Art
A Feather Falls in Harlem
CHICAGO — Feathers fall from the sky all the time. The wind plucks them from birds' bodies, and they fall fast whilst spinning in circles.
Alicia Eler
Interview
Against Ethno-Kitsch: Trance Music in a Broken System
CHICAGO — "I'm pretty opinionated about music," says artist/musician Arrington de Dionysio, whose creative work has taken him to Indonesia and back. "I'm not interested in sampling 'a little bit of this, a little bit of that' for its own sake alone, the results are usually boring and insincere, a ki
Art
A Bestial Journey to the Center of Illinois
CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Ill. — I traveled down to Champaign-Urbana carrying two cassette tapes of BESTIARY, a mix tape by the music label Hairy Spider Legs.
Art
In Its Chicago Debut, Fountain Art Fair Spouts, Drips, and Splashes
CHICAGO — The Fountain Art Fair is located at the edge a heavily industrial area of the Pilsen neighborhood where many local artists live and work. Compared to Expo Chicago, it is a welcome free-for-all DIY art oasis at the edge of an art community.
Art
The Girl Gore Aesthetics of White Lace, Ghosted Bodies, and Animal Menageries at Expo Chicago
CHICAGO — I didn't want to go to the art fair. I never do. A lot of stuff at art fairs is the same-ish, and galleries are trying their best to sell the most. Yet the art fairs keep coming, and as the market has proven Chicago is no exception.
Art
Photographs Behind Closed Doors
CHICAGO — To every story there is a backstory. Open the door and walk down the hall until you reach a room you haven't been in before.
Art
Revealing the Group Selfie
CHICAGO — Selfies are no more a singular activity than any other type of digital vernacular photograph.
Interview
Searching for the Switzerland of India
NASHVILLE — Photographer and video artist Christine Rogers didn't intend to end up in India on a Fulbright Scholarship searching for a folkloric "heaven on earth" known as the Switzerland of India.
Interview
Queer Freakazoid Liberator Goddess: Dionysus for the 21st Century
You’ve probably heard of Dionysus, an Olympian god with a reputation for being a badass. What you didn’t know about him, however, is that he’s also your new androgynous goddess, ready to liberate all who grace his presence through the power of dance, ritual, magic, and music. When I happened upon Za
Art
A Psychedelic Cave Blooms in Chicago
CHICAGO — If a tree grows in Brooklyn, a cave populated by neon flora 'n fauna blooms in Chicago by way of New Mexico.
Art
Dreaming on Death Row
NASHVILLE — Tennessee is the buckle of the Bible belt, situated below the state of Kentucky and just north of Alabama. The second night of my stay, I stopped by a show called Unit 2 (Part 1) at Coop Gallery in downtown Nashville. Organized by Watkins College of Art professors Robin Paris and Tom Wil
Interview
On Photographing the Women of Gaza
CHICAGO — I didn't come across Tanya Habjouqa's photo series Women of Gaza underneath a sensationalized article headline about the Middle East. A friend posted one of her photos to my wall because it looked like a woman in a hijab shooting a selfie.