Tara Fatehi Irani’s outdoor performance, Mishandled Archive, dismantles and remantles the archive, embodies and rebodies memories, and, in its fragmentary state, gives us something to hold whilst holding us, writes So Mayer, in their stunning reflection on the artist’s work. With contributions from Elhum Shakerifar and Sam Fisher.
In this courageous and powerful piece, Irenosen Okojie discusses the emotional abuse and exploitation Black women creatives have experienced in various arts industries and calls for greater accountability amongst white male perpetrators.
Unable to speak the same language, Leila Gamaz and her Algerian grandmother communicated through food. Here, Gamaz remembers their time cooking together and the meals savoured by all the family.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has inspired a wave of popular culture references and art historical speculation, but who was the true inspiration behind that smile, and could da Vinci’s famous painting be the trans icon we never knew we needed?
In this poetic record of responses to her close friend and collaborator, Polly Constance captures the broken forms of contact and socially distanced care many of us have encountered during lockdown.
In this personal essay, Suzannah Ball meditates on what death means for those left behind, the experience of intergenerational grief and the effect of small but continuous losses on our lives.
In this compelling personal essay, Shamini Sriskandarajah recounts a year of trying to connect with friends over text, email, phone and post; of having to explain racism to one white friend and denounce violent sexism to another.
Our writer, Sammy Weaver, creates a thrillingly imaginative response to the Barbican’s recent feminist literary festival, New Suns, and reimagines words as seeds, bodies as earth and people as lichens.
In this heartfelt personal essay, artist Janyce Denise Glasper recalls the years of solid friendship she’s shared and enjoyed with writer Asia Aneka Anderson, the Angela Davis to her Toni Morrison.
After seeing artist Charlotte Salomon’s work in an exhibition before the first lockdown, So Mayer started to reflect on the evolution of Salomon’s innovative, word-strewn paintings. Here, they consider how Salomon’s work conjures and embodies a unique voice, a bold assertion of self that defies curatorial and art historical prejudices.
Reading about the life and friendships of artist Ida Nettleship John has given doctoral student, Eliza Goodpasture, comfort during lockdown and companionship when friends feel far away.
Susan Wilson explores the creative space of poetry, writing through grief and loss, poetry as identity, and words as ‘the hope in brilliant darkness of a flame’.
