Art, particularly about systems of oppression, necessarily has to choose a side. After all, choosing not to speak out for those who are oppressed, is also choosing a side. By Ragini Srikrishna “All art is propaganda…” Upton Sinclair A full year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit us and while George Floyd was still alive, community...
Tag: art
Post
Tschabalala Self Is Rebranding The Body With Her Art
Tschabalala Self challenges viewers to see these bodies as vessels of exciting difference and much more than caricatures. By Tyra A. Seals By using fabric, thread, and collage techniques to circumvent traditional definitions of artistic media, Tschabalala Self’s large scale paintings and installations illustrate full, marginalized bodies with grace, pride, and power. The Harlem-born artist...
Post
What Does “Little Women” Mean To The Black Woman Artist?
Simply inserting people of color into the world of Little Women would have been a cheap victory for representation, which of course, is no victory at all. By Nylah Burton Director Greta Gerwig’s long-awaited film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 book, Little Women, received excellent reviews. And rightfully so. It was a beautiful movie,...
Post
Mexico’s ‘Africamericanos’ Exhibit Explores Black Identity In Latin America
There is little recognition of Afro-Latinx communities throughout Latin America, but Puebla’s “Africamericanos” exhibit is seeking to change that. It wasn’t the first time I’d set out in search of African-descended cultures in Latin America. In fact, compared to other excursions, the two-hour bus ride from Mexico City to the self-described “magical town” of Puebla...
Post
The Whitney Museum’s Biennial Silence and Its Culture of Oppression
The Whitney Museum chooses silence in an effort to displace, downplay, and negate valid public outrage regarding their policies, ethics and leadership. By Jamara Wakefield May 17th marked the start of the 79th Whitney Biennial. The Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition, featuring typically young and lesser-known artists, at the Whitney Museum of American Art...
Post
What Olivia Munn and Lizzo Get Wrong About Art Criticism
The reality is that celebrity careers rely on the expertise of critics. On Thursday, Olivia Munn tweeted two pages of a response she had in reaction to the fashion site, Go Fug Yourself, run by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. Much like its title, the site employs a dash of humor when describing celebrity attire...
Post
MESSY: Body Positivity Means Telling The Whole Truth And Finally Putting Myself First
In this essay accompanied with concept-collage images, Negesti Kaudo reflects on what body positivity means to her, on whether she is ready to reclaim the word “fat”, and how she used art as a medium to understanding her relationship to and perception of her own body. By Negesti Kaudo Essays about my body...
Post
6 BIWOC Comics Writers You Should Know
In honor of Women’s History Month, check out the work of these BIWOC comics writers. As a medium and an industry, comics aren’t always kind to women, especially women of color. Mainstream comic book companies seem to hire them once in a blue moon and yet they are still out there producing their own work...
Post
We Need to Create and Protect Accessible Work For QPOC
I beg the queer people who read this that you consider preserving all the art and writing you create. That way, future generations have their own map should they face a crisis. “In this great gay mecca, I was an invisible man still. I had no shadow, no substance. No history, no place, no reflection.”...
Post
Everything’s the Worst: 5 Self-Care Acts to Distract You From the World for 10 Minutes
Happy New Year! Lots of folks are pointing out that time is an arbitrary construct, and nothing really changes with a new year. But lots of things are going to change this year. Like, a racist, fascist reality-show star with no government experience who brags about sexually assaulting women is going to take the highest...