walked around old town albuquerque this afternoon. we saw the san felipe de neri church and i visited lots of small art galleries and gift shops. there was an entire store dedicated to ‘breaking bad.’ found this bear claw ring at the silver artichoke. the woman who helped me told me her sister, betty hawthorne, who lives on a navajo reservation designed the ring. with a sleeping beauty turquoise and mediterranean coral, the ring protects one. love it.
discovered the work of mexican artist lola alvarez bravo. loved how she captured scenes from rural indigenous mexican life, such as ‘burial at yalalag’ and ‘shark hunters’ in acapulco. her photographic portraits of frida kahlo are also full of nuance and delicate detail. she was one of the few mexican artists who experimented with photomontage (‘the dream of the drowned’) at the time. she was born in lagos de moreno in 1907.
lolaalvarezbravo #mexicanart #mexicanartist #rurallife #indigenousmexico #photography #photomontage
‘frida kahlo, diego rivera, and mexican modernism’ at the albuquerque museum today. had bought tickets way in advance. how lucky to be in town for this exhibition!
albuquerquemuseum #fridakahlo #diegorivera #mexicanart #albequerque #newmexico
our casita in the morning. a beautiful sign outside that i just discovered today. long line at @burquebakehouse, just a minute’s walk away, where we got coffee, their famous double-baked almond croissants and cruffins – croissants shaped like muffins filled with boston cream and topped with chocolate. sat under our tree, listening to local birdsongs, and had breakfast. decadence.
albuquerque #newmexico #burquebakehouse #lovelymorning
our casita. albuquerque. new mexico.
filmmaker friends, pls read and sign here if u agree. this letter addresses the complete lack of diversity in the PBS system, which is supposed to represent “public media for all.” if i see another ken burns documentary…
“A census on the entire PBS system is overdue. In addition to boards of trustees and management, what is the demographic breakdown at the top producing stations of their Executive Producers and above-the-line teams, currently and historically? Data also needs to be collected on the programmers of all stations, as they collectively influence what is seen across the US. Until the scope of the problem is made public, how can it be solved?”
4 new Warp & Weft stories today! One about the strangeness of MMXX by Noelle Mirabal-Evans, wonderful reflections in Hindi by Surbhi Dewan, a story about birding and the northern cardinal by Kay Saleem, and another about rupture and repair by Yan Lehmann. Finally, a beautiful artistic response by Sarah Sills. Listen, read, look here.
Repost from Rochester Contemporary Art Center:
Head over to maraahmedstudio.com and listen to the newest stories from The Warp & Weft archive!
MMXX: Strange Times by Noelle Evans
You know, two thousand twenty in Roman numerals is M-M X-X. Double M double X. I’ve decided to refer to this year in this way for as long as it serves me. What a year it was for the fall of the Roman Empire. Right? It just feels fitting. [Photo: Madelyn Bradt]
Just Some Thoughts by Surbhi Dewan
Two thousand and twenty. As the year comes to an end, it feels like not much was accomplished. And yet, this year will stay with us for many years to come. I still can’t believe how in March, the whole world came to a standstill. The whole world frozen in time, as all of us retreated into our homes together.
My Spark Bird by Kalsoom Saleem
A spark bird is the bird that triggers an interest in birding or bird watching. For me it was the northern cardinal. [Photo: Zidaan Aamer]
Rupture and Repair By Ian Layton
It is on those particularly still and heavy days that I sit and remember the birth of the universe. The memory contained in my every cell. My mind’s eye catches the moment when life burst forth and set us on this divine course. [Photo: Evan Zachary]
Spark Feather by Sarah Sills: An artistic response to the archive
not justice but accountability. thx to the george floyd rebellion. black lives matter.
central park with the kids today. everything is in bloom. so beautiful.
centralpark #centralparknyc #springincentralpark #springisfinallyhere #beautyoverload
when i first saw tahar rahim in jacques audiard’s ‘a prophet,’ i knew we had struck gold. an actor of immense power and intensity. i thought he would be all over hollywood in no time, but he wasn’t. incomprehensible. glad things are changing. he was in ‘the mauritanian,’ a role for which he’s garnered praise. but he’s even more masterful (and completely in his element) in ‘the serpent’ (netflix). a disturbing character, performed deliciously. rahim is the son of algerian immigrants from oran, who settled in the eastern part of france. with all the islamophobic, racist grotesquerie going on in france, it does the heart good to see him come into his own as one of the most charismatic actors in the world.
4 new Warp & Weft stories today, including a stunning poem by Deema Shehabi, a story in Urdu about the meaning of life by Ayesha Javed, another about the books and people that shape us by Cathy Salibian, and a look at physics and the nature of reality by Shamoun Murtza. Finally, a beautiful musical response by Tom Davis. Listen and read here.
Repost from Rochester Contemporary Art Center:
You can now experience the newest set of stories from The Warp & Weft archive at maraahmedstudio.com
At Cathedral Grove: A Treatise on Vanishing by Deema K. Shehabi
Afternoon dialects beneath a redwood canopy: two children skip ahead; their feet grind the ground, crushing ferns, tearing tenebrous skulls of leaves. They giggle, while a vanishing world lies ahead of them. The spot where the sun abandons is where the light hangs briefly beneath a shoulder blade, then spreads. [Photo: Omar F. Khorsheed]
The Purpose of Life by Ayesha Javed
We are living in strange times. Hundreds of thousands of people have left this world on account of the pandemic. Their lives were just as valuable as yours or mine. This should be a moment of deep reflection for all of us.
The Right Words by Cathy Salibian
My oldest book is a small red hardcover of David Copperfield. I was maybe twelve years old when my father reached to a shelf in his study, pulled down that book and said to me a little shyly, “I see that you like to read. Maybe you will like this. I read it when I was just a little older than you.” [Photo: Kate Kressmann-Kehoe]
If A Tree Falls In The Forest by Shamoun Murtza
I’ll start with the disclaimer that I am not a Ph.D. My formal education in Physics reached its zenith with my concentration in Applied Physics for my bachelor’s degree. But I never stopped searching for the truth about the nature of our universe. Listen at your own risk, you have been warned.
The Sound Of Falling by Tom Davis: A musical response to the archive
Repost from South Asia Institute Chicago:
“Le Mot Juste [Part One]” by Mara Ahmed
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11 years ago! nyc with my friend Amra Jamal-Ahmad with whom i’ve traveled far and wide. can’t wait for our next trip inshallah:)
got my second dose of the pfizer vaccine at jones beach today. not a bad place to get shots:) huge parking lots, large makeshift tents, the national guard guiding traffic and making everything go smoothly, nurses giving people shots inside their cars (u never step out of ur vehicle), people looking out for u while u wait 15 min to make sure u don’t have a reaction, and then u drive away. they have the capacity to vaccinate 5000 people per day. and then there’s the atlantic ocean. grateful.
