REVIEW – THE HAIR WRAP DIARIES

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged African, afro, Alynda Wheat, Antonia Cooper, Barbershp Chronicles, black hair, black women, Bola Agaje, Caribbean, Chris Rock, dialogue, Emmanuella Idris, hair, hairdresser, Head Wrap Diaries, heritage, house, identity, Natalie Cooper, performance, review, roots, Shanelle Clemenson, show, story, theatre, Uchenna dance, Vicki Igbokwe, vogue, Waacking, women, Yolanda Perez-Rosselson.

by Carmina Masoliver

Piles of colourful patterned fabrics line the stage, and three women dressed in black Lycra leotards select a fabric and wrap it around their head. The fabrics are drawn across the stage as the performers’ bodies undulate in a backwards crawl, before the scene is set as a hair salon with the colours swept away in a swirl around a chair.

As the title The Hair Wrap Diaries suggests, during this Uchenna Dance production written by Bola Agaje in partnership with director and choreographer Vicki Igbokwe, we hear different stories from each performer. Yet the show is also interspersed with dance, giving it a strong sense of poetics as the words are broken up and repeated with the movements. The stories themselves are carefully selected, offering a rainbow of different generations of black women, exploring their relationship with hair.Continue Reading

SELFIES AND SELF-PORTRAITS

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged access, art, arts, Édouard Manet, camera, Courtauld, digital, elitism, imgur, Impressionism, James Needham, Jonathan Jones, Lovers, museum, photography, portrait, selfie, selfie age, smartphones, social media, traditional, value, Van Gogh, visual art, vogue.

by Jess Howard

After finding myself caught in a particularly upsetting example of British weather on Monday afternoon, I decided my time hiding from the rain would be best spent nosing round the Impressionist collection currently held in the Courtauld gallery. After fanning away the tears that inexplicably began to spring from my eyes as I stood in front of Édouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folie-Bergère, I stood for a while to look at Vincent Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, painted shortly after the artist removed his own right ear.

Once I had gotten over my annoyance at the people taking photos of the works around them on their smart phones, instead of just looking at them – which I’m sure could make up another article entirely – I continued to look at the painting, the first real piece of Impressionist art I think I have ever seen in person.Continue Reading

HIGH VERSUS LOW ART: WHAT DESERVES A SPACE IN THE GALLERY?

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged adverts, art, art critic, Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes, cartoon, comic art, comics art, comment, context, critic, high art, Jonthan Jones, Josh Olins, Kate Middleton, magazine, National Portrait Gallery, Nicholas Cullinan, opinion, photograph, photography, portrait, Roy Lichtenstein, Rupert the Bear, strip, style, visual arts, vogue, Vogue 100.

by Jess Howard

Often, we start out with an initial opinion of a topic, event or article, and end up completely changing sides once we have engaged in an in-depth exploration, and this is exactly what has happened with an article I recently read.

In early May 2016, a particularly scathing opinion piece was written by Guardian journalist Jonathan Jones regarding the presence of magazine covers in gallery spaces. The article, titled ‘Kate’s Vogue shots shouldn’t be in a gallery. They’re not art.’ discusses Jones’ opinions on whether or not photographs of Kate Middleton have the right to be hanged in The National Portrait Gallery. Regardless of how we feel about the photographs, or indeed the monarchy, it does raise an important question. Namely, what constitutes high or low art, and what is deserving of exhibition space.Continue Reading

RAISE THE PITCHFORK: MUSIC AND MAINSTREAM MEDIA

Posted on October 16, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged blog, blogosphere, commercial, Conde Nast, Ed Sheeran, establishment, GQ, journalism, Major Lazer, media, MSM, music, music artists, music journalism, music media, Nasties, niche, Pitchfork, public, Stormzy, Taylor Swift, The New Yorker, The Weeknd, underground, Vanity Fair, vogue.

by Mike Vinti

It was announced on Wednesday that influential music blog Pitchfork – virtual second home to many music nerds – has been sold to Condé Nast, the publishing group behind Vanity Fair and Vogue.

On the face of it, this is a pretty boring piece of news to anyone other than music journalists; Condé Nast is no longer the giant of media it once was, and Pitchfork has a relatively niche audience. As such, this announcement has been met with derision by many in the blogosphere, perhaps wary of the old-world Nasties infringing on their ad revenue, alongside some legitimate concerns for the diversity of its audience and contributor pool. Yet aside from the dull business of one company purchasing another, the deal proves far more interesting than it first appears.Continue Reading

‘MY CHOICE’ AND WHETHER IT IS A BURDEN TO US ALL

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Perspectives and tagged abortion, domestic abuse, education, exploitation, female foeticide, feminism, feminist, film, gender, health, Homi Adajania, India, intersectionality, kyriarchy, laxmi Narayan Tripathi, marriage, my choice, patni-vrata, poverty, Sanjuka Basu, se, sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, transgender, transgender rights activist, video, vogue, vogue india, women.

by Srishti Dutta Chowdhury

Disclaimer: Mentions female foeticide, abortion, and domestic abuse.

As part of the Vogue Empower project, that was initiated in October 2014, to commemorate the seventh year for Vogue in India, Homi Adajania’s video ‘My Choice’ features some prominent faces in the country of India. Besides Deepika Padukone, there’s Adjania’s wife, actress Nimrat Kaur, film critic Anupama Chopra, and Director Zoya Akhtar, among others.

The video went viral on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, in a matter of days — which is great news except it garnered negative criticisms everywhere. The reservation against the video by feminists and gender activists is understandable. According to a large number, while the video seeks to raise questions such as ‘If men can do what they want, why should women be deprived of the same right?’, it falls short of effectively addressing the question of women empowerment.

REVIEW: EMMY THE GREAT. OSLO, HACKNEY

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Norwich Radical in Arts and tagged emmy the great, london, music, music review, musician, olso hackney, review, vogue, women.

by Carmina Masoliver

To start with, Oslo in Hackney is a great gig venue. One message I got from my MA in Creative Entrepreneurship was that food is very important — I agreed — and downstairs in this venue is a restaurant, where you can get your pre-gig meal. I went for a burger and chips, and my friend had a much healthier mushroom medley. Upstairs is a black-box room, complete with a small stage, bar area, and disco ball.

Support came first from O Karmina, which surprised me; I hadn’t expected to hear my name. The singer-pianist thanked us for listening throughout her set, heavily implying she wasn’t used to an attentive crowd. She had us hooked from her first syllable, and we were completely captivated the whole way through. Plus, I’m a sucker for a loop-pedal, her voice overlapping like a choral shoreline.

vogue

REVIEW – THE HAIR WRAP DIARIES

HIGH VERSUS LOW ART: WHAT DESERVES A SPACE IN THE GALLERY?

RAISE THE PITCHFORK: MUSIC AND MAINSTREAM MEDIA

‘MY CHOICE’ AND WHETHER IT IS A BURDEN TO US ALL

REVIEW: EMMY THE GREAT. OSLO, HACKNEY

Support the Radical

Subscribe

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Support the Radical

Subscribe