Art
An Exhibition Trembles With Black Spiritualities
Otherwise/Revival traces the contours of Black spiritual thought from Louisiana plantations to Azusa Street to our present moment.
Allison Conner
Interview
An Intimate Look at James Baldwin and His Rarely Discussed Suicide Attempts
Harmony Holiday wants to show “the Baldwin who was baffled and befuddled and wounded and perfectly real.”
Art
Nikita Gale Makes the Labor of Tina Turner’s Performances Visible
Gale considers the work occurring behind the scenes and how technologies structure our experience of live performances.
Art
Brenna Youngblood Revises the Language of Abstraction
Youngblood’s paintings would probably make Piet Mondrian yelp.
Art
Tracing the Pop Culture Zombie Myth to Haitian Folklore
In sculptures made of sugar, salt, and glass, Sula Bermúdez-Silverman explores the colonial undertones of monster movie imagery.
Art
Stanley Whitney’s Improvisatory Approach to Abstraction
Each canvas follows its own off-beat rhythm.
Art
Six Black Artists Test the Limits of Portraiture
"The Black Index" at UC Irvine pursues knottier narratives of self-representation.
Books
Martine Syms's New Book Is an Irreverent Performance of Contemporary Living
In Shame Space, the narrator obsesses over sex, money, fitness, drugs, friends, work, and self-hatred.
Art
Kahlil Joseph’s News Channel Revels in Black History and Experience
Joseph’s project is installed in various Black-owned small businesses throughout Los Angeles, from a barbershop to a medical clinic.
Books
Kimberly Drew Asks: What Should a Museum Look Like in 2020?
In This Is What I Know About Art, Drew uses her own fumbles and triumphs as a frame in which to examine the symbiotic relationship between art and activism.
Books
During the Pandemic, Zadie Smith Sits With the Compulsion Towards Doing
Begun at the start of quarantine in the US and finished days after George Floyd’s murder, Intimations ekes out a semblance of narrative during our moment of destabilizing upheaval.
Books
40 Artists and Writers Respond to 40 Objects “Mistaken” for Guns by the Police
The book This Is Not a Gun collects personal responses to these objects, which include a cell phone, hairbrush, Wii remote, and underwear.