Lunar New Year-Ramadan Resolutions
The British Museum in hot water over using "Canaan" instead of Palestine in labels, Ocean Vuong's photography, Lunar New Year celebrations in NYC, and Seph Rodney on the need for art that gives us an "elsewhere to imagine."
Happy Lunar New Year and Ramadan to our readers who celebrate. May this be a year of peace, health, and prosperity for us all. May it also be a year when artists can make a living from their work, when autocrats are overthrown, when traffickers and their accomplices are brought to justice, when art ceases to be an investment tool, and when bad-faith art writing sponsored by billionaires vanishes from this world. Enjoy reading!
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief
Chinatown Sets the Year of the Fire Horse Aglow
All along Mott Street yesterday, Manhattan's Chinatown rang in Lunar New Year with dragon dancers, confetti, and sparklers. Prancing above the crowd was artist Sarula Bao's embroidered puppet in honor of the Year of the Fire Horse, crafted as part of the annual Lantern Residency organized by nonprofit Think!Chinatown. "I wanted to include some traditional Chinese New Year motifs that are most associated with luck and prosperity, such as mandarins, fish, coins, and the yuanbao, which was historically used as currency,” the artist said.
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News
- The British Museum acknowledges that it has updated certain displays in its Middle East Galleries with terms such as "Canaan," amid news reports accusing the institution of erasing Palestinian history.
- Turner Prize winner Tai Shani says she has withdrawn a forthcoming monograph with Phaidon, the fine art book publisher owned by Leon Black, in the wake of graphic sexual assault accusations against the private equity billionaire detailed in the latest tranche of Epstein files.
- A federal judge orders the Trump administration to restore historical slavery exhibits at Philadelphia's President’s House site, citing George Orwell's 1984 in the ruling against their removal.
From Our Critics
We Must Do More Than Simply Depict Our Lives
The best work in the Bronx Museum’s biennial indicates aspirations beyond this time and place. | Seph Rodney
Ocean Vuong Is a Legitimately Good Photographer
One might assume that his photography is the nepo baby of his writing, but this is genuinely a great show. | Julia Curl
Peter Waite: Social Memory, Paintings 1987-2025
Absence is a presence in paintings by artist Peter Waite. Large-scale architectural scenes capture the beauty and poignancy of overlooked corners, faded surfaces, and traces of life that remain when people are gone. On view through March 15, 2026, at The Wadsworth in Hartford, Connecticut.
Member Comment
Blaise Tobia on Sarah E. Bond's “How White Elites Drained Ancient Art of Its Color”:
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From the Archive
Representation Alone Will Not Save Us
We love representation, the power of signifying, and the incisiveness of well-argued critique, but by themselves, these tools won’t effect structural change. | Seph Rodney
