An Olympic-size Reflection

oceaniaeuropeamericasafricaasia from gustavo sousa on Vimeo.

For the past sixteen days, the world's five inhabited continents united, to compete and celebrate the athletic achievements of the global community in the Pangaea-like super celebration known as the Olympic Games. London 2012 is over and on August 29, the Paralmypics will begin. The conversations surrounding the long-term sustainability and impact of the games will materialize more fully.

In Oceaniaeuropeamericasafricaasia, graphic designer Gustavo Sousa, uses the iconic olympic rings graphic to visually interpret worldwide data, on statistics such as, obesity, gun ownership, McDonald's outlets, population, homicides, people living with HIV, etc., where each ring represents a continent.

What's most interesting, is that no continent is assigned a specific color, forcing the viewer to give an educated guess to which ring represents which continent. The varying ring sizes and anonymity in each graph and the use of the iconic Olympic logo, underscores some serious inequalities that we share in the face of unity.

In an interview with FastCompany, Sousa says: "The rings represent healthy competition and union, but we know the world isn’t perfect. Maybe understanding the differences is the first step to try to make things more equal."

In His Own Words

David Taylor-In His Own Words from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

Meet the enthusiastic David Taylor, former arts pastor at Hope Chapel in Austin, Texas, who is currently pursuing his doctoral studies in theology and the arts at Duke Divinity School, in Durham, North Carolina. A friend recently turned me on to his blog on art, theology, and his life as an arts pastor, and at her behest, I've slowly started to make my way through blogposts dating back to February 2006 (let's just say that Taylor is prolific and consistent and leave it at that).

In His Own Words says so much, that it feels impossible to summarize and should be an overall encouragement and an exhortation to everyone who watches it.