Queen Elizabeth II & Ghana President Nkrumah In A 1961 Diplomat Foxtrot Watched In Black & White

/

Queen Elizabeth II & Ghana President Nkrumah In A 1961 Diplomat Foxtrot Watched In Black & White

In consenting to a foxtrot -- yes, it happened for real -- with Nkrumah, Elizabeth II achieves more in a few minutes than British diplomats dealing with the young nation have managed to achieve in weeks. The dance scene itself is quite dazzling, as Elizabeth finds her Jackie-O side. Comparing the images from 'The Crown' above and the real-life photos below,  there is more physical space between the couple in the real-life dance -- if these images don't distort the truth. And we must always remember that 'The Crown' is a fictionalized account of history, viewed through the lens of the British Empire and Britain's crumbling monarchy.  

In reality, the Akosombo Dam was completed in 1965, in a project jointly financed by Ghana, the World Bank, the United States and the United Kingdom. Few sources -- even those who write that 'The Crown' is racist ( well SURE it is, given that colonialism was racist) -- debate that this foxtrot between Elizabeth II and President Kwame Nkrumah -- The Lion of Africa --was a diplomatic success on multiple fronts.

Karly Loyce Fronts 'Hyères' Lensed By Charlotte Wales For Pop #37 Autumn/Winter 2017

/

Karly Loyce Fronts 'Hyères' Lensed By Charlotte Wales For Pop #37 Autumn/Winter 2017

Model Karly Loyce is styled by Charlotte Collet in black magic fashion, in Hyères, lensed by Charlotte Wales for Pop Magazine #37 Autumn/Winter 2017./ Hair by Christian Eberhard; makeup by Petros Petrohilos

Eye: South African Artist Tony Gum's 'Ode to She' Wins 2017 Miami Beach Pulse Prize

/

South African Artist Tony Gum's 'Ode to She' Wins 2017 Miami Beach Pulse Prize

South African artist Tony Gum is the recipient of the 2017 Miami Beach Pulse Prize. Gum's gallery Christopher Moller Gallery mounted a solo show for Gum, who is barely 22 years old. 

Gum's presentation 'Ode to She' is inspired by her own experiences and reflections as a Xhosa woman. Her work is rooted in the tradition of 'intonjane', an Xhosa rite of passage into womanhood practiced in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The ritual in which a girl is secluded at her homestead after her first period, is symbolic of her sexual maturity and ability to bear children.

AOC has previously written about the talented Tony Gum. See end of article. 

Popular Media Vastly Overstates Criminality Among Immigrant Men Concludes Define American Study

/

Popular Media Vastly Overstates Criminality Among Immigrant Men Concludes Define American Study

Define American is an immigration nonprofit founded by Pulitzer-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas with the goal of examining how immigrants and immigration is portrayed in popular culture. The organization has released Immigrants and Immigration: A Guide for Entertainment Professionals as a 19-page brief that examines current key issues in immigration law including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the U visa for victims of violent crimes.

“Immigration is the most controversial yet least understood issue in America today. That’s why it’s crucial for Define American to publish a resource for members of the entertainment industry to better understand immigration and more accurately portray immigrants,” says Elizabeth Grizzle Voorhees, who joined Define American as its inaugural entertainment media director last summer. “These tools are written specifically for creative professionals, and we hope they will lead to increased representation and more humanized storytelling in television and film.”

Define American has also released a scorecard on the state of immigration representation on television, taken from The Opportunity Agenda’s study of 40 popular broadcast, cable and streaming shows that aired between April 2014 and June 2016.

Trump Ignites High Tech Relocation To Canada, Determined To Make Canada Great Again

/

Canada moved immediately when Trump issued his immigration ban -- helping US companies to set up shop in Canada. Trump knows this fact, as it started in Feb/March when I first wrote about it. This asshat American president will create not only a tech brain drain but also our doctors. His day of reckoning is coming, and I expect his voters and also the Dems who supported him to explain to the country how they let this happen. Alas, being one of the elites they love to hate, I knew this would happen and began tracking the migration to Canada right after the inauguration.

Politico writes:

President Donald Trump has moved to cut legal immigration by half over the next decade, increase security along the border, build a wall with Mexico, ban travel indefinitely from several countries and overturn DACA, the Obama-era policy that grants work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as minors. The Trump administration has also suggested limiting “startup visas” for high-tech entrepreneurs entering the United States, and massively cutting America’s funding for scientific research. Trump’s aggressive “America first” posture on trade and international diplomacy has transformed the United States into something of a pariah nation, out of touch with the basic norms and values of advanced democracies."

Nor only has Canada has opened centers for refugees streaming over the border in northern New York State from the United States, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally welcoming some of them to the country. As AOC noted right after Trump's inauguration, Canada is specifically recruiting the skilled, ambitious talent that drives innovation and economic growth, with a particular target on top thinkers and workers in technology and industry, and also doctors. Canadian universities—ranked among the world’s best in fields like computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and artificial intelligence—are successively recruiting foreign students, who in turn are matriculating in Canada at higher levels than before Trump’s election. Canadian cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are attracting more venture capital to fund the nation's tech industry, on par with American tech hubs like Seattle and Austin, write Richard Florida and Joshua Gans for Politico.

Karly Loyce Hugs Tailored Looks In 'Tinted Love' By Emma Tempest For Porter Magazine Fall 2017

/

Karly Loyce Hugs Tailored Looks In 'Tinted Love' By Emma Tempest For Porter Magazine Fall 2017

Model Karly Loyce goes fashion forward with a new perspective in 'Tinted Love', styled by Maya Zepinic. Photographer Emma Tempest captures the modern tailoring against centuries of weathered living for Porter Magazine Fall 2017./ Hair by Ali Pirzadeh; makeup by Janeen Witherspoon

Imaan Hammam In Jamaica By Oliver Hadlee Pearch For Vogue.com May 2017

/

Imaan Hammam In Jamaica By Oliver Hadlee Pearch For Vogue.com May 2017

Top model Imaan Hammam heads to Port Antonio, Jamaica on the country's northeast coast, for a magical, colorful,  kid-inclusive fashion shoot styled by Sara Moonves in Prada, Proenza Schouler, Fendi, Oscar de la Renta and more . Oliver Hadlee Pearch captures the island action for Vogue.com May 2017./ Hair by Jawara Wauchope; makeup by Emi Kaneko

Meet Chloe & Halle Bailey, Lensed By Matthew Sprout For InStyle June 2017

/

Meet Chloe & Halle Bailey, Lensed By Matthew Sprout For InStyle June 2017

R&B talents, YouTube stars and Beyonce proteges Chloe & Halle Bailey are styled by James Valeri in Matthew Sprout images for InStyle June 2017./ Makeup by Fiona Stiles; hair by Kim Mcallister

London Artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's Brings Vibrant Paintings Of Black Experience To New York's New Museum

/

'To Douse the Devil for a Ducat', 2015, oil on canvasCourtesy of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, and Corvi-Mora, London

Vogue.com profiles London artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, whose work will be shown from May 3-2017 thru September 9-2017 at New York's New Museum. The museum's artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, who featured her work in his 2013 Venice Biennale, says that her work has a particular urgency. 

 “In a moment of racial tension like the one America has been living through, Lynette’s characters take on a completely different weight and presence,” he says. “It’s hard not to feel implicated as a viewer—I can’t help thinking that her imagined characters are engaging with me.”

These powerful paintings of black women and men -- all of them fictional -- are increasingly influential in contemporary culture. Yiadom-Boakye was shortlisted for the 2013 Turner Prize and comes to New York after solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery in London, the Haus der Kunst in Munich, and the Kunsthalle in Basel.

The artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, photographed in her London studio, paints fast, timeless portraits in oils. Her solo show at the New Museum in New York opens this May.Photographed by Anton Corbijn, Vogue, April 2017

One wonders if Lynette Yiadom-Boakye can offer insights into the current intellectual chaos whirling around Dana Schutz' 'Open Casket' painting of Emmett Till, part of the Whitney Bienniale

Trump Slams Civil Rights Hero Ga. Rep. John Lewis On MLK Honorary Weekend

/

President Barack Obama's Address in Selma March 7, 2015

When President-elect Donald Trump denigrated the personal history of Ga. Rep. John Lewis this weekend -- after Rep. Lewis said that he questioned the legitimacy of America's presidential election with the Russians doing Trump's bidding -- it seems like this 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Day is best honored with my review and full text of President Obama's historic March 2015 Selma speech. 

For Donald Trump -- who discredited President Obama for years with his birther claims -- to become indignant over Rep. Lewis' opinion and then turn like an attack dog on Lewis is more than I can stomach. This archives article details not only the events around Selma, in which John Lewis was nearly killed, but also the subsequent march to Montgomery, Alabama led by the Rev. Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta.

On this reverential weekend in America, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen to unleash a high-profile feud with people of color and all progressives and Americans of conscience who have not forgotten Rep. Lewis' near-death experience in Selma.  The New York Times explains with In Trump's Feud With John Lewis, Blacks Perceive a Callous Rival.  

Fredrik Lerneryd Captures Beauty & Ballet Magic Of Mike Wamaya's Kibera Dance School

/

Fredrik Lerneryd Captures Beauty & Ballet Magic Of Mike Wamaya's Kibera Dance School

"The sun rose in Kibera this morning, and it rose in my world, too, with my rapture over these Fredrik Lerneryd images of ballet dancers in the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi. They are my best Christmas gift.

Anne of Carversville has a long psychological, emotional and now functional relationship with Kibera. Initially, my lovefest with the largest slum in Africa was triggered by JR's famous 'Women Are Heroes' project, with Kibera being one of the four slums featured in his everyday examination of the beauty and heroic female efforts worldwide. Over time I pieced together collection of intimate and deeply personal connections to Kibera through my muse Dan Eldon.  The functional dimension of AOC's connection to Kibera is GLAMTRIBALE's support of The Kibera School for Girls, with 5% of revenues. Another 5% is earmarked for elephant conservation.

The dancers photographed by Fredrik Lerneryd learn dance through a program run by UK-based charity Anno's Africa, which provides alternative arts education to over 800 children in Kenya. "

Tony Gum Creates 'Mercurial Aesthetic' Free of Racial, Cultural Or Sexual Oppression

/

Tony Gum Creates 'Mercurial Aesthetic' Free of Racial, Cultural Or Sexual Oppression

Women artists were more obvious in this year's Art Basel in Miami, and especially at PULSE Miami Beach.

At Christopher Moller Gallery, young Capetown artist Tony Gum, born Zipho Gum, was such a smash in New York March 2016 and then Art Basel Miami December 2016, that she was just named in ArtNet's 14 Emerging Women Artists to Watch in 2017.

Vogue called Tony Gum "the coolest girl in Cape Town", based on her tightly curated Instagram feed. Her Instagram becomes a gallery to communicate with corporate brands like Coca-Cola and Adidas about issues of race, women, pop culture and art through the lens of her own penetrating, clear-eyed, articulate and sophisticated vision.

On Site: Decoding Betye Saar's Uneasy Symbolism At Milan’s Fondazione Prada

/

Writing for Hyperallergic.com, Seph Rodney surveys the work of American artist Betye Saar at Milan's Fondazione Prada. AOC wrote about Saar in advance of the exhibition opening, but Rodney's impressions put the works in an environmental context and also filtered through the writer's own personal thought universe.

My favorite work in the show is a small teal room titled “The Alpha and the Omega” (2013–16), which contains a related suite of individual works, including a suspended structure threaded with neon tubes and representing a ship. Below, a small playpen holds a collection of inflated balls, two empty chairs face each other across a board set up for an unfamiliar game, and two fancy birdcages sit quietly with entire worlds contained within them. This room is a bit more enigmatic and quietly serene. According to the gallery guide, the installation looks to represent the entire journey of a human life. “The Alpha and  the Omega” also demonstrates that Saar can do more than manipulate racist icons; she can give you a glimpse of her internal life, tell you that she is ready for tomorrow to arrive.

Related: Racist Objects: Confronting Racist Objects The New York Times

A Painful Past Still Present The New York Times

For a more detailed discussion of the art of Betye Saar, read our exhibit opening overview: Assemblage Artist Betye Saar Shows 'Uneasy Dancer' At Fondazione Prada Opening Sept 15-2016

Serena Williams Is SI Sportsperson of the Year, Tapped For Athletic Dominance, Cultural Importance & Personal Growth

/

Serena Williams Is SI Sportsperson of the Year, Tapped For Athletic Dominance, Cultural Importance & Personal Growth

Always mistress of her own ship, tennis superstar Serena Williams chose to sit on a throne, wearing high heels for her Sports Illustrated cover story honor of 'Sportsperson of the Year'. SI managing editor Christian Stone wrote on SI.com that Serena wanted to express her own ideal of femininity, strength and power."