This photo essay tells the story of an artist’s view of her experience at a new and important biennale.
Author Archives: Yasmeen Siddiqui
Yasmeen M. Siddiqui is an independent curator, essayist and sometimes lecturer, committed to voicing marginal narratives. Her subjects in writing and exhibition making include Do Ho Suh, Consuelo Castañeda, Alex Schweder, Ward Shelley, Linda Ganjian, Pia Lindman, Leslie Lyons, Mary Carothers, Barbara Crawford, Matt Lynch and Chris Vorhees, and Mel Charney.
Paintings that Expose the Spirit Within the Body
In Jenny Morgan’s exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, death lurks in her compositions.
Reframing the American West Through Latinx Eyes
An exhibit at the Denver Art Museum conceives of the American West according to art history, but also through the lens of our current cultural climate.
‘Women of Abstract Expressionism’ Challenges the Canon But Is Only the Beginning
DENVER — The story goes like this. It is 1950. Virginia born painter Judith Godwin learns that dancer and choreographer Martha Graham will be in the region and all Godwin can think about is her desire for Graham to perform in Staunton at the all women’s school she attended, Mary Baldwin College.
The Multiple Standpoints of Hassan Khan
What may seem erratic, disparate, schizophrenic, and impatient might instead be read as a thoughtful, methodical, and relentless reconstruction of, as Hassan puts it, his process of defining the sum total of knowledge.
How One Regional Craft Museum Is Expanding Its Horizons
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — The Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville has spent the last couple of years staking out a place in discussions occurring in contemporary art circles about the line dividing art and craft. The recent exhibition PRESS: Artist and Machine was a romantic show focused on illuminating the relationship between 19th-century printing-press technology and 20th- and 21st-century art production.
How a Little-Known Mexican Film Mirrors the Labor Struggles of Today
LOUISVILLE — Music Unwound remains a provocative commentary on the history of music, politics, and performance—specifically the role of human capital in the creation and consumption of culture. Given this layered content, it seemed very contentious to present it here in Louisville.
In Kentucky, Tomorrow Comes Today
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Since moving here with my family a couple of years ago, The Land of Tomorrow (LOT) has been on my mind. It is a provocative production and exhibition space established by Drura Parish and Dmitry “Dima” Strakovsky, first in Lexington (2009) and then in Louisville (2010), Kentucky.
Reverend, Collector, and Unlikely Tastemaker: The Story of Al Shands
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — Long before Reverend Al Shands bought his first contemporary artwork, he founded an Episcopal church that met weekly at a Washington, D.C. seafood restaurant. “I find the wholesome, institutional nature of the church rather boring. But I do not find religion boring. To pray, I do not find boring,” he said. For six years during the 1960s, Shands was able to maintain this unusual congregation. “The only place we could afford to start meeting was in the restaurant. We used the mixing bowl as the baptismal font, the wine came from the bar, our bread was the rolls they served and our altar was the table.” For Shands, “The religious encounter is like a dinner party.”