THE FOURTH WAVE : A FEMINIST SERIES (PT. 2)

Table, Chair, Hatstand (1969) Allen Jones.

'Ello 'Ello, little lassie Steph here. I don't know why I'm going with the British lingo but anyway I'm back with my feminist series even though it's been close to a year (wow) since I dropped the first one. This series was supposed to focus solely on feminist artists but in my course of looking into artists that I really like or just random research or actually just interacting with their work, I've become increasingly frustrated. It is vital that at this point you realise that these artists are male. While looking into some of my favourite male artists I make horrific discoveries, maybe horrific is a dramatic word but they do leave me with an immense feeling of disgust both at them and myself for liking their work extensively and still continuing to like it. It's only right that I call myself out. What horrifies me of course in relation to the topic at hand is the way they use women. The word "use" is very fitting here because it's exactly what they do, they use women like objects. Be it in their representation of them in their work or with how they interact with real-life women. So let me make more sense of what I'm saying with the some of the artists I'm talking about.

AFRO-PORTRAITISM: EXHIBITION

Art by Nxsh (Instagram: @nxsh), Afro-portraitism April, 2017

Hey Guys, Steph here again. A couple weeks ago I went for this exhibition at the Republic Gallery in East London and it was a one of kind exhibition. Artist, Designer and Curator, Hamed Maiye ( Instagram: @mai_ye) coined the term, "Afro-portraitism" for an art movement that captures black people in their various identities. It's a movement for black people by black people *cues F.U.B.U.* Maiye also happened to curate this exhibition which he also his work in and as you can imagine it was called "Afro-portraitism". It was an incredibly inspiring show with amazing energy in the gallery space and the works on display felt very introspective and self-reflective.

MENTAL HEALTH IN FILM.

Kirtsen Dunst, Melancholia 2011, Lars Von Trier

Hey guys, Steph here. So in light of being in a very rocky place with my mental health, I've decided to look a little into the representation of mental health in films. I'm trying to break this into two extremes but I don't think my examples are extreme enough. But personally speaking, up until about 2015 films and media in general shaped my ideas of what being mentally ill meant so my ideas of mentally ill people were either people who were criminally insane or people who were suicidal, which while yes both are true it's not all that's there. I'll be giving examples of films that shaped the aforementioned mindset and ones along with a lot of memes that reshaped my thinking. Oh and happy Mental Health Awareness month, isn't May awesome? (p.s. my birthday is on Wednesday so send gifts :*).

BROODING BOYZ

Hi all, Steph here. So a while ago I promised (debatable) y'all a review of one of my fav films Moonlight (dir. by Barry Jenkins) buttttttt, uni has got your girl down so I don't have time to do a detailed and proper review. If you didn't know already, a lot of the themes present in Moonlight revolve around black male intimacy, masculinity and sexuality. So while you wait I'd like to share a couple other artists in the mix that recapture the image of black men in contrast to the stereotypical representation we usually get.



1) IGGYLDN "BLACK BOYS DONT CRY":
IGGYLDN is a spoken word artist who came together with a creative collective to create visuals to his piece titled, "Black Boys Don't Cry", which as you can imagine from the title addresses the masculinity ideals attached to being a black man. watch below.

DAMILOLA ONAFUWA ON LAGOS ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTEST

Nigerian photographer, Damilola Onafuwa took to the streets of Lagos to document incredibly passionate and emotional photographs of the Lagos 6th of February protests against the extreme conditions of living and working throughout the country. It is enough to say that these burning images speak for themselves and immortalize the emotions and pain felt on the day as well as the beauty of the unity in the moment. He has taken great care in capturing and translating the atmosphere of the protest into these well-crafted images against the backdrop of Lagos.

Art x Activism: WOMEN'S MARCH LONDON

Hello, lovely people! Steph here. I am in very high spirits because I attended London's women's march yesterday and boy, was it amazing. It's really incredible to think that so many people came together for one cause and not just in London but all over the world. So I am especially honored to have been there and documented some of it.

So let's move on if you've been as hyped up about the women's march as I've been then you've probably been looking out for the wittiest signs and placards. I think that was definitely my favorite part of the march the diverse signs that were used from half-assed last minute felt-tip markers on white cardboards to elaborate paintings on walker's crisps cartons to professional graphic designs. It was really a sort of moving exhibition on its own. And there was lovely music to go with it oo, music in the form of chants, "Donald Trump, go away racist, sexist, anti-gay" or "Trump you are an idiot" were two of my favs. It really was an all encompassing experience and it helped that it was marvelously SUNNY DAY IN ENGLAND, even nature must be against Trump. Anyways I got out my camera on this lovely day and played photojournalist for the day, documenting the march, so here are some of my favorite shots and as well as a short clip to give you a taste of what it was like on the day.