hello and welcome to arts and culture well she is one of the most powerful and most eloquent voices in literature today canadian author margaret atwood and in honor of international women's day on sunday we'll hear from her and take a look at these stories. the pushkin museum in moscow gets under your skin with a look at the long history of tattoo arts and design. and we look at the precarity of the modern dance scene in the western african book you can ask. she's a household name the world over and as a canadian myself i have to add she's nothing less than a national treasure in canada since $961.00 margaret atwood has been a prolific writer of novels poetry nonfiction short stories and even children's books and the more she writes the more of a rock star she becomes that's her right and inquisitive style has proven to be not

only visionary but also prophetic. she's considered an international icon of feminism canada's margaret atwood is a legend and one of the world's most successful writers for several decades she's been a role models for women and girls around the world. and i'm not a very rebellious person by nature but i am a very curious person so that when people say in their lives things i like to. examine them and say what they're based on and whether what they're based on is is true so there are 2 questions you can ask about anything is it true is it true. and if it is true. if it isn't true is it fair to. call a novel the testaments was published in 2019 and it became an instant best santa

it's a sequel to the handmaid's tale from the 1985 unsettling novel about life in the totalitarian republic of gilliatt where women have been stripped of their rights reduced just servants. atwood has written dozens of works novels short stories and poetry books about women dystopian visions of the future historical tales and she's won numerous awards most recently the prestigious booker prize along with ben i didn't ever restore but had most successful work remains the handmaid's tale. when you'd interest in 2017 with the release of a television adaptation women around the world have donned the uniforms of the book's handmaids to protest against gender inequality thinks it's brilliant you're very visible and people know what you're made. of started there are a spread out all over the world when atwood published her 1st novel at the age of

23 there were very few heroines both in real life and in literature. writing was a way for her to liberate us now from a reactionary view of women and to overcome her own fears well the older you get. the less is it is to scary you. first of all because you've seen a lot of these things before but also because i hate to break this to you your future is not law. at all as if you're if you're 25 you're looking at quite a long period where we we hope so you're going to be much more worried about what might happen margaret atwood uses her popularity to publicly express her concerns over issues like climate change the global increase in populism and continue discrimination against women but she doesn't see herself as an activist the real activists are organizing at the grassroots level they are this is their life it's

what they are it's what they do all day every day the reason i get to be a muppet. is that i don't have a job. so nobody can fire me in a way because i can but it's not a particularly brave thing to do in my position to have fans attitude is more important now than ever because she started writing decades ago about topics it is still highly relevant today and she says she'll continue to do so. as you can see the longer version of that reports and interview on our you tube channel d w books well once upon a time they were confined to sailors prisoners and the social underclasses but tattoos have long since become an integral part of our visual culture and today the

reason exhibited in museums like the pushkin museum of fine arts in moscow where an exit. originally commissioned in paris covers more than 3000 years of one of the earliest body modification practice. are unique and somewhat disturbing way of displaying more. but don't worry these are not the perfectly preserved limbs of the ceased to barras these body parts are made of silicone. say with certitude using a stablish techniques by some of the world's leading tattoo artists. thanks of course it's not skin our artists did the tattoos just as they would with human skin with a tattoo machine the silicon does not always absorb the pigment completely but it's the closest you can get to human skin and it's announced a tattoo to be shown researchers say in its natural habitat if you exhibit that.

chattering has been practiced for thousands of years originally it was performed for social religious and mystical reasons. attaching wasn't conceived of as being an art form it was an applied to the body 1st that reasons for the most part it had many other more important functions like identity tribal identity that it's all functions it marks rites of passage it marks social change but. when tattoos took hold in the west they were often seen as a sign of infamy criminality. touching ladies fair grounds attraction. but to date or to use have become a global manifestation the show commissioned leading talk to the answers to create a more permanent examples. of some real inquisitor there in adrian kennedy has joined me to talk about it welcome adrian

some amazing stuff there and i guess this exhibition was a huge sensation when it was 1st shown in france. tattoo legends with long waiting lists stopped working with their clients in order to participate in the project. would dine with the people who commissioned the works so they were very eager and proud to take poets so we have a closer look at some of them yes 1st start we've got french artist turns we started out to touring allied soldiers here in berlin he was also the artistic director of the show horry your she the 3rd is what they call a horrific she he specializes in japanese full body tattoos and known as suits in the legendary jack rudy he's famous for his reinvention of the black and grey style and finally we had those amazing pictures of the latino gangs coming up in just a 2nd they were by the spanish photographer isabel when you're such

a variety of work there and that tattooed lady in your report also p y interest yes in the late 1980 tattooed women trying to screw us the gender norms norms of the time by exhibiting the bodies are tori givens who we sure saw in the film a painting based on a photo was the last of them extensively tattooed by her husband the story went around that he wanted to make her unattractive to other men but apparently that didn't work but it was really about being an advertisement for her husband's work and making a tidy sum for herself. there is another exhibition going on that i have to say is highly relevant in times of. the florence nightingale museum in london has a special show celebrating the 200th anniversary of the lady of the lamps birth nightingale of course the pioneering nurse who practically invented sanitation and

washing your hands in a medical context she died aged 9910. but she has left us a little voice message from the grave take listening. to my. car now keep washing your hands words of wisdom from a pioneer of modern health care thanks so much adrian for that back story. and now to the west african nation of work in a fast so where modern dance is much more than just a means of expression instead it can be a strong statement for tolerance and equal rights outspoken with movement instead of words that we travel to the capital or work at who where dynamic dancing faces daily challenges. contemporary downs in burkean a fast so becoming

a dancer here takes courage. into the didn't. in the capital want to do do we need to feel horny kamma the dancer choreographer and dance teacher is in international demand yet he's had to fight for recognition in his homeland and acceptance from his family. it was difficult because my parents didn't accept my choice they didn't want me to give up building houses and become a dancer because for them dancing has no future it was really tough and i had to leave my family and. nican my develop this production together with an artist from the ivory coast this day is littered with trash it symbolizes the chaotic conditions in many african cities how can africans rise above the chaos and free themselves from dependence on the former colonial powers and can aunt help them do

it. people here are for. trying to say when things aren't working but it's my role as an artist to contribute something to change that from him every human being is useful to society. but changing things through dance is not easy and back enough fast so where dances are held in low esteem salamat a cabaret left her fiance as he couldn't accept her work as a dancer the single mother performs internationally to any living she's finally gaining recognition at home. it really was the show. that helped me to convince my family now they support me that's why i say to all women it is possible with the will the league be the focal point of the country's dance scene is choreographic development center to me t.f. or the termite mound that immature is unique in west africa it was founded by sal

yes i knew one of the biggest names in contemporary african dance. in his latest project he's working with refugees from mali. to label think africans just want to cross the mediterranean and invade europe so that's a false lots of africans 1st refugee use in africa. is the purpose of the beyond borders project is to get refugees to daunce. they're going to return to the camps with new knowledge with a breath of fresh air and hope to dance in back enough fassel is movement in a positive direction a door into a different more liberated world. but that it is time for us to sign off so until next time all the best for us here in berlin and i.

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