DETROIT — “One message I want to send to the nation is that the Civil War is supposed to be over,” said artist John Sims during the opening address of his “Burn and Bury” event, staged on Memorial Day at the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art. “But as we know, it’s not […]
Detroit was once a city at the forefront of technology. But years of economic decline, and a shift in the prevailing U.S. market from industrial engineering and manufacturing to environmental management and computing, has left a lot of young Detroiters lacking the hard science skills they need to enter STEM […]
In our increasingly consumer-driven culture, making your product stand out is critical to a company’s bottom line. Billions of development dollars are spent every year in an effort to create recognizable brands, all of which would be logistically and aesthetically impossible without fonts, the most common form of visualized language […]
“I came to realize that we Palestinians have a duty to show ourselves in a realistic light,” writes Mohammad Sabaaneh in the preface of his collection of political cartoons, White and Black. “Not quite as ordinary people (because people who are able to live in the conditions of the life they face are […]
It’s always nice to see work in print, especially projects you sent off into the ether some time ago! The essay I wrote for the catalog accompanying Lauren Semivan‘s collection of images, OBSERVATORY, from Blue Sky Books, has made its way back to me. Hooray! You can get your own […]
DETROIT — As we approach the 50th anniversary of the summer of 1967, Detroit finds itself in a reflective mood. In late July of that year, the city was embroiled in a dramatic conflict, known alternately as the Rebellion or the Riots, depending on one’s vantage point on the crisis. Ostensibly, a police raid […]
DETROIT — Contemporary vernacular has a way of turning specific terms into more general concepts (for example, “OCD” and “addict”), which can lead to the erasure of those who suffer from the traditional condition. “Colonizers” is one of those words. While its mainstream use — as a kind of shorthand for the […]
If you know me, you know I love the hardware store, and guys who work at hardware stores. Bless you all, you are so useful, and have helped me bumble through 1 million home improvement projects for which I am patently unqualified (but better every day!) I got the chance […]
Photographer Carlos Diaz has taught at College for Creative Studies for the past 32 years — long enough to shape and influence an entire generation of Detroit photographers, and mentor them in a medium that has changed wildly thanks to advancing technology. Before digital photography was even a glimmer, Diaz […]
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — I’ve had the recent good fortune to visit a number of art exhibitions in botanical gardens — either installed directly within the conservatories or in adjacent galleries. Much of the wealth of art institutions is directed toward conservation; it creates an interesting parallel to see art […]