Art & Authenticy

My visit to the National Museum of the American Indian was my first time being exposed first-person to the culture that lived on the land years before the Europeans had arrived. I met a lady whose name I do not recall, but is on the left in the photo above. She is a professor in CUNY City College and has taught a course in Native American stitching. I saw her making stitches live with buffalo sinews, which are the first threads that Native Americans use. The Native Americans use all parts of the Buffalo—sinews for threads, stomach for pouch, fur for clothing, etc. It is fascinating to see her fingers moving the sinews around and creating colorful patterns that I have only seen in textbooks and on the internet.

Buffalo Sinews

Buffalo Stomach Pouch

After boarding two docked ships at the South Street Seaport, I was already seasick and had to immediately get back on the ground. Even though I live close to the South Street Seaport Museum, I did not realize that it consists of many buildings in Seaport and has real ships that the visitors can go on. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, apparently is a great fan of the sea, despite his health condition, always went sailing, fishing, and even commanded the navy during WWII. As I relaxed and enjoyed the view onboard, I experienced what President FDR must’ve felt when he was at sea—calm, clear-minded, and hopeful. The clips of President FDR on the ships with his friends showed that he must’ve been really strong and tried to prove that despite his polio, he can do more than what we expected him as a president to do.

I have grown to really appreciate memoirs after reading two outstanding memoirs by two amazing writers. Continue Reading »

I never expected the Feminist Videos in the Brooklyn Museum to be as random as they were. I started out a little disappointed with the videos and finally found the place where I felt at home. Continue Reading »

Participating in Danzy Senna’s reading of “Where did you sleep last night?” was a remarkable experience to get a feel of who the author is truly is. Her passionate reading on her works added a whole new level of meaning to how she felt during her harsh childhood experiences. I felt that the various passages that she selected for this reading were special moments, however, there was one passage, in particular that I would’ve liked her to have read which was the moment she received the pre-assembled desk from her father. That particular moment was in a sense, a revelation for Danzy Senna, because her disappointment and sadness was clouded by the anry bitter remarks of her relatives. I was glad that she got around to narrate through her entire memoir because, to me, her memoir felt like a growing up experience so to speak. Although, she jumped around from various bits and pieces of not only her childhood, but also her adulthood, these moments culminate into a full memoir and by going through this process, she got a better understanding of not only her father, but also her mother as well. When she was excited to attend that movie that she wanted to go, but didn’t want to leave her mother left out, showed how there are still signs of guilt for abandoning her mother for her father in a sense. Nonetheless, these moments in her life proved to be a valuable experience and I was glad she was able to share them with the audience in her reading as well as her question and answer session.

“Hastings Park, 16 July 1955” was taken in 2008, but who would know that? Who would also know that the photo was to mirror workers unrest in Vancouver, Canada during the 1950s? In 1912, there was a free speech rally and in 1935, there was a labor strike. This photo did not necessarily need to include any violence nor any “loudness” as there would be (typically in a strike), but for some odd reason, Douglas did not have to show angry workers protesting in the park. He was able to convey his message by capturing just the opposite – placid (in the terms in that they are sitting and not boycotting), unemployed residents. Continue Reading »

“I want people to be drawn into the space of the work. And a lot of people are like me in that they have relatively short attention spans. So I shoot for the window of opportunity.” These are the words of Barbara Kruger, the creator of the untitled piece of a picture of a black and white picture of Marilyn Monroe under a layer of transparent turquoise satin screen displayed in the International Center of Photograph. While the other pieces in the exhibition showed photographs of their subjects with various kinds of clothing, this is the only piece that gives the photograph clothing.  Not only did this thin piece of covering enhance the lure of the rather abstract picture of Marilyn Monroe by giving it a mysterious air, it also calls attention to the attraction emitted by the picture by overlapping it with gigantic bold letter that spells “WANT ME.” Kruger’s work on what was original a simple print from an old magazine certainly caught my attention and held it for long beyond my normal span of attention. Continue Reading »

I have heard many say that exhibitions centered on contemporary idols are only meaningful for the fans of those idols. “Who Shot Rock and Roll” is considered to be one of such exhibitions. Since I somewhat agree with the saying stated above, I was choosing to see the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of renaissances paintings rather than “Who Shot Rock and Roll”. However, Alina’s enthusiasm about the exhibition in her blog post aroused my curiosity. Therefore, I decided to visit the Brooklyn museum with a friend who is equally clueless about rock music in an effort to test out the rumor that only people who appreciate Rock and Roll will appreciate the exhibition that revolve around rock stars. Continue Reading »

Looking at the events of the short movie Wasp it can be easily assumed that Zoe is an irresponsible mother. But is this assumption really justified? In my opinion she is a victim of her poor circumstances and bad choices. As can be inferred from some her action in the movie (the fight in the beginning of the move for the sake of her daughter or when in the bar the way she uses all her money to buy soda for her children in the bar), Zoe is trying hard to be a caring mother for her kids. Her poor state and her incapability to cope with the pressure of raising four small kids single handedly has led to her becoming a frustrated woman who longs for some personal, carefree time of her own.

Desperate love – that’s what all the characters of the play Barber Of Seville experience in one way or the other. It may be the notion of romantic love as in the case of Count Almaviva and Rosina, the love and desire of fame and success for Figaro and the love for money and wealth for both Bartolo and don Basilio. Throughout the play it seems as if these characters are puppets in the hands of their own respective desires and passion. It’s these desperate longings that govern the actions and thoughts of the characters and form the crux of the play.

Barber of Seville can be considered a rare masterpiece of it’s time as it presented the anxiousness of the characters to reach their goals through comic means, making the play attention-grabbing, compelling and entertaining in a carefree way. Instead of applying a grim and serious tone to present this desperation, the use of humor made me truly appreciate the challenging task of having achieved this feat. As a result of this at the end of the play I walked home not with a heavy heart with the optimistic and immensely satisfying feeling of happy ever after.