity and they were born out of a real sense of tragedy, and neglect, and it shouldn't have to be that people have to start their own schools because the public education system is failing."

Jack Watkins, a 27-year-old who has spent his entire life in Detroit, seemed to appreciate the photographer's ambivalent view of the city.

"Seeing the exhibit, when I walked in -- I felt like I was home," he said at last week's opening event. "That's the Detroit that I see everyday."


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The Jitterbugs, Jit Happens at the DIA, Corine Vermeulen, 2014



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Anna and Eleanor, Defend the DIA!, Corine Vermeulen, 2013



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Timothy, Focus Hope Excel Photography Program, Corine Vermeulen, 2013



"Photographs from the Detroit Walk-In Portrait Studio" will be on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts through May 17.

Listen To Jennifer Lawrence Sing 'The Hanging Tree' From 'Mockingjay'

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One of the most emotional scenes in "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" is when Katniss Everdeen sings "The Hanging Tree," a song she learned from her father. The ballad becomes a rallying cry for the rebels in their fight against The Capitol and spurs the revolution forward.

For Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Katniss, the performance was equally harrowing. "Jen was not happy she had to sing it all day long. She cried a little bit in the morning," director Francis Lawrence said of the sequence during an interview with AOL BUILD.

"When I sing, I sound like a deer that has been caught in a fence," Jennifer Lawrence joked during last weekend's "Saturday Night Live." In a separate interview with MTV, Lawrence said she had never sung in front of anyone before. "So that was a terrible day," she said.

Fans can decide for themselves by listening below. Featuring music by composer James Newton Howard and an arrangment put together by The Lumineers, "The Hanging Tree" is available on the "Mockingjay - Part 1" score, out Nov. 24.

Self-Taught Artist Ivan Hoo Has Inhuman Ability To Turn Objects Into Hyperrealist Drawings

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A glass of wine, an adorable pug, a jar of Nutella. Not only does Ivan Hoo have an inhuman ability to transform worldly objects into drawings, he also has great taste in subject matter. Hyperrealist junkies, feast your eyes on artworks so realistic you'll just want to eat them up (Nutella) or give them a big kiss (pug).

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The 31-year-old artist, born in Singapore, takes up to three days to complete one of his painstaking artworks. He begins with an object and, using soft pastel pencils, translates the image into two dimensions using either the still life or a photograph taken by Hoo himself. He begins with a pencil sketch and fills in the gaps with incredible precision and vibrancy. As if Hoo's talent isn't remarkable enough, allow this fun fact to sweeten the pot: Hoo never went to art school.

"I have always loved drawing ever since I was a child but I never studied art and am completely self-taught," he told The Daily Mail. "Then about four or five years ago I decided to further my knowledge in drawing techniques - in particular realism - and work full time as an artist. Pastels have always been my favorite medium to work with."

Take a look at Hoo's work, courtesy of the artist, below and see more on his Instagram.

The Dazzling, Multicolored, Customized Trucks Of India

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This post originally appeared on Slate.
By Jordan G. Teicher


India’s highways are hectic. In a single trip, a driver might encounter bikes, motorcycles, ox-drawn carts, rickshaws, pedestrians, and herds of animals. But even among the clutter, it’s hard to miss the trucks.

Dan Eckstein was traveling through Rajasthan after a 2011 wedding in Goa when he first noticed the colorful, personalized trucks that would later become the subject of his book, Horn Please, to be published by PowerHouse Books in December.

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He returned to India in 2012 and 2013 for two three-week trips, and traveled more than 6,000 miles on highways across the country to photograph the amazing vehicles. Along the way, he stopped at restaurants, repairs shops, truck stops, and roadsides to meet drivers and learn more about India’s unique driving culture.

“It was like a treasure hunt looking for the exact ones I wanted,” Eckstein said. “It’s about finding the right trucks in the right light in the right space.”

On a purely aesthetic level, the trucks intrigue the eye. But as Eckstein talked to more drivers, he learned that their ornamentations are not merely decorative—they’re a reflection of the drivers’ religious beliefs, caste, region, and personality. In his photographs, Eckstein aimed to portray the trucks as extensions of their drivers. Approached from the front, the vehicles almost look like faces.

For drivers, their trucks are like second homes. They spend all day and night in them, eating, sleeping, and driving across the country. As a result, the trucks are subjects of constant care and attention.

“It’s a rough life, but at the same time they have the most amazing attitudes,” Eckstein said. “They take a lot of pride in their work.”

Many of the decorations on the trucks, Eckstein said, are meant to bring good luck and ensure safe passage. For a job so full of potential hazards, they’re considered important safeguards—especially at night when animals fall asleep on the road and some vehicles, like tractors, travel without lights. In the morning, it’s not uncommon to see a truck flipped over from the night before.

The name of Eckstein’s project, “Horn Please,” is derived from a phrase that, in some form or another, adorns the back of almost every truck and serves as a sort of mantra for highway order. Since lanes are rarely observed and side-view mirrors are hardly used, drivers honk constantly on the road, a sign to let others know they’re approaching. This informal system, Eckstien said, functions “amazingly well.”

“It's not this constant death trap. It’s a delicate dance of everyone moving together.”

See more images on Slate.

11 Beautiful Artworks Smaller Than A Breadbox

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In case you had any doubts, art need not be physically large to make a big impact. To prove the point, Flowers Gallery has curated its 40th edition of "Small is Beautiful," a beloved exhibition challenging artists from emerging to established to create a moving artwork within an approximate nine by seven inch parameter.

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This year, 140 artists have contributed small works to the big cause in a dizzying variety of media and styles. Aleah Chapin brings her realistic portraits of nude women to a more diminutive canvas while Daniel Maidman positions viewers to focus their attention on an unusual vantage point -- the delicate curve of one's back ankle. And then there's Polly Borland, whose Love Dolls feel like the artistic lovechild of Louise Bourgeois and Yayoi Kusama's soft sculptures.

This year's edition of "Small is Beautiful" will be held in New York for the first time. As usual, the gallery will continue its tradition of exhibiting established artist alongside unknown and under-shown artists, thus democratizing the art world one big (small) exhibition at a time.

"Small is Beautiful" runs until January 10, 2015 at Flowers Gallery in New York. Check out a preview below, with all images Courtesy of Flowers Gallery, London and New York. Note: Objects in slideshow are smaller than they appear.


Artist Christina Forrer Spends 200 Hours Resurrecting Centuries-Old Tapestry Tradition

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In the middle ages, tapestries depicted sprawling battles between gods and monsters, human beings and mythical beasts, precarious moments on the divide between the mortal world and eternal hell. Fast forward some sixteen hundred years to Christina Forrer's variation on the theme, in which epic battles are replaced with carnivalesque caricatures engaged in exaggerated power clashes.

Forrer's protagonists, who seem to be wearing makeup on their masks, are immortalized in moments that, in some way, toy with dominance and submission. Sometimes the power abuse comes at the hand of another person, or perhaps an idea, or a system, or even a misplaced projection of emotion. Her characters strangle one another, decapitate, breathe fire and pose for the viewer, in a grotesque display that's part classical mythology, part reality television meltdown.

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"Two People Fighting"


Each of Forrer's tapestries begins with a drawing, and from there, she creates a template. The Zurich-born, Los Angeles-based artist selects her colors as she goes, yielding a beautifully incoherent mishmash with all the accidental beauty of a crowded circus tent. "I let the colors decide themselves," the artist told to The Huffington Post, estimating that a single tapestry takes approximately 200 hours of work. At first glance, the works recall James Ensor's taste for the macabre, Niagara's gothic femininity and Nina Chanel Abney's flattened all-at-once-ness. But Forrer cites Ernst Kirchner, who also worked in tapestries, as her primary inspiration.

The bulky cast of characters takes shape from a wide range of incongruous sources, from an Aretha Franklin album cover to a medieval ritual. In a piece titled "Procession," a man holds his dead lover's head in his hands as surrounding townspeople begin stirring up a racket with her kitchen utensils, banging them as loud as possible to get rid of the bad spirits so the soon-to-be-widower can move on. Another work, titled "Polka Dots," features only a gargantuan torso, all dolled up in a blue polka-dotted dress, the oversized proportions recalling Robert Crumb's amazon women. While some tableaux have specific origin stories, others are more opaque.

"I feel better if I don't know everything," Forrer responds when pressed on specifics.

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"Procession"


This instinctual artistic approach sometimes borders on mystical. "My grandparents had a house in the Italian part of Switzerland," Forrer explained. "I hadn't been since I was four years old. The first tapestry I made, my grandparents said it looked exactly like something, a piece they had hanging in that house."

The works themselves often seem influenced by fairy tales or folklore, containing both the whimsy and sinister undertones of the Brother's Grimm. Although Forrer doesn't have a huge interest in either fairy tales or folklore, she acknowledges her upbringing may account for her work's sense of mystique. "It's in the forests there. It's just there. I'm starting to realize that more and more."

From far away, the two-dimensional images look like the hybrid of a colorful children's storybook and a grotesque outsider comic book. Yet as you get closer, the chunks of wool, cotton and linen manifest themselves in every glitch and the tapestry blossoms into a kind of glorious bruise. Dangling there on the walls, the tapestries permit you to catch a glimpse of their undersides, where knots and threads of uncut yarn hang wildly. Gazing upon the vibrant scraps feels like sneaking a peek at a human's insides.

If Forrer ever makes a mistake along the way, she points out, she prefers to leave it in there.

Witches, pigs, skeletons, horses, clowns, tank tops and bling are just some of the oddities spun from Forrer's loom. Her tapestries conjure an alternate world where expressions are exaggerated, colors are intensified and power plays on just the same. Forrer's exhibition runs until December 13, 2014 at Grice Bench gallery in Los Angeles. See a preview of the work below.

Beyonce's '7/11' Music Video Is Her Best Surprise Yet

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Even though Beyonce was able to keep an entire album and its music videos under wraps last year, two new songs off her "Beyonce Platinum" box set surfaced online in just a few days. In what we hope was an attempt to stay ahead of the leak, Bey released a music video for one of the new tracks, "7/11."

Fun and playful, the video features Bey dancing in her underwear, making a human pyramid and straight up playing around with friends in what looks like a hotel. It's an impromptu party and we're glad we got the invite.

Ann Hampton Callaway To Celebrate 'Turning Points' At New York's 54 Below

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As her 2014 winds to a close, Ann Hampton Callaway has much to celebrate. Earlier this month, the actress and singer-songwriter surprised fans when she announced she'd tied the knot with longtime partner, Kari Strand, whom she proudly describes as "the love of her life."

Callaway's wedding is just one of many personal milestones which take center stage in her new cabaret act, "Turning Points." The Tony-nominated performer says the show, which opens Nov. 23 at New York's 54 Below, is her "most challenging" piece yet and "an exploration of songs about the major moments of my life" which include her Broadway debut, her move to New York from Chicago and the death of her father.

It's also fitting that Callaway's performances coincide with Thanksgiving week, as she calls the show a "musical feast" which "celebrates the gifts that life gives us." She says her planned set, which features the Ted Rosenthal Trio, includes standards, Broadway showtunes, jazz as well as original material.

"My show is a celebration of joy and of sorrow, and how competing truths can live together," Callaway, 56, told The Huffington Post in an interview. "It's also about the how can we can still have a great life, despite all the anxiety and uncertainty. I've had such a rich life, so it's hard to know how many of the high moments I can do in a single show."

Early in rehearsals, Callaway said she and director Dan Foster also "wrestling" between two original songs she'd been about the events of 9/11, which were defining for her work: "Ever since then I've felt much more focused about my mission as an artist, so I approach every moment with the awareness of the possibilities that are always around us…the possibility for connection and for loss."

Callaway is once again on a professional roll. Her latest album, "From Sassy to Divine: The Sarah Vaughan Project," was released in September. In March, the star -- who came out publicly in a 2009 interview with The Advocate -- joined fellow composers Lance Horne, Stephen Schwartz and John Bucchino for "Tyler's Suite," a choral song cycle dedicated to Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old Rutgers University student who took his life in 2010 after reportedly being subjected to anti-gay bullying.

Callaway said she felt inspired to participate in the piece because she felt "deeply concerned by the very serious level of Internet bullying" to which lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens are often subjected.

"The freedoms that the Internet has given people are beautiful in some ways, but can also be extremely destructive, as it was in this case," Callaway, who has befriended members of Clementi's family, said. "Anytime anyone is chastised and exposed for being who they are and not being accepted is something that, to me, is a violation of human rights. We, as people, need to come together and insist that change be made."

If Callaway has her way, "Turning Points" will be yet another "defining moment" in a celebrated musical career.

Ann Hampton Callaway's "Turning Points" plays New York's 54 Below from Nov. 23 -- 29. Head here for more information.

'Retake,' LGBT Drama, Engaged In Kickstarter Campaign

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A new drama is in the works that takes a dramatic look at the lives of two queer people at crossroads in their lives.

Called "Retake," the film follows a young male prostitute who is hired by a middle-aged man to embody a fake persona and accompany him on a road trip from San Francisco to the Grand Canyon. While one of these characters is in some way trying to relive the past, the other is trying to forget it.

Currently engaged in a Kickstarter campaign, this film boasts immense talent, including Luke Pasqualino of "Skins" fame, who plays Brandon. Kit Williamson, creator and star of the acclaimed Logo series "Eastsiders" and known for his work on "Mad Men," will also join the cast as a fellow prostitute hustling alongside Pasqualino’s Brandon.

“Our challenge in casting Brandon was to find an actor who is not just incredibly talented but fearless," Director Nick Corporon said in a statement. "Luke has established himself as a dynamic and bold performer. His vivid take on Brandon will surprise those who have been with him since 'Skins'.”

Want to learn more? Head here to visit the Kickstarter campaign for "Retake."

Powerful Portraits Of Ebola Survivors Back Home And Still Fighting To Live

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They survived Ebola, but their ordeal is far from over.

French photographer Livia Saavedra travelled to the Guinean capital Conakry in October to document Ebola survivors who have returned to their communities. Some have lost family to the disease, others no longer have jobs or face rejection from their community. "The stigma they face is terrible," Saavedra wrote in an email to WorldPost.

Some of the Guineans Saavedra met are fighting hard to overcome that stigma. Nyanbalamou Gabou, a 24-year-old medical student, worked to raise awareness about Ebola in his community before he fell sick himself, and was embraced by the community when he returned, Saavedra says.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed over 5,000 people, mainly concentrated in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. According to figures of the World Health Organization, nearly 10,000 others have contracted the disease and survived.

Take a look at Saavedra's moving portraits of Ebola survivors and their stories below, and visit her website to see more of her work.

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