Books
A Writer-Turned-Filmmaker Hits the Sweet Spot of Historical Fiction
With his latest novel Yellow Earth, Sayles showcases his knack for capturing the character of a region and the real-life ramifications of political and social issues.
Review
Film
Pedro Costa on Vitalina Varela and the Importance of “Everything That Goes Unsaid”
Hyperallergic spoke with the prolific Portuguese director about his distinct approach: “I tend to have this obsession with a balance between what's in front of and behind the camera.”
Art
A Rare Look at a Little-Known, Intrepid Woman Painter of Open Air Landscapes
Sarazin de Belmont was a rare talent: a self-funded artist and a woman who broke the courtly codes to travel unchaperoned for several years as she created open-air landscapes on the Italian peninsula and the French Pyrenees.
Art
Spotlighting Immigrant Artists Enduring the Arduous Process of Applying for an O-1 Visa
THE EXTRAORDINARY at Hunter East Harlem Gallery presents work by artists who've gone to extraordinary lengths to make their work in this country.
Art
The Central American Diaspora and Stories of Coming of Age
Artists reflect on migration, memory, and the cultural bonds that unite the first- and second-generation children of Central American immigrants who have fled civil wars, violence, and natural disasters.
Art
Remembering Basquiat Through the Keepsakes He Gave Intimates
Our Friend, Jean, an exhibition of ephemera left behind, given to, or swapped with people who knew Basquiat prior to his extraordinary fame, offers a tiny but intimate window into his life.
Performance
Pole Dancing to the US National Anthem
Gerard & Kelly’s performance State of unpacks enduring symbols of nationalism, patriotism, and masculinity.
Film
A Modern-Day Anime Fairy Tale, With Surfing
Ride Your Wave, the latest from prolific anime director Masaaki Yuasa, offers a comforting and serene approach to loss.
Art
Noah Davis's Delightfully Surreal Visions of the Black Mundane
About Black people, and made for Black people, Davis’s compositions — whether hazy, nostalgic, or sumptuously surreal — are of a world that is both familiar yet strange.
Film
Queen & Slim Traverses Trauma on Repeat but Never Delves Deeper
This is a film that wants to contend with Black grit and intellectualism, to walk the street and sit in the ivory tower. But in failing to acknowledge the nuances of each, it flattens and compounds these different facets of Blackness into nameless characters.
Art
Gloriously Defiant Expressions of Cultures Perceived as Threatening to the West
At Southern Exposure in San Francisco, South Asian, Southwest Asian, and North African artists evoke the challenges they face in celebrating their cultural origins.
Art
Women Saints Who Defied the Patriarchy
As tyranny surges in 2020, imagery of these holy ladies — on view in Gothic Spirit: Medieval Art — might offer more than first expected.