Museums as Monuments to White Supremacy
We have reached a new phase in the public debate over whether to repatriate objects stolen from former colonies and now displayed in European and…
Category: ART
Can Comics Save Your Life?
“Hi everyone, hope you are happy and healthy!” declared the Instagram account of celebrated Williamsburg bookstore Desert Island, on April 1, 2020. “We all need…
Unruly Objects | Public Books
In Atlanta-based artist Radcliffe Bailey’s work, the spatial and temporal upheavals of slavery and colonization are given material shape. Partial human forms—a bust made from…
Paris Doesn’t Always Have To Be Burning
“The House of Xtravaganza. The House of Ebony. The House of Dupree. Who the hell are they?” asks the narrator of the fundraising trailer for…
Can Comics Save Your Life?
“Hi everyone, hope you are happy and healthy!” declared the Instagram account of celebrated Williamsburg bookstore Desert Island, on April 1, 2020. “We all need…
Minimal Success | Public Books
Scrolling through social media feeds, one is likely, at some point, to stumble upon #minimalism. As a lifestyle form, #minimalism describes the effort to possess…
Can Photography Be Decolonial? | Public Books
Photos never die. But the stories attached to them can fade away. Records of guilt, innocence, justice, kinship, and love can all be lost if…
Mend Your Ways | Public Books
Make amends to the planet. An exhibition at the Japan Society, in New York—now viewable only online, due to the COVID-19 lockdown—reveals the aesthetic potential…
B-Sides: Brecht Evens’s “The Making Of”
As a child, I could never understand my brother’s love for Hergé’s clean lines and Tintin’s bland personality. No matter how swashbuckling the hero’s adventures,…
Watching the End Times from the Good Place
“Welcome! Everything is fine.” This bright green text appears to float in midair as it greets humans upon their awakening in the afterlife’s waiting room.…