“It is enough for us to state the simple fact; Orlando was a man till the age of 30; when he became a woman and has remained so ever since.” Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando was published in 1928, yet contains an expression of gender fluidity that feels as fresh and matter of fact as if it were written today.
Continue reading “Why Virginia Woolf’s Orlando speaks to gender fluidity today”Published in BBC Culture June 4, 2019
“Change is life.” So said Lee Krasner, in an interview in 1972 – in doing so, the artist captured a truth about her work as well an essential fact of human existence. As an artist, she never stayed still; unlike many of the other Abstract Expressionists she’s sometimes grouped with, Krasner never developed a signature style, but instead remained restlessly reinventive.
Continue reading “Lee Krasner: The wild artist who brought colour to dazzling life”Brangelina, Kimye, Hiddleswift… you could be forgiven for thinking the celebrity portmanteau name was an invention of the 21st Century. But today’s creative couples surely have nothing on the delightful ‘PaJaMa’: an amalgam of Paul Cadmas, Jared French and Margaret French, to reflect the interdependence of their relationship and artistic practice. From 1937 on, they lived as a polyamorous trio for 20 years. Continue reading “The art of the ménage à trois”
The evening of 30 April, 1971 and New York’s Town Hall is electrified. A debate is being staged between Norman Mailer and several prominent feminists: literary critic Diana Trilling, Village Voice writer Jill Johnston, president of the National Organisation of Women (NOW) Jacqueline Ceballos, and a fox fur-draped Germaine Greer, at the height of her fame following the publication of The Female Eunuch. They speak on the politics of the vaginal orgasm, equal pay, the myth of male genius. Continue reading “The Town Hall Affair: Making a show out of the showdown between Germaine Greer and Norman Mailer”
“I have been fighting for vaginas for a very long time now.” Rhiannon Faith is smiling, but she’s also completely serious. The choreographer’s work, too, exists on this tightrope: her latest show is an immersive dance party about domestic violence. Continue reading “Smack That: domestic violence survivors celebrate resilience in dance”