Film
Harriet Flips the Script on Depictions of Enslavement
Instead of that soul-crushing feeling I often experience after seeing a “Black struggle film,” Harriet sent me out of the theater feeling empowered.
Review
Art
The Allure of Crystals in Art Across Time
Crystals in Art: Ancient to Today pulls together over 75 objects from multiple eras and continents for this millennia-spanning survey on artists' use of crystals.
Art
At the Istanbul Biennial, Pondering Just How Scared We All Are — or Should Be
In The Seventh Continent, installations don’t so much play off one another as lead to a feeling of fatigue, as one ponders a stream of disparate weighty topics in rapid succession.
Art
A Poignant Tour of a Disappearing Queer Neighborhood in Portland
At the Portland Biennial, artists offer an unfiltered view of the state of Oregon at this moment. Carla Rossi's tour of Vaseline Alley as a drag “clown” is one of the highlights.
Film
Slashing Out a Space for Hardcore Horror Fans
Black Gloves and Razors, a VHS-era compilation film of Italian horror death scenes, encourages some self-reflection from gore hounds.
Film
How Photographer William Eggleston Finds His Images
The 2005 documentary William Eggleston in the Real World has been restored and re-released on home media. Far from a normal biography, it often plays like a homage to the photographer's work.
Art
Fragile Borders and Rituals of Remembrance
In Paper Borders artists Emma Nishimura and Tahir Carl Karmali articulate the experience of displacement using delicate materials crafted by hand.
Books
A Trans Activist's Memoir Is a Monumental Contribution to Queer History
Lou Sullivan’s diaries, spanning 1961 to 1991, might be one of the most valuable affirmations one can read on the trans masculine experience to date.
Film
The Ghosts and Zombies of Haiti's Colonial Past
Zombi Child and Ouvertures delve into France's lingering influences on Haiti.
Music
An Explosion of Alternative Noise
Tired of contemporary pop’s mild spareness, craving music packed tight with crunch? These are four the noisiest albums rock albums around.
Art
Gauguin’s Predatory Colonial Gaze
Is it fair to use contemporary standards to judge a man who died 116 years ago?
Art
Painting Outside the Safe Zone
It is not so much what message is narrated or illustrated, but how the form of the painting is questioned in its realization.