personal curriculum #2
Hey hey hey!!
Back with another round of personal curriculum because i’ve just been in a good section of the internet lately with what i’m reading & learning.
Continuing on with founder of Momus Sky Goodden’s visit to one of my classes. She shared that the Momus team came together at the end of 2024 to discuss the ongoing and newest chapter of the Genocide in Gaza and the overall occupation by the occupation forces. Her & the team came to a consensus on the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction movement) and quickly that was put out to the public. As i’m sure you know if you’ve listened to my radio show, i do what i can to highlight Palestinian artists & music and make sure that this genocide is not something we can just ignore because we are around the world, or feeling not directly impacted or related. We are all impacted and related to this issue, humanity and society as a whole will be feeling the impacts and recovering from this tragedy for decades to come. That being said, Momus took a stance, which we don’t often see (rarely actually people are too pressed with losing money or favour of some individuals to actually have an opinion and commit to it) so i respect Sky and the Momus team immensely for that. She shared that quickly they lost some readers and some funds, but just as quick, and in a more lasting way they’ve gained far more than they lost for taking a stance. All that to say, you can read it here, it’s not just their stance its an excellent commentary on the state of arts in toronto in relation to the BDS movement.
If you’ve ever read Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, (it’s on my tbr (to be read) but i’ve heard its devestating and heart wrenching & I’m not mentally in that headspace with classes going on), then you’ll likely remember or have seen the cover image of a man’s face that appears to be in distress. There are a few versions of the book with different cover iterations, but this one seems to be the most popular. But what some people don’t know is that image is actually one of Peter Hujar’s photographs. Hujar was an American photographer, best known for his black & white photographs, particularily portraits. His work has become incredibly well known since his passing in 1987 due to HIV/AIDS. Anyways, if you’re interested in reading more about this work & how it’s on a book cover you can do so here. And if like me, you wonder about the ethics, authorship and the myraid of other things that come to mind when an artist’s work ends up on a book cover, uncontextualized and distorted from it’s original purpose, meaning & placement, I welcome you to this internet wormhole & hope you share anything you find or interetsing articles with me in the comments!
This is not a specific article, but DAZED Magazine has a MENA branch (Middle East North Africa) & it’s really incredible. The articles, artwork, music, content & much more coming out of DAZED MENA is fantastic. My only dream is a physical subscription to the MENA mag not dazed as a whole. But alas, a girl can dream and hopefully one day it comes to fruititon.
That’s all from me for today!
Thanks for joining me as I rant & share some cool parts of the internet & I wish you all happy reading, researching, discovering & learning if that is your prerogative!
