TAF : Stay In School (SIS) 08 - The Comeback
TAF : Stay In School (SIS) 08 - The Comeback
Hold, a minute. Y'all thought I was finished?
Azul beautifuls.
"Hold, a minute. Y'all thought I was finished?" But really, apologies – I was on hiatus -pivoting (as always) and figuring this life thing out. My little GASP experiment was a little failure. We get the hits but we don’t get the conversions, which means I can’t pay the instructor and I simply can not have that. But that is life, ain’t it. One day I’ll get it right but in the meantime I grew a beautiful directory of capable and incredible instructors in both English & Arabic and got to have incredible conversations with these people. So we are going to have to pause on that and just go back to my roots, because as always, there is much to say. This means writing about whatever my heart is into; sometimes meaningful discourse, sometimes just finger pointing, but mostly just stepping TF out of my lane with opinions.
I know, I know. I’ve threatened many comebacks but I’m for real this time.
In today’s edition of Petty Betty News:
British artist Stuart Semple created Pinkie, which he has dubbed the “Barbiest pink paint,” and made available for purchase as a response to Mattel’s registered trademark on the signature color. Creatives who use the tone without permission deal the threat of litigation. So now anyone can freely use Semple’s new shade of paint, as long as they agree that they are not an employee of Mattel or in any way associated with the company, and that to the best of their understanding the paint will not find its way into the hands of anyone at Mattel. Get ‘em, Stuart.
Things We Are Living For:
Eyes On: Léuli Eshrāghi, a member of Sāmoan clans Seumanutafa and Tautua, as well as a person of Persian, Cantonese, and European descent, has been named curator of Indigenous arts at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). Eshrāghi will be responsible for developing exhibitions that highlight local and international Indigenous artists, as well as acquiring new works for the MMFA’s permanent collection. It’s obvious that Eshrāghi’s curatorial role would only be transformative if decolonization was understood as actively including Indigenous voices and a framework adopted by everyone working at the museum - let’s see.
Everyone’s Eating: Ghanian artist Amoako Boafo is making sure the whole family invited to the party. This past March, the Ghanaian artist had his New York solo debut with the mega-gallery Gagosian. Boafo said he came out of the experience feeling as though something was missing “I was happy with the [reception] and how it turned out, but not having the family or people that I work with to enjoy the paintings as well—for me, it wasn’t enough. It’s important that the people that I make the painting for or with should have access to the painting, and also, for them to be part of the experience.” His solution was to bring some of the pieces from the show back home to Accra to dot.ateliers, the art space he founded in 2022 that also hosts residencies and maintains an art library and studios. Held in collaboration with Gagosian, Boafo’s dot.ateliers show is being billed as the first time that a Western commercial gallery has hosted an exhibition with an African artist on the continent because as Andrew Fabricant, chief operating officer of Gagosian, said “too often, it’s been the case for almost all artists coming out of Africa recently. They get taken out of Africa and they get shown in the West, but there’s never any reciprocity.” We love to see it.
The action, the theory and the practice of how to do more with less: The documentary ‘do more with less’ shows how young architects in Latin America are bringing about a change in paradigm by offering a new understanding of the way this profession interacts with society. The film explores ways in which the future of architecture in the area can be improved and provide an alternative economic model. Learning to operate under conditions with very little money, especially in response to the local, is a skillset be applied across the board tbh.
Working Hard for the Money: Say what you will about the evils of the market but the reality is money is making waves. Christie’s is stepping up its efforts to cultivate the global market for modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art with a major exhibition from the Arab world being held in its London headquarters this summer, ahead of the return of the category’s evening sale in November. The exhibition is divided into two sections. “Kawkaba: Highlights from the Barjeel Art Foundation” (on loan from Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi private collection). Then the second part is half a selling and loan exhibition focused on the Emirati artist Hassan Sharif, who introduced conceptual art to the region. Okay, Christie’s. & the thing is they’re doing a lot of things right.
They got Ridha Moumni, who is an art historian who specializes in early and modern art of Tunisia, to curate the exhibition.
It’s in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth and the Barjeel Art Foundation.
The show is open to the public at the house’s King Street headquarters, FOR FREE through August 23.
Like I know Christie’s is trying to make that money, but tbh I’m not mad at them. It’s unfortunate, but the truth of the matter is commercial projects respond quickly to the push for historical readings of art among MENA curators and scholars who seek to contextualise leading figures and schools within broader global movements - this means they expand the relevance of the market while also directing audiences to a history that might otherwise be buried in academia. Museums on the other hand are heavy, pompous, archaic things- they got to put together a committee, hire an external consultant, put together a focus group, run a couple of workshops, type out a 294 page report, and then shelf the whole thing because one dude on the board feels like they’re being too woke and responsive to the zeitgeist.
Art We Are Into: I give you Amazona Warmikuna, by Isadora Romero, an Ecuadorian visual storyteller based in Quito. Her work focuses on human identities, gender, and environmental issues. This is one of her photographic project that portrays indigenous women living in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest who are leading the charge in defending their land against mining companies. “My strategy will be to follow the indigenous women’s worldview, which professes that everything in the jungle is alive, that every plant, animal, object has its spirit, its magic and must be protected in order to achieve a harmonious life.” Never forget - we’re just visitors here. #indigenize&decolonize
In cool stuff I came across while PhD hunting- The Multiplication of Perspectives -the gist of the symposium underlined the importance of recognizing the plurality of viewpoints that any geographically-inclusive approach to the study and exhibition of art must necessarily entail while questioning the idea where global most often means taking up models instigated in Western museums and exhibition spaces.
Okay, enough for now.
It looks like Earth is having a literal cookout this summer - I hope everyone is staying hydrated and enjoying icy watermelon slices and making your voice heard by those in power because it looks like that switch to paper straws just wasn’t enough. Who'd have thunk it??
Never forget:
All my love. See you next month.
Wided
xo