Oiginally published 4/11/14
I am part of the generation that remembers Exotica, not as a florist, not as a wedding supplier, not as a landscaper, not as an advertiser, but more as a part our collective memory. I am talking of a different Exotica naturally, specifically an image frozen in time, the one above.
Which lead me to the one below taken from the packshot of the ad in question.
Exotica - part of the art series "Lebanon's History Book" by Tarek Chemaly
Exotica "plante la joie" and yes, there was even an equivalent in Arabic "tazra3 a sa3ada".... It was in the middle of war, and that ad, with that woman in a moulant dress, with no face, but with sensuality to make every television screen explode would come to us, planting joy (as the slogan says) in dire times.
For those who have not seen it, please view it here.
Originally published 24/12/14
And in honor of Christmas eve... Exotica and the classic "Mere Noel". Not much to say really, just a bit of a collective memory, and that notion that - even in the most surreal landscape - people actually celebrated Christmas. Believer or not, sometimes it is the ritual that counts.
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