Message From a Florida Drag Queen

March 28, 2023

Good morning. 🌧️ Today we begin with a moving personal essay by a Florida-based drag queen who lost her income after the passing of Governor Ron DeSantis's "Don't Say Gay" law. She describes living in fear amid an increasingly hostile environment and diminished employment opportunities. "I just know that staying in Florida is not an option," writes Beneva Fruitville (aka Berry Ayers). "It is draconian and dystopian here."

In other stories, protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reform shut down the Louvre, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles unveils new exhibition spaces, and the internet is going crazy over AI images of the Pope looking dope in a white puffer jacket. I bet he's loving it.

Finally, join us this evening for an online conversation with Hyperallergic fellow Sadaf Padder, whose work explores and expands the concept of South Asian futurism from a curator's perspective. The event will start at 6pm (EDT) today.

— Hakim Bishara, Senior Editor

I’m a Florida Drag Queen and I’m Scared

I’m truly at a loss for what to do for work and what kind of life I can expect to live. | Beneva Fruitville

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IN THE NEWS

Striking union members stand on a picket line outside the Louvre Museum on March 27 in Paris, France (photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

French demonstrators stormed the Louvre’s halls in protest of President Macron’s decision to raise the retirement age to 64.

Archaeologists discovered a 1,400-year-old Moche mural of a two-faced man in Northern Peru.

An AI-generated image of Pope Francis in a sick, white puffer fooled the internet into thinking it was real.

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The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation Presents The Feminine in Abstract Painting

Curated by Jennifer Samet and Andrea Belag, this group exhibition in NYC explores the feminine through aesthetics, as opposed to identity or gender. Learn more.

LATEST IN ART

Coasting the Topography of South Asian Futurisms

As part of Hyperallergic’s Emily Hall Tremaine Journalism Fellowship for Curators, Sadaf Padder presents an exhibition to offer insight into her curatorial process. | Sadaf Padder

Sadaf Padder will further expand on this exhibition and her curatorial process in a virtual conversation with Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian on Tuesday, March 28 at 6pm (ET). Register here.

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Pratt’s 2023 Fine Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition Is On View in Brooklyn

The two-part exhibition features the work of 41 graduating artists across disciplines, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, and integrated practices. Learn more.

An Artist's Hopeful Vision of the Ocean

Indonesian artist Mulyana crafts a tactile, mystical world in which fish, whales, and coral reefs coexist with sea monsters. | Renée Reizman

An Introduction to “Afrogallonism”

Serge Attukwei Clottey explores Ghanaian culture and identity through discarded jerrycans and other found materials. | Aida Amoako

MORE ON HYPERALLERGIC

A Ride With Liz Cohen

Nothing in the artist’s personal biography could predict that she’d one day become a car builder and bikini model. | Sarah Rose Sharp

LA's Hammer Museum Wants to Be Seen

After two decades of renovations, the museum that calls itself a "well-kept secret" reopens with a mission to be more visible. | Anne Wallentine

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