TAF : Stay In School (SIS) 05
Eid Mubarak fam, glory be to the gang, gang, gang, Everlyn Nicodemus finally getting recognized, why data matters, and exploring the use of anger & discontent in art
Azul fellawen
First of all - Eid Mubarak! I hope everyone who celebrates got a chance to indulge in the ancient (ie 2019) custom of breaking bread with other human folks and had both nutella and almond croissants. Also found out sending ‘Eid Mubarak’ via iMessage launches a full screen animation of a shooting star - I feel so seen but I still have to remind myself:
You can’t buy fun, no matter what capitalism tells you.
And since we’re talking capitalism happy belated International Workers' Day - power forever to the people and the strategic and critical collective withdrawal of labor. I highly recommend this Hyperallergic piece on how historically painters, illustrators, and photographers advocate for the working class.
Now then, let’s get started- first things first, the perfect music to accompany today’s tirade- playlist brought to you courtesy of Sabah which features everything from Toufic Farroukh to Winston Mankunku Ngozi.
Special Mentions
As a child of PBS I am absolutely here for the revival of interest in Julia Child and remain amazed at what butter can do.
Special shout out to Saudi artist Muhannad Shono, who is representing Saudi Arabia at the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale and whose cats I will soon be petting in Riyadh. His artwork, “Logic of Trees” consists of a 40-meter wide structure made of organically made of black-coated palm fronds, propelled by pneumatic mechanisms. The work represents the spirit and resilience of creative expression. Shono’s ouverture is large-scale installations that tackle philosophical subjects with references to Saudi Arabia’s political history and culture. The fact that he is representing Saudi is a big, big deal. In the words of writer Momtaza Mehri glory be to the gang, gang, gang. While you’re here check out other highlights from the Biennale.
While we’re talking art fair let me point you in the direction of the Toronto Biennial of Art where Indigenous artists are taking center stage. The biennial’s curatorial team — led by prominent Indigenous curator Candice Hopkins — has amassed an exciting array of contemporary Canadian and international artists, with a focus on Indigenous artists and we are living.
Everlyn Nicodemus, who is in her 60s, will shortly be the first Black woman to have a self-portrait on display in the National Portrait Gallery (established 1856) as part of a scheme to improve female representation in the gallery. What took them so long?
Quote of my existence and why I always insist on numbers - In addressing the historical exclusion of some demographics in creative settings, we need to know what we are up against. Often, it is only when we crunch the numbers and see the stats laid out before us in black and white on a spreadsheet that the disparity in representation becomes glaringly obvious. Source
Everyone watch Moonscape. Mona Benyamin (b.1997, Haifa) is a Palestinian visual artist and filmmaker, and her Arabfuturistic short film takes the form of a music video where the hybrid visuals of surrealist scenes and references from canonic films and the Arab music industry; film noir; found footage from the NASA archives are used to explore the relationship between hope, nostalgia and despair. Password can be sent on request, so request.
The Good Question:
“Are ecological thinking and decolonial practice merely genres, or are they being used to transform all aspects of arts discourse?" Read on how genuine steps from an arts community that is actually committed to decolonization as a long-term project — arts institutions, funders, and educators requires better engagement with the constraints imposed upon Indigenous communities.
History As a Canvas for Creativity
Sudanese-Canadian poet, singer, songwriter and filmmaker Mustafa the Poet, just Mustafa as of late, is featured on one of four covers for Dazed Magazine‘s Spring 2022 issue and everyone needs to get to know him. The theme of the new issue is “New Heritage” and explores “what to do with our shared and personal heritage, and the ways history can be a canvas for creativity.”
The album’s highlight banger ‘Air Forces’, co-produced by genre-fluid producers Jamie xx and Frank Dukes has been on repeat so I need y’all to press play.
Ibrahim Mahama + the Communal Spirit
Came across Ghanian artist Ibrahim Mahama who had Words™️ to say about the critical importance of *where* an exhibition is held “I understand that the work is important when exhibited in a Western museum, that it has an intrinsic value. But when it’s at home, the value is different because now you’re aiming to de-commodify and decapitalize the work, make it anti-capitalistic. The projects that I do at home cannot be bought, and they cannot be sold.” Mahama launched The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) an artist-run project space, exhibition and research hub, cultural repository and artists’ residency located in Tamale, Ghana and it’s just proof of how far a good idea can travel, no matter where it comes from.
We Buried Us: Exploring the Use of Anger & Discontent Through Creativity
As you guys already know, I prefer that people be more enraged. I'm just not ~chill~ and this whole "have more chill" thing is not for me - but I've had to sadly come to accept that expending that type of energy necessary to make sure that the anger does not consume you is Hard Work. Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa’s piece really was refreshing in framing the self-realizing energy + redemptive power of anger.
“So everyone put their heads down, and we got about the business of living. And we whispered our displeasure. ‘They buried us under’, and then we went too far in suppressing our anger.”
Artists in Zimbabwe are regularly reminded that they are not immune to the censorship and routinely have had their work censored or banned in the country where the public sphere is heavily censored by the state. One of the artists in the article, Zimbabwian multimedia artist Kresiah Mukwazhi, creates pieces of ‘resistance’ using and exploring the full spectrum of anger and goes into exploring anger as a cleansing force. Check it.
In WTF is Going on News: M+ Removes Controversial Paintings about Chinese History
M+’s post-Omicron-wave reopening was on April 21 and they already causing raised eyebrows and sparking renewed concerns about the public display of artworks addressing historical events in China.
Some of the artwork that got the strike through
Photorealist painting New Beijing (2001) by Wang Xingwei, which satirically refers to censorship around the violent 1989 crackdown on student demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Wang Guangyi’s Mao Zedong: Red Grid No. 2 (1989), which dissects the propagandistic regime of official imagery and was painted during the Beijing Spring.
Zhou Tiehai’s Press Conference III (1996), which depicts the artist in a press conference discussing the commodification of Chinese contemporary art within the global art market.
I am sure you’re paying close attention but the hot take is that Hong Kong, which has historically functioned as a semi-autonomous region, might no longer be the international art hub scene of the past. The implementation of a controversial National Security Law in 2020 broadened the mainland government’s power to curtail any expression it deems “anti-government.” Me and my art world gossip aunties are sipping tea and cracking sunflower seeds as we wait to see what happens next; we also questioning who gets to decide on what is an “international art hub” because last I checked the Asian art market is solid and according to the 2021 annual Art Basel and UBS “Global Art Market Report” China's art market is now worth 20 per cent of the global total, a full one-fifth. Pay attention friends.
But the wonkiest bit is that West Kowloon Cultural District said that all decisions about the exhibitions were made by the museum’s curators, not the board of M+ or the management of WKCDA. Dije que pares.
It's hilarious (and also boring) to see these type of excuses.
Final Rating: The cringe level of Old People on Tiktok trying out viral dance routines; just maybe don’t say or do anything, Cassandra.
Open-source encyclopaedia traces 10,000 years of South Asian culture & art The Museum of Art and Photography in Bangalore has launched a free online encyclopedia covering 10,000 years of Indian art history. The digital resource is the first of its kind for Indian art. The private museum was founded by art collector Abhishek Poddar and hopes to not just to display the evolution of art in the region, but to explain and educate on techniques and materials used. It attempts to tell an inclusive story, by including not only well-known artists, but also focusing on less-known talents and folk artists. We are here for all of it.
Until next time, learn how to make the perfect omlette (butter is involved and key for an omelet to be baveuse), don’t talk to people you can’t stand, practice tsundoku more (Japanese word for acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them #wellifitaintme) and remember “if a book is tedious to you, don’t read it; that book was not written for you,” Jorge Luis Borges.
All my love.
Wided
xox