SAVE OUR SPECIES / LACOSTE

To help fight for world's wildlife conservation, Lacoste partnered up with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and created a limited-edition “Save Our Species” collection of polo shirts.

In a simple but powerful gesture, Lacoste replaced it's iconic crocodile logo with a line of emblems featuring 10 of the most threatened species in the world. Each polo shirt, rendered in white, is produced in a limited number of copies corresponding to the remaining population size of the respective species in the wild.
Featured animals are:  Those animals consist of the Vaquita dolphin, Burmese roofed turtle, Northern sportive lemur, Javan rhino, Cao vit gibbon, Kakapo parrot, California condor, the Saola, Sumatran tiger, and the Anegada ground iguana.

// SOS ensures the long-term survival of threatened species, their habitat and the people who depends on them. SOS - Save Our Species channels funds from donors to existing frontline conservation actors working to protect from extinction some of the world's most threatened species of plants and animals. //

[Sources: NotCot; Lacoste; SaveOurSpecies; HighSnobiety ]

FACE / YUMNA AL-ARASHI

Yumna Al-Arashi's photographic series captures the last generation of Muslim women with facial tattoos:

// The facial tattoos are often reflections of local astrological beliefs. The designs can be symbolic tributes to the stars, the moon or the sun depending on each woman’s personal preference. Although many women adorn their faces for cosmetic reasons, most believe that the intricate drawings connect them with the spiritual world and protect their households from evil forces. In either case, Yumna says, the tattoos are a manifestation of female strength: “These metaphysical connections translate as very powerful in these communities. Women are authoritative figures. They are the family’s decision-makers, they understand the land and animals’ needs best, they know how to use herbs to heal and they can cook. These are all essential survival skills.” The tattoos are symbols of matriarchal power in communities where women sustain the livelihood of their families. Men, Yumna says, are merely there to assist.

Face not only captures the Maghreb’s matriarchal communities, but also comments on the slow disappearance of female facial tattoos. “They started vanishing when capitalism was introduced to the region; corporate power is a dominantly male force. This in turn, saw the dissolution of the agricultural and natural power that women had controlled,” Yumna says. “It’s so easy for the media to tell people that these countries are backwards and that these women are repressed.” Yumna’s photography questions Western ‘progress’ and its orientalist preconceptions of Muslim communities by highlighting how the onset of capitalism has reorganised these traditional communities in line with a patriarchal social order. //

[Source:  It’s Nice That; Yumna Al-Arashi ]