Hyperallergic

[Hyperallergic]

The centerpiece of Chitra Ganesh’s new exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, a mural that depicts the Hindu goddess Kali, has provoked the ire of the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism (USH). What is the Universal Society of Hinduism, you ask? Hard to say, as its website is currently down, and no posts have ever been published on its blog, but its Nevada-based president, Rajan Zed, keeps a very active website that describes the USH as a “nondenominational religious-philosophical-cultural-educational organization [that] aims at reaching about one billion Hindus spread around the world.” One of the most recent press releases on Zed’s site is titled “Upset Hindus urge withdrawal of goddess Kali mural from Brooklyn Museum.”

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[Hyperallergic]

Radical embodiment is a disorienting double negative for people of color. The words “radical” and “embodiment” bump into one another as each aggressively attempts to proclaim singularity. Eventually they will fuse, producing the inevitable overlap of a racialized identity. To attempt to simply live collides with daily efforts to live wholly. As Melissa Harris-Perry has written, “One cannot stand up straight in a crooked room.” For persecuted bodies, oppression goes hand in hand with survival. Therefore, radicalism must exist beyond protest; life must thrive beyond political warfare. The ability to fantasize and imagine other worlds could bring about authentic living.

Empathy, Fantasy, and the Power of Protest: A Conversation with Chitra Ganesh

[Hyperallergic]

What is the scale of war? What can we know of it? Seeking revelation in the ways that war is curtailed, hidden, biased, and unfinished, Frames of War, a rigorous group show at the small but dauntlessly ambitious Bushwick non-profit Momenta Art, approaches state violence through the edges of recognition.

Images of War Outside the Frame

[Hyperallergic]

As long as I can remember, I’ve organized and been involved in artist groups and collectives. It all started with “AYWAKE – Alliance of Young Women Artists Kreating Empowerment,” a small, informal salon I co-founded in college. I had been feeling isolated from other artists in the liberal arts milieu I was submerged in, and I ended up forming friendships in that group that became very important to me. I went on to participate in several other women’s crit groups and collectives as I pursued an art career. In reflecting on this experience recently, I realized that this kind of self-organized community has performed a crucial function in my art making, by providing a lens through which my artwork can be understood — and affirmed — by my queer feminist peers.

How We Got Here: Portrait of the Artist as a Queer Feminist