María Izquierdo: between art and double Oppression
María Cenobia Izquierdo Gutiérrez, or simply María Izquierdo, was a Mexican artist who fought against the twin obstacles of the double oppression presented by a patriarchal-capitalist society. She was a woman, Latina, and an artist. Being divorced and heartbroken, she struggled against the monopoly of muralists such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozcos, and David Alfaro Siquieros and left works of art that would become known worldwide in her wake. She would be the first female Mexican painter to show ...
Representations of the Body: From Antiquity to Instagram
There is an online subculture dedicated to videos of children seeing their own reflection for the first time. Far more accessible, but no less engaging than the scientific studies involved in this momentous part of the human development: the videos feature crawling toddlers reaching out towards the glass, smiling at who they see, or leaning in to embrace. Sad, then, that this relationship with our reflection sours.
POLLY NOR: EXPOSING WOMEN AND THEIR DEMONS
Originally by Milagros Blanco; Translation by Mercedes Pajuelo With emotions running high, Polly Nor, a contemporary, London-based and 31-year-old illustrator is capturing women and their demons in a dark, satirical and sexual way.
Ester Cardella: Dark, Erotic and Fantasy
Dark, Erotic and Fantasy. Ranging from pirate theme to the Mediaeval, from the Egyptian to the fantasy of North European style. The figurative expression of eroticism makes her feel free: breaking with the conventions of the female illustrator who embodies the stereotype, created over the decades, that wants female illustrators more oriented to children’s books and fairy tales than to the representation of sexuality and female autoeroticism. In this oportunite we met Ester Cardella, the 29 year old from Palermo ...
Is culture “machista”?
Firstly, what is culture? EtymologyThe word ‘culture’ comes from the Latin cultus, which means ‘care’. According to the Treccani Encyclopedia, personal culture is the sum of intellectual knowledge acquired through study, reading, experience and the influence of the environment. All those are changed subjectively and in an autonomous manner. They become essential to one’s personality, by contributing to the enhancement of the soul and by developing or improving individual faculties, especially one’s judgement ability.
“Frosties are just cornflakes for people who can’t face reality”: ...
In the future, when historians inevitably take to memes to uncover the nuanced cultural histories behind seismic events that peppered the early twenty-first century, what they will happen upon are an excessive number of no-context Peep Show quotes. All hastily made by people with a less than rudimentary understanding of the Adobe creative suite, undoubtedly. The classic “Hitler promised not to invade Czechoslovakia Jeremy, welcome to the real world” will be this millennia’s Rosetta stone; “Oh my god, this has ...
Gleanings from the Spigolatrice: the dark side of Italian public ...
The “Spigolatrice” of Sapri has caused much discussion. We offer a critical analysis with an intervention by Professor Chiara Savettieri and an interview with the author.
DONNE: Women empowerment in the arts
What does it mean to be a woman in the arts? The National Museum of Women in the Arts state that of all the contemporary visual artists of today, 51% of them identify as being female. Why is it then that only 5% of British galleries and exhibitions represent an equal number of work by men, women and those in between?
Art in the Times of Coronavirus
“Literature had to become political because anything else would have entailed mental dishonesty” – George Orwell, ‘The Frontier of Art and Propaganda’.
Genre: What Can Horror Reveal To Us?
It’s a well worn analysis that the horror genre reflects society’s fears and anxieties at any one point in time. Monster movies of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s showcased invaders from another world bringing destruction, slashers in the 70s and 80s preyed on fears of violence tearing apart the traditional family unit, and zombie movies of the 2000s were seen as a response to terrorism. What then are our current horror movies trying to tell us?