As we were putting the final touches on this issue, our 80th, our publisher, Kaveh Mojtabai, told me, “The fashion work on our cover harkens back to an era of family, honor and Sufi creed (compassion, love, patience and peace with all religions and people) to keep unity within tribes and clans for the betterment of future generations. It reminds me of one the most popular shows in the world on Netflix, Diriliş — or ‘Resurrection’ in Turkish, taking place in the 13th century during the founding of the Ottoman Empire.” The storyline follows a nomadic Kayı tribe caught “in the designs of a violent world that has lost its way,” with different tribes pitted against one another and innocent villagers being plundered in the process. “Eventually, the tribe can settle and create a new era based on its cultural humanitarian values.” It doesn’t sound too different from how today’s arts … [Read more...] about WELCOME: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
May/June 2019
AN EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCE: PHOTOGRAPHING THE FEMALE AT THE BEACON
Being a woman by society’s standards means presenting a face of beauty to the world, one brushed with makeup and a smile. It means keeping up with fashion, spraying perfume to smell like sweetness, staying slim, keeping her inside processes discrete, being a wife, caring for kids, cooking and cleaning, all while holding down a job to support the family. But being a woman carries much more than this. Being a woman truly means strength, having confidence in her own skin. In “Photographing the Female,” on view at Beacon Gallery through June 2, the photographs curated by Danish photographer and writer, Sarah Høilund, show how different cultures mold a woman in various ways. But, there is an underlying feeling of unity, a kind of cosmic connection, a harmony between all of the women in focus. “It’s been an exceptional experience just putting the show together from the point of view as a … [Read more...] about AN EXCEPTIONAL EXPERIENCE: PHOTOGRAPHING THE FEMALE AT THE BEACON
SHAPED BY OIL: MATHEWS DOCUMENTS LIFE IN THE CASPIAN STATES
Photographer Chloe Dewe Mathews brings the environmental and cultural facets of the five countries bordering the Caspian Sea to viewers in the recently-opened exhibition, “Caspian: The Elements.” In October 2018, Mathews published a book under the same title with 125 of her photographs. Now, 30 of those photographs are being displayed at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology in a captivating exhibition. Mathews spent five years traveling through Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, capturing the lives of their peoples and the various unique landscapes surrounding the sea, while showing how natural resources influence the regions and their inhabitants. Each nation has different ways of using their resources and varying climates, but the Caspian Sea still unifies these countries. The exhibition provides an immersive experience for the attendees, … [Read more...] about SHAPED BY OIL: MATHEWS DOCUMENTS LIFE IN THE CASPIAN STATES
SHOOTING FOR PEACE: BRODSKY’S PHOTOS BRING MOVEMENT TO KEENE STATE
There are events in human history which irrevocably alter the course of a life, a people and our global family. We have all seen images of the aftermath of cataclysmic natural disasters, but when catastrophe is deliberately imposed by another, there is no measurement for its human toll. Yet among the untold tragedies inflicted on the innocent, there are stories of individuals who have been able to transcend, and even transform these cruelties into expressions of empathic witness and universal relevance. In 1979, the brother of Argentine-born artist Marcelo Brodsky, Fernando Brodsky, was abducted by the Argentine Security Forces operating under the military government who were installed to power following the violent coup of March 1976. From an affluent Jewish family, Fernando Brodsky was known to be involved in socialist causes, and was “disappeared” among close to 30,000 persons … [Read more...] about SHOOTING FOR PEACE: BRODSKY’S PHOTOS BRING MOVEMENT TO KEENE STATE
PETE SOUZA: ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LENS
“Obama: An Intimate Portrait” is a hand-picked collection of 50 photos taken by Dartmouth native and former White House photographer Pete Souza. The exhibit is presented at the New Bedford Art Museum in conjunction with the New Bedford Historical Society. The New York Times captured my first impression of Pete Souza — it was spot on! “Life as a headliner makes him uneasy. For decades, Mr. Souza’s life has been about observation.” I met Mr. Souza during a private preview opening for the donors who made his current exhibit at the New Bedford Art Museum possible. I was on assignment; I was told to interview him. How many of the same boilerplate and cliched questions had he been asked over and over again? I hoped my single question would challenge him a bit. He seemed a bit standoffish at first. “You both had to walk a narrow path, while at the same time each of you had a power that no … [Read more...] about PETE SOUZA: ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LENS
THE DARKNESS LIFTED: POWERFUL SURVIVORS’ TALE AT ARMENIAN MUSEUM
In 1915, the infant Berj Kailian escaped the Armenian Genocide in World War I while lashed to her mother’s back. Five years after Kailian’s death, the Armenian Museum of America in Watertown presents the exhibition, “In the Shade of Branches,” an occasion for looking at the past through the lens of an artist committed to life moving forward. During the Turkish massacre and deportation of over a million Armenians, Berj Kailian’s mother miraculously survived her husband’s murder and the loss of three older children and crossed in safety to Yerevan with her baby, Berj. After four desperate years working with the Red Cross in the refugee-swollen city, Kailian’s mother finally secured funds from her American brothers to emigrate to Weymouth, Massachusetts. Their path took them across Siberia by rail. From Vladivostok, they were rescued and brought to Japan by the writer Diana Agabeg … [Read more...] about THE DARKNESS LIFTED: POWERFUL SURVIVORS’ TALE AT ARMENIAN MUSEUM