November Is…

Speaking of, Alysa Landry has an excellent article up at ICTMN, about spending the last forty-five weeks writing about all the U.S. presidents, and their impact on Indigenous peoples: Indians Are Invisible: What I Learned Researching US Presidents. Highly recommended reading. The whitewash goes deeper than anyone thought.

Seven Young Artists…

Today, Americans will decide who will be the 45th President of the United States of America. An online exhibition considers the national and international consequences of this election. The group exhibition entitled, Pulling Down The Walls, organized by Galerie Number 8, examines some of the bigger issues—immigration, race, gender and equality—of the year. Featuring artists, Campbell Addy, Ivan Forde, Justin French, Nicolas Henry, Hector Mediavilla, Leonard Pongo, and David Uzochukwi, the pop-up show uses portrait, landscape, and reportage photography, to show what’s at stake in this presidential election. Read and see more at The Creators Project.

Justin French, Patriot, 2015, 20 x 30 inches. © Justin French.

Justin French, Patriot, 2015, 20 x 30 inches. © Justin French.

 

Hector Mediavilla, Latingo Border #6, 2010, 48 x 60 inches. © Hector Mediavilla.

Hector Mediavilla, Latingo Border #6, 2010, 48 x 60 inches. © Hector Mediavilla.

Mario Patiño.

Olvido amor, modelo. Mario Patino, fotografìa. Arte Gay, queer art. Mexico-3

Olvido amor, modelo. Mario Patino, fotografìa. Arte Gay, queer art. Mexico-3

Mario Patiño is a multidisciplinary artist born and living in Mexico. In order to create awareness of LGBTQ diversity, his photographic work focuses on gender transgression. Patiño pushes back against what he sees as the world of prejudice and oppression from the male chauvinist, heteronormative Mexican society toward this community.

“I began working with LGBT performance artists, as their body language is intense, mannered, and uniquely different from heterosexuals. They are also accustomed to dealing with nudity and transgression with an open mind.”

“How to speak of the periphery? Peripheral is all that gets out of control, that corrupts a system, that lives on the edge, that adheres to the margins, that puts in doubt, that causes questioning, that rebels, that revolutionizes, that rises, that organizes insurrections, it’s everything that doesn’t fit, that resists, that refuses to play the game by the rules, it’s the possibility of change, of something new.”

Absolutely amazing work, this. Exquisite, thought provoking, and poignant. You can see more at The Advocate, and at Contemporary Multidisciplinar Performance Art. More photos below the fold – there’s nothing graphic, but you might want to have a caution if you’re at work.

[Read more…]

A thumbs-up, a grin, and a corpse.

Leaked photo of Omar Rahman's body and a North County Police Co-Operative officer (Screen capture).

Leaked photo of Omar Rahman’s body and a North County Police Co-Operative officer (Screen capture).

Just in case anyone was getting warm and fuzzy feelings about cops here in uStates. This photo was leaked, not much information about that right now, out of St. Louis, Missouri, of a cop giving a happy thumbs up over the corpse of Omar Rahman, who was shot and killed in August this year. I don’t really care what anyone did, or how any given cop might feel about any given person, this is unconscionable, no matter how you slice it. The St. Louis cop shop isn’t saying much about this, claiming their crime scene camera is missing, along with any hard copies. I find that interesting, given how cop shops everywhere are always plaintively crying about restrictive budgets and never having enough money. Cameras are expensive, I know, I have one, and it’s not even close to one of the high ends, just a Nikon D90. It was expensive enough, and lenses, well, anyone with a camera can bend your ear about lens lust and the costs which leave most of us in a state of drooling dreams. A camera used for forensics can’t be a cheap one, there has to be an initial lay out for a good camera body, and a number of lenses would be required. Not the most expensive ones, I’m sure, but at least two good workhorse lenses, and one macro lens, I’d think. Rather odd for something like that to go missing. I’ll be generous and assume they have more than one, they must have been using something since August. The old saying goes, one picture is worth a thousand words. I think that applies here.

Full story here.

Standing Rock Camp: Day’s End.

Our last day. In the 8th photo, you can see the construction equipment, and the lights which are shone down on the camp every night now. The last four shots, going through cop land on the way home. It’s unnerving. Click for full size.

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© C. Ford, all rights reserved.