Oct 23, 2020 • View in browser

Good morning. ☁️ Today, we report on the growing movement for a photographer’s bill of rights, we look at an art project that apologized to the Siksika Nation, and we look at how academics and archeologists benefit from colonialist cosplay.

– Hrag Vartanian, editor-in-chief

NYU to Remove Sackler Name

In July 2018, P.A.I.N. joined Harvard and NYU medical students to protest the Sackler name at Harvard Art Museums (photo by Tamara Rodriguez)

Following years of pressure from students and the drug advocacy group P.A.I.N., New York University’s Langone Medical Center will remove the Sackler name from its Graduate Biomedical Institute.

An NYU spokesperson told us:

“Given the Sackler family’s association with Purdue Pharma and its role in encouraging opioid overuse, we view continuing to use the Sackler name as inconsistent with our institution’s values and incompatible with our mission, which is dedicated to patient care, education, and research to improve human health.”

In Other News

A dozen activists were detained after they protested against a pro-Trump rally in front of the Museum of the American Indian in New York.

Banksy’s “Show Me The Monet” has sold for $10 million, which is the second-highest price ever paid for a work by the street artist.

The Ongoing Problem of Colonialist Cosplay

How Academics, Egyptologists, and Even Melania Trump Benefit From Colonialist Cosplay

From khakis to pith hats, certain items of clothing have become enduring emblems of European colonialism and particular scholars who know these problematic histories choose to engage in the aesthetics of colonialism in their everyday lives.

Katherine Blouin, Monica Hanna, Sarah E. Bond

Latest Reviews

Leaning Into the Feeling of Being Lost

José Luis Vargas beckons us to enter his disorienting world, created “with the eyes of a child who has entered a science fiction tale.”

Tara Yarlagadda

The Visceral Intimacy of Amy Sillman’s Drawings

Messy and tender, like a summer fling, Sillman’s drawings embody both the sense of decay and unyielding hunger for life that marks our current times.

Ksenia M. Soboleva

The Exuberant Softness of Feliciano Centurión’s Textiles

Often dismissed during his lifetime for his emphasis on kitsch and craft, it is high time that Centurión gets his due.

Cassie Packard

E. McKnight Kauffer, a Commercial Artist With Ideals

For nearly 20 years between the two world wars, E. McKnight Kauffer, an American, was the most celebrated graphic designer in England.

Caitlin Condell, Emily M. Orr