Art Talk With Rama Duwaji
The artist and NYC first lady in an exclusive interview, LACMA's stunning new building, Trump plays Christ, and much more.
Last week, I visited Gracie Mansion in Manhattan for a conversation with artist and New York First Lady Rama Duwaji. It was her first interview with a journalist since her husband, Zohran Mamdani, took office on January 1.
I didn't know what to expect as I had never met Duwaji before or heard her speak in public. In what became a standard studio visit, I discovered a humble and thoughtful artist who refuses to use her celebrity for easy career gains.
Though we spoke primarily about her practice, the interview got picked up by dozens of publications worldwide because of Duwaji's apology for foolish teenage tweets that a far-right rag dug up from the depths of the internet in an attempt to hurt her skyrocketing popularity.
I hope this interview will help you get a better sense of who she truly is as a person and artist.
As always, there's much more below. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
In the Studio With Rama Duwaji
Surrounded by her drawings and ceramics, we discussed her evolving art practice and new life as NYC first lady. | Hakim Bishara
News
- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA) new building opens after years of planning, construction, ballooning budgets, and design changes.
- A British political activism campaign created “Boycott the Bezos Met Gala” posters to protest Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez as the lead sponsors and honorary co-chairs of the annual event.
- The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced 223 recipients of its annual fellowship, including 76 artists, fine arts researchers, architects, designers, and photographers.
- Social Practice City University of New York (SPCUNY), a five-year-old project that provides fellowships and support to social justice-minded artists across the public university system, will shutter next February.
Jeremy Frey: The Generational Impact of a New Artistic Path
Join us on April 29 for a conversation with artist and recent MacArthur Fellowship winner Jeremy Frey and Hyperallergic Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian.
Opinion
Trump Plays Christ and Gets the Wound Wrong
The president’s latest attempt to fashion himself as an American messiah is costing him some of his most loyal Catholic supporters. | Emma Cieslik
Interviews
Marcel Duchamp Was the Messenger of History
“The art world changed,” scholar Thierry de Duve told us on the occasion of MoMA’s new show. “Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ is the message that brings us the news.” | Lisa Yin Zhang
Nikyle Begay Resurrects Century-Old Diné Weavings
As an artist and shepherd, Begay facilitates their own creative process, from breeding and shearing to weaving long-undervalued twill patterns. | Moonoka Begay and Zach Feuer
From Our Critics
MoMA PS1’s “Greater New York” Is Gritty, Stunning, and Gutting
The survey, which happens every five years, rejects the out-of-towner’s glossy surfaces in favor of the view from inside. | Hrag Vartanian, Lisa Yin Zhang, Rhea Nayyar
Michaelina Wautier Finally Known by Her Name
For centuries, her masterpieces were misattributed to male painters. A new exhibition at London’s Royal Academy corrects the record. | Olivia McEwan
Steve DiBenedetto’s Cosmic Sense of the Absurd
He conceives of a painting as a search for a functional structure, a talisman that can aid viewers amid our collective sense of traumatic crisis. | John Yau
Books
Ai Weiwei and the Art of Keeping Your Mouth Shut
“On Censorship” offers timely reflections from the dissident artist, whose entire life and career have been marked by state persecution. | Hakim Bishara
Inside a Black Panther Family Album
Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver’s family album depicts aspirational homemaking in diaspora, capturing the tension between rest and motion as they navigated exile with their children. | Leigh Raiford
The Unnameable Artists of the Canton Trade System
In a book on Qing-era trade portraitists whose names are lost to history, Winnie Wong shows us how our restless pursuits of authenticity guide us into pitfalls of our own making. | Nanase Shirokawa
Community
Art Problems: Do I Need to Go to Art Fairs?
Are the fairs worth the back pain and steep ticket prices? Paddy Johnson has the answer.
Art Movements: Dozens Laid Off at Artnet and Artsy
Also, the Denver Art Museum’s new associate curator of Native Arts, the Toronto Biennial of Art, and Marilyn Minter chats with Monica Lewinsky.
In Memorium: Remembering Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Pearl Fryar, Siri Aurdal, and Frank Stack
We honor a self-taught topiary artist, a mainstay of ’60s Scandinavian art, and author of what may be the first underground comic.
Required Reading
Tania Bruguera’s museum manifesto in stained glass, Molly Crabapple on AI’s art heist, Rachel Corrie’s mother speaks out, remembering Ashaji, right-wing knitters, and more.
A View From the Easel
Painters Katya Granova (Leipzig, Germany) and Billy Biondi (Corvallis, Oregon) both blend painting with dancing and one works inside a former yarn factory.
Opportunities
Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from Banff Centre, the Vilcek Foundation, and more in our April 2026 list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers.
