Daniel McCarthy wanted to investigate how prisoners across the US have been stripped of their identity through the banning of certain books from U.S. incarceration sites. Through this initial exploration, McCarthy went onto discover more than 400 pieces of literature that have been removed from prisons and with discovery came his installation at the Weisman Art…

Pianos on the Parade is a project created by the Minneapolis Downtown Council to make playing music more accessible and a shared public experience. Through this project, pianos uniquely designed by local artists were placed in a variety of public spaces throughout Minneapolis. I believe that the installation of pianos throughout the cityscape allows for people…

The importance of discourse within the body politic of a democratic population is, of course, vital; however, this discourse is being continuously corrupted. This corruption stems from the ability of multi-national corporations to advertise. Advertisements seep into the collective consciousness of populations, and the latent ideology of these jingles and images can shape consumers’ realities….

What does it mean to say that the “art world” descends on Kassel, Germany during Documenta? Rather than indicating the gathering of a unique and diverse audience, this phrase more closely refers to a coalescence of a population of homogenous art world insiders simply relocated to the same place. Ai Weiwei uprooted this dynamic with…

Hiller forces the Western world to understand that there are languages being forgotten due to the constant pressure of English in our everyday lives. She challenges the notion that English is the only valuable language and highlights the need to focus on preventing languages from becoming extinct rather than forcing English into the mouths of…

This bakery was Mounira Al Solh’s family business and gave jobs to those with disabilities and who were often overlooked, especially during a war. It was a space that offered a refuge from judgments and stigma while teaching practical baking skills to the forgotten. A place that was for the people and by the people,…

As soon as person enters a prison as an inmate their identity is stripped clean. They are pushed into a society where all aspects of their lives are controlled all the way down to the information they are allowed to engage with. Individuality is suppressed and discouraged. Artist, Daniel McCarthy Clifford exposed this forced cultural…

The David Wojnarowicz retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art was recently protested because of its lack of completeness. I’m not talking about the works themselves, but the information. Wojnarowicz was a queer artist who was diagnosed as HIV-positive. As an advocate for those with the disease, his work speaks on issues of the…

Al Solh fosters belonging not only within the comfort of her studio but also through the resiliency of her portraits. She puts faces to stories the media only dreams of vilifying and adds hope for a more positive bond between Syrian refugees and the Lebanese people as it was during her childhood. In her fight…

Just last week on Wednesday, September 12, 2018, a group of Cuban artists released a ten-point manifesto in response to legislation that will restrict individual cultural activity. Decree 349 will allow authorities to confiscate property and material, as well as give them the power to prevent unauthorized cultural events from taking place. This new legislation…