In an expansive pre-election populist gesture and paean to diversity, performance artist Sheryl Oring and photographer Dhanraj Emanuel took to the American road and solicited ordinary folk to dictate messages to the next president that Oring rapped out on a manual typewriter, after which Emanuel took color head shots of the would-be advisors. The resulting 600 memos and photos appear in an elegant arc—like a rainbow—replete with visual and textual variety, ranging from high seriousness to low camp with nary a trace of irony or leg pulling. Del Ray Loven peers intently and determinedly into the camera; at the top of his agenda is getting the movie moguls to “restore all those old movies that are rotting in canisters.” With a smile counterpointed by sad eyes, Chelsea Ulloa writes: “Please don’t let my boyfriend get deployed.” Oring has stamped each message in red letters: Loven’s is labeled “IMPORTANT” and Ulloa’s “CONFIDENTIAL.” Vive la differance! (Michael Weinstein)
Routes to Freedom: Shonna Pryor's Speculative Future She seeks to channel the past and the present into a speculative, more just future, where nourishment, whether financial stability or artistic fulfillment, is bountiful for all.
Women Artists Are Speaking—and Deserve Artistic Freedom and Safety We should all be grateful to artists who are willing to impact our public landscape and transform our engagement in these spaces, while never really knowing if they and their work will be protected.
