A smooth blend of cultural happenings and infatuations.
A View from the Bridge is a pertinent redressing of ancient Greek tragedy, as it encounters the grit of modern day, kitchen-sink realism and fuses with the star-spangled allure of the American Dream. A genre no longer restricted to the realms of royalty and celestial figures, this is a tragedy reassigned to working-class American exploits.…
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Originally appeared on Open Eye Gallery 21.04.2014 A term often dismissed as a superficial form of teen credence, the new exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery positions ‘cool’ instead as a significant indicator of shifts in generational desires, as youth attempts to rebel against the mainstream. A rebelliousness that it articulated through signature style,…
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Originally appeared on Open Eye Gallery blog, 29/03/2014 Growing up as a black, gay male in 1980’s Conservative Britain, Ajamu’s work tells of the struggle for self-identification experienced by so many during a period rife with racism and homophobia. Yet, as much as his work deals with the difficulties involved in inhabiting this complex area…
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In 2009, internationally renowned fashion designer and film director Tom Ford momentarily traversed genres, bringing to the screens his carefully stylised, Oscar nominated directorial debut A Single Man. With its acclaimed Hollywood cast, Ford’s initiatory entrance into the feature film arena was greeted with mixed reviews, gaining a collection of awards while at the same…
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Originally appeared in ACE Liverpool 01.02.2014 “What does your working life look like?” FACT’s ‘Time & Motion’ installation opens with the gritty, monochrome images of Harun Farocki’s ‘Workers Leaving the Factory’ looming above us, showing a regulated form of “work life” that is steadily vanishing. The factory emerges as a clearly defined, physical space inside…
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Originally appeared on Open Eye Gallery blog, 27.01.2014 In a provocative redressing of a universally stigmatised subject,Redeye’s event Picturing Prostitution, hosted at Open Eye Gallery, exposed a refreshing perspective on the sex work trade. In her series Precious, Jane Hilton explores the lives of sex workers in remote Nevadan ranches. The only state in which prostitution is legal, this…
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Originally appeared on Open Eye Gallery blog, 03.02.2014 Against the grimy backdrop of economic stagnation, unemployment and lawlessness, an opulence of artistic and sexual freedom flourished amidst the dilapidated buildings of downtown Manhattan. The once bustling piers were left vacant and crumbling at the remote edges of the city. Overlooked and sheltered from regulation, the waterfront offered…
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