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'Hamilton' Actor Will 'Terrorize' With Love In Honor Of Orlando

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“Hamilton” actor Daniel J. Watts will pay tribute to the victims of the June 12 mass shooting in Orlando, Florida with a heartfelt performance piece that incorporates music, dance and spoken word. 


On July 31, Watts will take to the stage of the Marlin Room at New York’s Webster Hall for “The Jam: Love Terrorists.” The show fuses Watts’ original spoken word, poetry and rap with elements of gospel, hip-hop, blues, reggae and salsa and serves as a “veritable call to arms, demanding any and all to terrorize with love.”


The 34-year-old North Carolina native, who is a member of the “Hamilton” ensemble, told The Huffington Post that he sees “The Jam” as “an opportunity to step beyond the turntable” of the Broadway juggernaut and into more personal territory. Watts will be backed by his band, the InnerView, throughout the show, which will also feature performances by cast members from the hit musicals “On Your Feet!” and “Shuffle Along.” 


In regard to the show’s message, Watts told The Huffington Post, “We need more love and we need to hold each other accountable when we aren’t doing our part. We all have a common enemy, and it is hate and fear.” 


Watch Watts and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda pay tribute to Muhammad Ali below. 





The actor-singer was so moved by the Orlando shooting, as well as other recent tragedies including the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, that he “decided we could all use a little love, including some tough love.” Hence, he is donating proceeds from the performance to advocacy groups Equality Florida and the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida


Watts said he learned about the Pulse nightclub shooting as he and his “Hamilton” cast mates were preparing for their Tony Awards performance that same day. “It sounded so far-fetched and elaborate that, when I think back, I’m not positive I actually believed it initially,” he said. “I had to do my own research and I was shocked at what was revealed.”


As to what Watts would tell the friends and family members of the Orlando victims if he could speak to them directly, he said, “We love you. We are with you. We are you.”


Daniel J. Watts stars in “The Jam: Love Terrorists” at the Marlin Room at New York’s Webster Hall on July 31. Head here for more information. 

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Julia Stiles Looks Back At The Roles That Have Defined Her Career

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Hit Backspace for a regular dose of pop culture nostalgia.


This weekend, Julia Stiles stars in her fourth “Bourne” movie. If we discount the 2012 diversion “The Bourne Legacy,” she and Matt Damon are the only actors to appear in all four of the franchise’s installments: “Identity,” “Supremacy,” “Ultimatum” and, now, “Jason Bourne.” 


Stiles, who became famous for teen fare like “10 Things I Hate About You” and “Save the Last Dance,” never imagined she’d spend so much time masquerading as an action star. When I met her at a Manhattan hotel earlier this month, I arrived with a laptop in hand, ready to look back at her transition from millennial idol to grown-up adventuress. (She went to college in between!) With a pre-loaded collection of her movie scenes in tow, I sat with Stiles and watched her career unfold before our eyes. 


“It’s been a day of ‘this is your life,’” she said. “I just did an interview where they were showing photos of fashion choices from when I was, like, 18 and didn’t know how to dress myself. Hilarious.” 


Take a trip down Stiles Lane with these seven modern semi-classics.


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Kim Kardashian Is The Mary To Kanye West's Joseph In 'Wolves'

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Kimye are like sacrificial lambs in Kanye West’s “Wolves."


West teamed up with Balmain for the high-fashion, seven-minute video of his track with Sia and Vic Mensa, released Friday. Creative director for the brand Olivier Rousteing recreated the campaign for his line after hearing his friend’s album “The Life of Pablo” in order to match it to the music. 


Kim Kardashian is one of the main focal points in the video, which also includes appearances from models like Cindy Crawford, Joan Smalls, Alessandra Ambrosio, Jourdan Dunn and Josephine Skriver.



Up-close shots of Kardashian with hands touching her face and body, tears streaming down her cheeks, make for some noteworthy moments. 


“This is definitely one of the most incredible campaigns I’ve ever done,” Rousteing told Vogue of the final product. “When I saw Kanye singing, Kim moving, the models walking and crying, the tears on Kanye, the tears on Kim — I was just like, ‘Wow.’”


The lyrics certainly speak volumes about the life of Kimye. 



I said baby what if you was clubbin’
Thuggin’, hustlin’ before you met your husband?
Then I said, “What if Mary was in the club
’Fore she met Joseph around hella thugs?
Cover Nori in lambs’ wool
We surrounded by the fuckin’ wolves”
(What if Mary) What if Mary
(Was in the club) was in the club
’Fore she met Joseph with no love?
Cover Saint in lambs’ wool
(And she was) We surrounded by
(Surrounded by) the fuckin’ wolves 




#BALMAINWOLVES #BALMAINFW16 Watch the music video shot by Steven Klein at BALMAIN.COM

A video posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on




The two will be featured in the Balmain F/W 2016 ads as well. 






For the video, the two donned the same Balmain garb that they wore to this year’s Met Gala. 


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Hark, Netflix Will Release An Official 'Stranger Things' Soundtrack

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Netflix’s delightful amalgam of ‘80s film tropes, “Stranger Things,” has picked up something of a cult following since its mid-July release. 


Giving Winona Ryder a platform to shine in her performance as young Will Byers’ mother, the show follows a small Indiana town’s attempt to locate the missing Will amid other eerie local happenings. A lively soundtrack of classic rock hits by The Clash, Joy Division and others fleshes out the scene ― and provides a week’s worth of earworms.


This week, the streaming service tweeted the news that fans can look forward to an official soundtrack in the near-ish future.






Like Netflix’s official “Orange Is the New Black” and “House of Cards” soundtracks before it, the album for “Stranger Things” will likely include the series’ synth-tastic theme music ― created by Los Angeles electronic group Survive ― and a mix of ‘80s jams.


And in the meantime, we’ll have to settle for a Spotify playlist:





Don’t know what to watch on Netflix? Message us on Facebook Messenger for TV and movie recommendations from our editors! 

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Three Female Cartoonists Open Up About Drawing Hillary Clinton

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Today, anyone with a Twitter account can experience the gendered terms used to denigrate Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy ― like those related to her emotions, family life, physical appearance, and more.


Well, three decades ago, it wasn’t much different.


Signe Wilkinson has been drawing cartoons of Clinton for 30 years. And during that span of time, she’s observed a whole lot of sexist commentary.


In a video with The Huffington Post, Wilkinson explained that, over the years, most of her cartoonist colleagues ― at the The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News, and beyond ― have been men. “In the ‘90s,” she said, “[Clinton] started out as a witch, as a really negative caricature.” 



Anne Telnaes, editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post, experienced similar sentiments early in her career. “People talked about, ‘Oh, she’s too loud, she yells, oh, she’s not personable,’” she said. “Well, you know, that’s not really what we should be criticizing.”


Wilkinson, Telnaes, and Jen Sorensen (political cartoonist and comics editor at Fusion) are just three women cartoonists who’ve watched Clinton transform from a first lady to a senator to secretary of state to a presidential candidate. They’ve also watched Clinton critics habitually lob gender-based criticisms at the politician, from references to her “shrill” mannerisms to claims that she’s playing a nonexistent “woman’s card.


As cartoonists, these distractions from the issues and policies at hand ― the ones they’re tasked with challenging in clever, visual ways ― can be frustrating. And as women, the blatant sexism can be plain intolerable. 



For Sorensen, her role as a woman cartoonist covering Clinton has involved a lot of back and forth. “When I’m criticizing her for her war vote, say, I’ve drawn her as Napoleon,” she said. “But, at other times, I feel myself feeling sympathetic. So I go back and forth between, honestly, criticizing her on the issues, and then also feeling like I have to defend her against sexism.”


At the end of the day, Wilkinson says it’s thrilling to see another woman rise to the level of presidential candidate. “I can be happy about that and then also unhappy with the individual actions she takes later,” she reiterated.


Like her female colleagues, she’d like to be able to do her job without the constant shadow of the gender imbalance in politics. “We’re women cartoonists but we’re cartoonists,” Telnaes added. “We go after people, this is our job.”



Hear more of what these three cartoonists had to say about Clinton, sexism and the art of political cartoons in the video above. For more of the work Wilkinson, Telnaes and Sorensen have created, see a selection of their art below: 





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Art Of The AIDS Years: What Took Museums So Long?

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For my generation of American gay men, the AIDS epidemic was a second Vietnam War. It reached us as a rumor and soon revealed itself as a killing field. Just as the war had divided the country, so did AIDS. From initial public reports in 1981, through the end of the Reagan presidency in 1989, many people at risk saw the threat as threefold: from the disease itself, from rampant homophobia and from a government that simultaneously withheld help and initiated campaigns of fear.


In those years, combating the enemy was a D.I.Y. mix of community organizing, medical volunteerism and direct action. Art was very much in the picture, because artists were hard hit by the epidemic, but also because art is (or can be) strategically useful. It can broadcast or insinuate messages into the larger culture, embody complex truths, absorb fear, preserve memory.

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Why White Actors Should Not Be Cast In Latinx Roles -- On Broadway Or Off

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Once upon a time, years before “Hamilton” ever blew our minds, the gifted soul that is Lin-Manuel Miranda created and starred in a little (Tony-winning) musical called “In the Heights.”


The musical follows protagonist Usnavi, a bodega owner who dreams of winning the lottery and wooing the girl of his dreams, for three days in his New York neighborhood. 


Like “Hamilton,” the show is known for its inclusion of contemporary musical styles not usually found on the Broadway stage, including salsa and rap. It also, taking place in the predominately Dominican community of Washington Heights, featured a wonderfully diverse cast, starring, of course, LMM himself (and later, “sexy” Alexander Hamilton, Javier Muñoz). 


One of Miranda’s great gifts to the theater community has been the creation of bold and intricate roles for actors of color. It’s in part due to him that this year’s Tony Awards was by far the most diverse in its history.


However, this month, a Chicago production of “In the Heights” failed to continue Miranda’s legacy of diversity on stage. The Porchlight Music Theatre received widespread criticism after announcing that Jack DeCesare, a white actor of Italian descent, would play the lead role.


In piece titled “Porchlight’s ‘In the Heights’ names its authentic cast,” the show’s artistic director Michael Weber published a strangely self-congratulatory statement introducing the cast.



“After an exhaustive audition process, during which we saw hundreds of the Chicago-area’s diverse music theater talent—both established and new—and even reached out to our city’s vast hip-hop dance community, we are excited to introduce the cast…We have made every effort to present a company that reflects the true spirit of this story of community…”



It didn’t take people long to say, quite appropriately, “Wait, huh?” 


Could the casting team really have made, as they put it, every effort to find a cast that represents the stories unfurling on the stage, when people of Latinx descent make up over 20 percent of the Chicago population?


Even if so, if the efforts didn’t pan out as planned, maybe it would have been better to think of a Plan B? As scholar Trevor Boffone put it: “If you can’t field a majority Latin@ cast and hire a predominately Latin@ creative team, then perhaps do a different show.



These roles were written by Latin@s for Latin@ actors. The Latin@ community wants their stories told, but in an ethical way that speaks with the community in question. To gentrify In the Heights is to completely miss the point of the musical.



The casting decision raises important questions about diversity and representation on the stage. When there already exist so few roles for Latinx performers, what does it say when the few roles that do exist go to white actors? In a musical that deals explicitly with the issue of gentrification as a theme, the casting seems especially mishandled.







In an interview with American Theatre, playwright and composer Quiara Alegría Hudes, who wrote the book for “In the Heights,” expressed her disappointment, describing how one of the main motivations behind the musical was to create complex, dynamic roles for Latinx actors when hardly any exist. “For decades, the vast majority of Latino roles were maids, gangbangers, etc,” she said. “It’s demoralizing, obnoxious, and reductive of an entire people. It’s a lie about who we are, how complicated our dreams and individuality are.”


Following the controversy, Porchlight released a statement expressing their commitment to genuine casting and diverse, thoughtful representation. They cast DeCesare, Weber explained, without explicitly knowing his ethnic background. Only after his exceptional audition and landing of the role did the production team realize his heritage was Italian. 


The crew has no plans to replace DeCesare, though they expressed understanding at the dissatisfaction expressed vocally by the Chicago community. “We absolutely stand by the cast and creative team that has been hired for this production,” Weber wrote, “but we recognize that more must be done to assure a truthful dramatic representation of this work, as well as how we at Porchlight approach diverse and representative casting in the future.”


Demonstrating his commitment to the ideals the musical is based on, Weber expressed his plans to reach out to cultural groups like the Chicago Inclusion Project, the Latina and Latino studies department of Northwestern University, and the Latin American and Latino studies department at DePaul University for suggestions to add Lantinx voices to the creative team.


He also invited the many individuals who reached out online and through social media expressing their disappointment with the casting decision to participate in post-performance discussions on the topic, pushing the dialogue forward. 


Such voices would likely include Tommy Rivera-Vega, who posted a stunning note detailing his disappointment with the casting choice on Facebook. 



Being Latinx is not just putting an accent, getting a cool haircut, the prominent beard, lot of hair, shuffling your feet so it looks like you can salsa. It is about who we are as people. It is about growing up and trying to understand the reason why we have to work harder than everyone else. Asking our parent(s) why all the Latinxs that we see on tv are drug dealers, or criminals, or picking fights, never successful. We rap because it is the only way we will be heard. It is about understanding that no matter how well you are doing in life, you still go back to your community to spread that love and success.



Looking forward, theaters need to understand that creating a diverse cast and crew may not be easy, but it is necessary. Not trying hard enough is no longer an excuse. 


Hudes elaborated on simple ways to prioritize diversity in casting. It might take more time, more money, and way more work, but that’s the task at hand. “You cannot just put out a casting call and hope people come and then shrug if they don’t show up,” she said.


“You may need to add extra casting calls (I do this all the time), go do outreach in communities you haven’t worked with before. You may need to reach out to the Latino theatres and artists and build partnerships to share resources and information. You may need to fly in actors from out of town if you’ve exhausted local avenues, and house them during the run.”


In other words, you must, to quote LMM’s other musical, “work!” Casting directors of the world, let’s not make this mistake again. 

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Oakland Artists Take On Gentrification As Tech Boom Threatens Their City

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As Oakland, California, undergoes massive changes, an art museum is calling on residents to speak out about being pushed from the city they call home.


“Oakland, I want you to know…” opened at the Oakland Museum of California last month and celebrates the history and culture of West Oakland, a neighborhood where rents are rising, tech workers are moving in, and longtime residents, particularly African-Americans, are being displaced.


The interactive installation ― a replica of West Oakland’s streets, shrunk to fit in a room ― is as much about community organizing as it is about art. 


Chris Treggiari, a local social practice artist who curated the show with Evelyn Orantes, OMCA’s curator of public practice, said he wanted to “create a platform that can house what the community is saying, what the community is thinking.”


“Gentrification is happening; there’s a shift in demographics; there’s displacement,” he said. “These are words that we’re hearing from the community.”


Orantes and Treggiari hope to encourage visitors to tell their own stories about living in West Oakland. The exhibition draws from interviews with residents and contributions from over 700 artists, students, residents and community groups.



The miniature city includes structures and spaces inspired by recognizable Oakland sites: a classic Victorian mansion, a historic blues club, the BART subway, a new loft, city streets and a community garden planted with felt vegetables.


Each space is centered around an aspect of the neighborhood’s identity, like its deep-rooted arts community. Treggiari hopes the semi-private spaces will allow candid and respectful conversation between friends and strangers.


To give visitors a nudge, there’s a question posted at each site. For instance, signage at the loft space, which examines race and housing, asks, “What can we build together to help the future of Oakland?”  



That’s an optimistic way to tackle the issue when some residents aren’t sure if they’ll have a future in the city at all.  


Oakland’s rents are now among the most expensive in the country, thanks to the Bay Area’s housing crunch and its growing population of tech workers. With San Francisco rents already astronomically high, Oakland’s comparatively “affordable” housing ― at least on a tech company salary ― has been steadily drawing professionals to the other side of the bay.


A number of companies are following suit: Uber will open offices in the city next year.


As tech workers stream into the city ― sometimes clashing with longtime residents ― Orantes and Treggiari would like newcomers to come away from their show with an appreciation for West Oakland’s strong community and identity. 


“I want them to understand and realize that we can’t lose this culture,” Treggiari said. “I hope the show brings that to the surface and makes people aware and starts conversations, starts people thinking, ‘Yeah, we need to preserve this and celebrate it.’”


“Oakland is an amazing place to live, and I think all of us look to San Francisco and see what we’ve got to lose if we don’t do something,” Orantes said.



OMCA’s exhibition space isn’t large, but it’s loaded with contributions from artists who have ties to West Oakland and are involved in the community.


One section includes a series of portraits shot by photographer Julie Placensia of her neighbors on Chester Street in the early 2000s. 


There’s a collection of prints from housing rights movements dating back to the ‘70s, photos of the African-American community in the city and new music from a local artist. Youth groups created a mural and a billboard. Quotations from residents are plastered on the walls, and their stories are told in video and audio interviews. 


One of the placards quotes Ericka Huggins, former member of the Black Panther Party:



“When I first came to Oakland, West Oakland was the place to be for culture, for the blues, for food, for living, and it was a huge black community, but that’s not what we see now,… You get culture, but if you are afraid of it, you can’t see it as that. You see it as other.”



The exhibition also provides a place for visitors to make posters and a station where they can write letters to their council members, which the curators will hand-deliver at the end of the exhibition in October.  



Orantes hopes the show will leave residents aware of their own power to advocate for themselves and their community.


“Someone said this is as much for the people moving in as the people who are here,” she said. “It’s a reminder that we’re not alone.”


View more of Julie Placensia’s portraits of her former neighbors below.



_____


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A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg Will Have A Street Named After Him

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Months after the tragic death of Phife Dawg, Okayplayer has received news that the legendary A Tribe Called Quest co-founder will be further immortalized with a street renaming.


“Just wanted to let every one know that the New York mayors office just called me and said the mayor is signing the bill to co-name Linden Blvd @192 to Malik “Phife Dawg” Taylor way on 8/3 at 10am at City Hall, Lower Manhattan,” Phife’s management confirmed to Okayplayer via text message.

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1,000 People Gathered To Cover David Bowie's 'Rebel Rebel' And It Was Awesome

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What happens when 1,000 people gather to pay tribute to music legend David Bowie? Rockin’ 1000, the self-proclaimed largest rock band in the world, would like to show you. 


On Monday, the group shared a video from their first-ever concert, “That’s Live,” which took place at Orogel Stadium in Cesena, Italy, in July. The clip gives people like us (who weren’t there) a little taste of the epic nature of the performance. It really is a beautiful thing to see this many people come together to honor one of the greatest musicians of our time. 


The group first went viral with their cover of “Learn To Fly” by The Foo Fighters, which was also a successful bid to get the band to play a show in Cesena. 


Rockin’ 1000 is made up of hundreds of guitarists, drummers, bass players, singers, keyboardists and even a few bagpipe players. Anyone can volunteer to become a member ― all you have to do is fill out an application form on their website

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This Anti-Obama Song Parody Would Fit Right In At A Trump Rally

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There’s been a surprising amount of attention given to music this election season. And by that, I mean, Republicans play music at their rallies without permission, and then the musicians who created that music tell them to stop.


Here’s a song that we would readily expect to hear at a Trump rally. In it, Montclair, New Jersey, band The Porchistas explores the numerous conspiracy theories involving President Barack Obama.





 


Lyrics so you can sing along!



Malcolm and Assata went to Kenya had a baby
Left him to be raised by the crazies at Madrassas
They Put him on a boat and sent him to Aloha
Little old lady, she became his grandma

She forged his birth certificate, taught him to be a commie
He took a trip to Mars where he formed the Devil’s Army
She knew the truth so he had to kill his Grandma
The Anti-Christ, The Chosen One,

(chorus)

Ebolabama - Robots are watching you
Obama-Drama - Checkin up on what you do
Hezbollah-Bama - Listening to what you say
Obama-Rama - So he can take your guns away

Went to Hollywood became a sex slave to the news
Coronated king by the liberal “woooo”
Planned 9-11 with his cousin Osama
Whose living in the basement of the White House with his Mama

Staged mass shootings to take away your guns
Leaving only non-English speaking immigrant sons
Started death panels and brought Ebola here
He killed Antonin Scalia

(chorus)

Ebolabama - Robots are watching you
Obama-Drama - Checkin up on what you do
Hezbollah-Bama - Listening to what you say
Obama-Rama - So he can take your guns away
Nazi-Obama - Conquering the Lone Star State
Zombie-Obama - Renaming it Kuwait
Talibani-Bama - Prince of Darkness has returned
Iraqi-Bama - The whole world is gonna burn


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Ballerina Misty Copeland Marries Longtime Boyfriend Olu Evans

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Ballerina Misty Copeland’s love life is on point(e)! 


On Sunday, she tied the knot with longtime boyfriend Olu Evans at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California, her manager confirmed to Us Weekly. 


One-hundred guests were in attendance as the couple said their “I dos” overlooking the ocean. The bride wore an Inbal Dror gown and Christian Louboutin shoes, according to E! News



Love this photo from my @Cosmopolitan photo shoot shot by @regancameron_! The issue is on newsstands now!

A photo posted by Misty Copeland (@mistyonpointe) on




In June 2015, Copeland made history when she became the American Ballet Theatre’s first black female principal dancer


“I’m here to be a vessel for all these brown ballerinas who have come before me,” she told Time in April 2015. 



Copeland is no bridezilla; she previously told E! News that she wanted her big day to be simple and laid-back. 


“I feel like I get to become a fairy princess on stage and wear incredible costumes and gowns to galas,” she said. “So, for me, I just want to have a simple, as easy-going day as I can have and just not have it be a big show. I just want it to be simple and classy and not feel like I’m in a tutu.”


Fellow ballerina Jennifer Whalen posted some pics from the wedding weekend on Instagram.



#celebration #summertime #beautiful #evening @driftwoodkitchn

A photo posted by jensara1 (@jensara1) on





#celebration #perfection #magical #evening @montagelaguna

A photo posted by jensara1 (@jensara1) on




The happy couple met at a club in 2004 while Evans was out with his cousin, actor Taye Diggs. Evans popped the question to Copeland in August 2015 with a sparkly cushion-cut engagement ring with a diamond halo. 




“He was my first boyfriend,” Copeland told Elle in 2014. “He taught me to communicate in ways I’d never learned before, to not run away from problems, and sit down and think about things critically. And he made me feel like I really did have a bright future as a ballerina.”


Now let’s all sit back and not-so-patiently wait until their wedding photos come out. 

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See 'Pete's Dragon' Come To Life With This Nifty Concept Art

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With Disney’s new live-action version of the underappreciated 1977 adventure “Pete’s Dragon,” the titular animal has been imagined as an out-of-this-world colossus sporting a magisterial body and a friendly face. 


The Huffington Post has an exclusive look at the initial creation of Elliott, the mysterious dragon who has lived in the woods with little Pete for years. This concept art shows early drawings by Jared Krichevsky, a creature designer who has also worked on “Maleficent,” “Edge of Tomorrow” and the new “Ghostbusters.” Check out Elliott in his early stages, compared to an image from the film below. 




Below is a photo from the movie that shows Elliott, alongside Pete, in all his regality.



Finally, watch this short video to see Elliott come to life, as influenced by Eastern mythology that treats dragons as friendly creatures. 




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Genius Dad Uses 'Pokemon Go' To Get His Kids To Do Chores

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One brilliant dad is capitalizing on the “Pokemon Go” mania to get his kids to do chores.


Dad Seth King created a new game for his kids called “Chorekemon Now!” in which kids pursue creatures like “Floormander,” which they can catch by vacuuming their rooms, and “Toiletascrub,” which becomes available once they’ve cleaned the bathroom.



King, who created the viral “Late Notes” Instagram account, posted a photo of the Chorekemon rules on Sunday.


“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” he wrote in the caption. “I put googly-eyes on all the cleaning stuff in the house. I’ve never seen my little boys more motivated. Anyone want to partner on an APP with me?”


Small parenting victories for the win!

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We Talked To A Professional ‘Hamilton’ Line-Sitter, Because That Is A Real Thing

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There are a few ways to snag tickets to the hottest show on Broadway. But your options shrink significantly if you don’t want to pay full price, put money in scalpers’ pockets, or wait months and months for your shot.


While many “Hamilton” hopefuls within a few hours’ drive of NYC simply make a habit of entering the online lottery daily, diehard fans — alongside professional line-sitters, who are paid to wait in place of someone else — hit the cancellation line. 


Those on the cancellation line can wait for it to see whether any ticket-holders cancel their seats for a performance (these tickets can also include unused seats that are generally saved for press or industry professionals). But apparently the line-waiting can get pretty intense. A quick search on Reddit brings up tales of fans finally getting their tickets or simply getting “f**ked over” after long waits. 


The Huffington Post spoke to Rhonda Witherspoon, a professional cancellation line-sitter who posts her ads on Craigslist, to see what it it’s really like waiting in the greatest city in the world to snag “Hamilton” tickets. 



How many people have taken you up on your ad?


Right now, business is pretty slow because I think people are still recovering from the fact that the original cast is gone, but I think it will pick up around fall. I’ve been doing it since April, but starting, like, the end of May, it was pretty much ... I didn’t have enough time to do the job. 


What’s the longest amount of time you’ve ever had to wait? 


I waited from Tuesday to Saturday. 


Oh, my gosh! Do you just stay in the same line the whole time? 


You pretty much have to. Once it got down to the last few weeks before the original cast left, you pretty much had to stay there the whole time. It was ... definitely an experience. 


Are you there 24/7, or do you swap places with people?


Up until May 12 you could do that. But then they instigated ... because there was a big push against, you know, a lot of people. You have the line purist people who believe that you shouldn’t pay for anyone to sit for you and all that. So there were a lot of complaints. [The] new rules — you can’t swap, you have to go in with your customer — that made it pretty hard. 






So, did fights break out on the line? 


I was dealing with two situations. One was, like, regular patrons — which were, to me, more normal, easier to deal with, people who you know, are keeping your place in line or whatever. But you have some very official, professional line-sitters, and there was a lot of sabotage. Like calling the cops on you, controlling the line, you know, pretending to be officials of the [theater]. Myself, I’ve had to write a letter to management of [the] Nederlander [Organization] and the theater. It’s pretty crazy. It’s a story within a story within a story. 


What do you bring with you to wait on line?


What I usually do is a fold-up chair, on most days, definitely a sleeping bag, a pillow — something that’s easy to fold, because you never know if they might make you [pack up]. ‘Cause that was also part of their rules [...] because they were tired of all of the stuff outside, so you couldn’t have anything. But people managed to store their things. You couldn’t have tents and all that stuff. For me, personally, it was just a pillow and my sleeping bag and a folding chair.


Can you get up to go to the bathroom and get food and stuff? 


Well, yeah, what I do is you definitely want to make friends on either side of you. It got to the point where, it got so crazy. I had a situation once where these guys were very, very aggressive and very much monopolizing — they run off several line companies but they still try to jerk around the independent line-sitters. So they would basically try to form a conspiracy against you, say you were too long somewhere, something like that, to get you kicked off the line. Everyone’s taking video of each other constantly. You know, no one trusted anyone. 



Have you seen “Hamilton” yourself? 


I have! Once they enforced the rule where you have to go in with your customer, um, I saw the show about four times. I got that bragging right! I really want to see the new cast. I’ve just started putting up new ads. This is my new run and I’m really gonna go hard. There are still a lot of people who want to see the show. It’s still sold out. 


Have you been a professional line-sitter before?


I have been. I worked for Task Rabbit and I used to do some line-sitting, you know, just for customers. That was the first time I ever did anything like that. I did it for the iPhone, and other things. And then I ran into [a professional line-sitter], who was in the cronut line passing out cards. I worked for him for a little while, but we had some creative differences. I stopped working for him and I started doing it for myself. 


Do you mainly advertise on Craigslist and by word of mouth? 


Yeah, I advertise on Craigslist and through word of mouth. A lot of people that I did “Hamilton” jobs for would often tell people about me. It was really hard, though, to book jobs early because everything changed so much from day to day. You never knew what new rule they were going to throw out there for you, you didn’t know ... it’s so unpredictable, what one week would be a 24-hour wait would jump to a three-day wait, which would jump to a five-day wait. You couldn’t properly charge by the hour all the time because it [would get expensive].


Do you have a favorite story of a moment on the line, like someone who’s wanted to see it for a long time get tickets? 


There were these little girls, young girls, they were like, in love with Anthony Ramos. [Theater officials] started cutting the line off, they said, “Oh, you guys aren’t gonna get tickets.” Right before the show starts, a patron, who had gotten into the show — he was on the line too, himself, for the cancellation line. Well, it turns out, he was an executive at Google.


I don’t know why he was on the cancellation line. I guess he was just doing it for the experience, and he felt so bad because they were crying. He came out, and while he was inside, he purchased tickets for them. At that time, tickets were over a thousand dollars. And he bought ... like, he could’ve bought that for himself! You know, I guess he just wanted to experience it. And I remember that was like, a really great moment. If you’ve ever seen four 13-year-olds lose their minds ...





Rhonda Witherspoon can be contacted for her line-sitting services through her Craigslist ad. This interview has been edited and condensed.


Read more: 


‘Hamilton’ Star On The Most Awkward Way He Was Ever Pressed For Tix

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This Ice Cream Museum Was Made For Instagram

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New York is no stranger to weird museums. There’s the Museum of Sex, the Morbid Anatomy Museum, hell, we even had a Museum of Feelings at one point.


A museum dedicated to ice cream was bound to make an appearance at some point.


The brainchild of Manhattan socialites Manish Vora and Maryellis Bunn, the Museum of Ice Cream is a pop-up museum in downtown Manhattan that’ll be making sweet dreams come true until August 31.



Located across the street from the Whitney Museum of American Art, the 30,000 tickets available for this pop-up sold out in five days.


And let us tell you: it is pure fodder for Instagram.


Tickets sold for roughly $15 each, which includes two ice creams and other various tastes throughout the several-roomed museum. The walls of each room are decked out in ice cream-themed commissioned art.



Each of the rooms is sponsored by companies like Fox, Dove, and, most importantly, Tinder. Upon entering, you’re greeted by a cheery woman under a purple light who dispenses your first cup of the sweet stuff.


The second room has cones lining the walls with matching light fixtures and features a gentleman pumping liquified sugar with helium. 



This is what happens when someone hands me a sugar balloon full of helium... #sweet #hi #museumoficecream

A video posted by Jenna Amatulli (@ohheyjenna) on




After you’ve eaten your sugar balloons, you can scoop some vegetable shortening laced with sugar onto a giant sundae while listening to an employee share some questionable ice cream history. 



There’s an unmemorable chocolate-centric room that leads into the coup de grace: the sprinkle room. A large pool of “sprinkles” (they’re actually tiny pieces of plastic... le sigh), only a few inches deep, is there for the frolicking. Pink beach balls and a mini diving board add to the aesthetic.




Let's spend every Monday night in a pool full of sprinkles... #museumoficecream #yum #yes

A photo posted by Jenna Amatulli (@ohheyjenna) on




The last two rooms include flavor-tripping tabs, lemons, an ice cream sandwich swing, and a scoop seesaw. 



Ice cream cones appear on the wall-hangings by disembodied hands. It’s very Willy Wonka-meets-Wizard of Oz, except you can sort of see the man behind the curtain (re: wall) if you peer close enough.






No word yet on whether or not the Museum of Ice Cream will appear in other cities, but if you’re really getting FOMO, you can fill your own bathtub with sprinkles! Or follow the museum on Instagram. That works too.



If all else fails, just remember that a gallon of ice cream from your local bodega is cheaper than the price of one of these tickets. How’s that for sweet?

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A Woman Photographed 500 Naked Men To Normalize The Nude Male Body

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Warning: This post contains full-frontal male nudity and may be inappropriate for work environments. 



There are very few spaces where heteronormative men need to fight for visibility.


Yet, while women’s unclothed bodies are on display everywhere from The Metropolitan Museum of Art to HBO, images of nude men are way harder to come by. Sure, depicting a naked body can lead to objectification and sexualization (as women can surely attest). But a powerful nude representation also has the power to be empowering, liberating, and, of course, beautiful. 


In 2012, photographer Abigail Ekue embarked on a mission to photograph the unclothed male body in a truthful, expressive and direct manner, a style Ekue saw was lacking in the larger cultural lexicon.


“I wanted something different from the studio-based bodyscapes or flexing physique male nudes,” she wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. Instead, Ekue was interested in everyday images of bodies at rest ― bodies that are imperfect, vulnerable, normal. 



Her project is open to all men over 21, including trans men, regardless of race, body type, tattoos, piercings, or whatever else. “No need to ‘get in shape’ or ‘tone up’ for the shoot,” Ekue writes on her website.


Thus far, she has snapped almost 500 photographs of men sans clothing, which she’s compiled into a massive nudie compendium titled Bare Men. From the start, it was important to Ekue that she capture the entire male form from head to toe, so the images resist becoming either too sexualized or too romanticized. She wanted a real person, desirable yet flawed, as we all are.


“At the beginning of the series it was a challenge getting men willing to pose and have their faces visible in the images,” Ekue told The Huffington Post. “Everyone just wants to be a cock on camera. That’s still an issue now, but to a much lesser extent.” Ekue also mentioned the difficulty of finding men of color who are willing to pose. 



Ekue photographs her subjects in their homes, an effort to make them feel as comfortable as possible. “A majority of the men I’ve worked with so far had never posed nude for a photographer before working with me so I think it’s important to have them at ease,” she said. “I like to have the man do what he’d normally do, just in the nude and with me pointing a camera at him. Sometimes a conceptual idea will strike and we’ll capture that.”


Bare Men offers a striking range of individuals and bodies, each attractive in its vulnerability and strength. Women so often live under the constant scrutiny of the male gaze, which reduces a woman’s complex being to a matter of desirability. Yet for the many men whose naked bodies are rendered invisible by mainstream culture, it becomes difficult to imagine the possibility that their bodies could be, in and of themselves, attractive. 



Euke hopes, through proliferating the available images of nude men, to tip the scales. She wants to close the gap between what a “male nude” and “female nude” communicate, while removing both the stigma and shame that surround their creation and circulation. 


“I hope the images of the Bare Men series can illustrate to viewers that naked men aren’t ugly or undesirable,” Euke said. “I want to show that, like women, some men have body-image issues due to internalized societal ideals, but also that some men are confident show-offs. A man being naked isn’t always sexual. I want to remove the stigma of male nudity being taboo and threatening.”


Purchase your copy of Bare Men here, and sign up to participate in the project by following the link.


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These Feminist Artists Are Imagining A Future Without Gender, And It's Beautiful

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Warning: This post contains nudity. NSFW? You be the judge.



The cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world,” feminist theorist Donna Haraway writes in her 1983 essay “The Cyborg Manifesto.” In Haraway’s vision of the future, boundaries dissolve between human and machine, public and private, nature and culture, social reality and science fiction. Oh yes ― man and woman as well. 


In this not-so-distant future, technology and the imagination join forces to transcend the borders we often understand as fixed, wiping out patriarchal structures in favor of a cyborg world of hybrids. When organism and machine become entwined beyond recognition, we human beings are free to construct every aspect of our identities, from our bodies to our genders and beyond. At once mythical and real, this boundless tomorrow is full of beautiful monsters. 



Haraway’s ideas are at the center of “Lifeforce,” a group exhibition featuring 24 women artists, curated by sisters Kelsey and Rémy Bennett. Mixing elements of cyborg theory with the tenets of Afrofuturism, the featured artists imagine a genderless future, in which femininity is a lived fantasy that is always in flux. 


“If you google the word ‘femininity’ the first image that comes up is of Jacob Tobia, who identifies as gender non-binary,” Kelsey and Rémy explained in an email to The Huffington Post. “The massive deconstruction of gender stereotypes which our culture is experiencing, we believe will continue to occur. If we release the pressure from our youth to conform to gender norms we can make room for a level of expression that is dictated by being human rather than of one gender or another.”



“Lifeforce” is one of a string of recent exhibitions featuring mostly all-women rosters, part of a much-needed effort to increase the representation and visibility of women artists in the art world. For the Bennetts, however, the overarching message of the work on view addresses a much larger scope than the insular art scene. 


“The level of pain that is inflicted upon us as a society for not fitting into what typically is deemed ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ is coming to a boiling point,” the curators expressed. “If we remove the pressures to conform, and head towards a more gender-fluid future, we could see positive impact. Suicide rates might go down, there could be less mass shootings, an overall sense of acceptance, which we desperately need, could begin to heal us as a society.”



Kelsey and Rémy said they “were looking for artists who, like us, can imagine a future or alternate reality that is not dictated by conformity and societal codes.” Their show features drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs and installations that remix symbols and styles typically associated with the feminine, creating butchered, alien and grotesque beauty. 


In Jessica Stoller’s porcelain sculpture “Untitled(slipper),” an orchid spreads its petals suggestively atop a bulging pile of flesh, looking at once like a woman’s backside and a pile of excess dough. Riffing on the historical demand that women be as pretty and pure as porcelain dolls, Stoller depicts the carnage such compulsions leave behind. Similarly, in Maisie Cousins’ photograph “Finger,” a single finger gently traces a flower’s anthers, the folded petals reminiscent of a woman’s genitals. The salacious scene is complicated by the juicy red liquid, seemingly blood, dribbling down both finger and flower.



The exhibit also features work by astoundingly young artists, including 16-year-old Panteha Abareshi. Abareshi, who describes her subjects on Instagram as “girls that would murder you in your sleep,” often illustrates women of color whose interior bruises are brought to the forefront. Along with romantic accents like long-stemmed roses and freshly painted nails, her muses don gaping wounds and gashes, alluding to the all-consuming pains of love and the welts that womanhood brings.


Another younger artist, 20-year-old Maggie Dunlap, pays tribute to lost feminine icons ― from Joan of Arc to Aaliyah, Sylvia Plath to Anna Nicole Smith ― with her installation “Memoriam II.” The names of women appear listed in handwritten calligraphy on either side of a wooden crucifix. An altar featuring old photographs, glass bottles and antlers rests below. 


Much of Dunlap’s work, including an earlier series based on notorious serial killers, revolves around the covert proximity between femininity and violence, or even death. “Being a woman can be (and, unfortunately, usually is) a violent experience,” Dunlap explained in an earlier interview with The Huffington Post. “From daily aggressions like catcalling and other systematic oppressions, to the fact that physical and sexual violence is something always right around the corner, looming on the horizon.”



As a whole, “Lifeforce” is undeniably dark, though the darkness should not be equated with pessimism. Rather, darkness suggests a world unknown, bubbling with possibilities and unknowable energies that can’t be categorized or controlled. Just as the color black absorbs all colors, regardless of particulars, so the dark forces of life that flow through all things make no distinction between fact and fiction, nature and machine, man and woman. 


“The exhibit has a palpable energy,” the curators put it. “It is anarchic and irreverent. It’s beautiful, dark, otherworldly, and electric ― like your guts are being tickled by a sense of enjoyable danger.” 


Lifeforce,” presented by The Untitled Space and Indira Cesarine, is on view until August 6 at the Untitled Space in Tribeca, New York.  


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This 'Joshy' Clip Is A Jewish Meet-Cute Featuring Jenny Slate And Adam Pally

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Adam Pally and Jenny Slate: dream couple. 


In the new movie “Joshy,” their characters reminisce about attending Jewish camp in a weed-induced meet-cute. These two were made for each other!


“Joshy” is about a group of guys who take advantage of their California bachelor-trip plans even though the title character, played by “Silicon Valley” star Thomas Middleditch, is no longer engaged. It’s there that Ari (Pally) and Jodi (Slate) meet, as seen in this clip, exclusive to The Huffington Post.


Opening in theaters and premiering on VOD platforms on Aug. 12, “Joshy” also stars Nick Kroll, Lauren Graham, Alex Ross Perry, Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Joe Swanberg and Jake Johnson. Watch the scene below.




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Remarkable Photos Document One Man's Journey With Mental Illness

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Tsoku Maela is not used to the spotlight. But ever since he began sharing images of his “Abstract Peaces” series ― a collection of surreal self-portraits that represent his ongoing experience with depression and anxiety ― he’s begun to think about what it means to raise awareness of himself and the countless other people who struggle with mental illness.


Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Maela started producing his self-portraits back in 2014, after experiencing a “perplexing medical emergency” that consisted of unexplained chest pain requiring hospitalization. He says the five days he spent in the hospital, undergoing tests and contemplating his mortality, inspired him to pick up a camera and document his journey looking inward through art. The resulting images translate feelings of hopelessness and fear into abstract scenes involving sharks, smoke and cracks in the wall.



Eventually, the act of evaluating the ways anxiety and depression had affected Maela’s own health and well-being prompted him to look outward, too.


Growing up in Lebowakgomo, a small town in the Limpopo province, Maela felt unable to open up to his family about his manic feelings, largely due to the cultural stigma tied to mental illness in South Africa and beyond. “Mental illness in black communities is often misunderstood, misdiagnosed or completely ignored,” Maela writes online. In an essay, he elaborated on these misconceptions:



Growing up in a black community you quickly learn that there is a list of problems that do not ‘affect’ black people:


Mentally ill? Bewitched, or you simply study too hard.


Depressed? Lighten up, you’ve been watching way too many of those white teen movies.


Seeing a psychologist? You’re weak and should probably stop that before the neighbours find out.



Upon realizing this broader picture, Maela decided to turn a personal project into an opportunity for advocacy. By sharing his poetic photos on social media, in galleries, and beyond, he wants those struggling with depression “to know that there is no shame” in voicing your stories, “only an opportunity.” An opportunity to change the way we confront mental illness by breaking the silence for others. 



We spoke to Maela over email to understand the beginnings of “Abstract Peaces” and where his advocacy is headed:


What motivated you to create “Abstract Peaces”? Was there a singular moment that sparked the series?


“Abstract Peaces” wasn’t a preconceived idea. I think some media publications may have stated otherwise. In fact, it was never supposed to be a body of work or planned out. This was [about] a person who was trying to breath during a very difficult time, trying to find themselves, trying to make sense of their struggle. And what they found was peace. 


Closer inspection of the work shows you an emotional and spiritual progression, the way the images start out with a sense of hopelessness and progresses to a more optimistic outlook on life. 


I think the moment it all came to life was the day I was discharged from hospital after five days of numerous testing and no diagnosis for a recurring chest pain. I spent a lot of time reflecting on my life in the face of uncertainty – if I die here tonight, would I have done anything I loved? – and I picked up a camera and shot my first actual image. Realizing that I could tell an entire story in a frame, I then began to diarize my journey visually. But I never thought the work would amount to anything more than a personal release.



Why do you think mental illness is misunderstood in black communities?


I’ve been trying to move away from the phrase “mental illness” of late. It’s a bit loaded and suggestive that a person is sick. I think it’s more of a mental condition, the way a person’s mind works and ticks. Society gets uncomfortable when they don’t understand something, resorting to boxes and labels, checklists and symptoms of a deviation from the norm.


The black community is a proud and strong one. One that has very little room for weakness, especially with a hyper-masculine gaze. Lest we forget, homosexuality can still be seen as a form of weakness today and it’s something we don’t speak about, or stand for or with, either. Mental health isn’t far from it. Its representation in our history and literature depicts it as a curse ― kings going mad, geniuses losing their minds, the sickly too ― that it’s no surprise that this heirloom has been passed down so effortlessly from generation to generation.


If you don’t speak about it then it doesn’t exist, I guess. But it does. And families that have to care for someone with a condition are looked down on and rarely get support from the community. African belief systems are very different to those in the West. We don’t chalk mental issues down to a science, but rather from a traditional and cultural point of view. This is partly, probably, the reason we see the stigmas prevalent in African diasporas all over the world, not only in Africa. But a lot of that has been changing globally over the years, even here at home, where we have organizations like the South Africa Depression and anxiety group that hopes to raise awareness around the topic and help those in need.



You describe depression as “an opportunity to face oneself,” explaining that this is a result of “going to places you hate the most about yourself and finding beauty.” Can you elaborate on this?


Depression is a symptom of a larger condition. Anyone can get depressed in our world with so much going on around us. It’s a categorical dissatisfaction with the quality of life you’re living. If you feel unaccomplished at 22, you may get depressed. If you feel like you can’t wear the latest designer brands, but your friends and Twitter followers are, you might get depressed. If you feel like you’re not doing what you love, you may feel depressed. Sometimes some people stay in it longer than most. You become disenchanted with your reality that the truth about who you really are at that moment becomes too much to bear.


For most people this is a terrible thing, and it’s not rocket science why one would agree, but as usual there is a second perspective to that, and that is the perspective we should all try to see. If you feel that something needs changing in your life, ask yourself what that might be. What would you rather be doing? What makes you happy? Once you’ve kind of figured it out, how can you go about it? Take a shot. Find ways to improve your quality of life.


I remember having one of my first anxiety attacks one night and feeling like everything around me was falling apart, that my life was nothing and meant nothing and would continue to mean nothing. All my fears unmasked themselves, taunting me, but at that moment I realized that fighting these fears made it worse, so I allowed myself to be consumed completely by them and accepted them as a point of navigation rather than a flaw. Now I create work I’m passionate about, the way I want to and engage in activities that fuel my energy rather than drain me. I’m practicing and medicating on self-love.



Some of your images hint at Surrealism, particularly the photos of shark fins and floating umbrellas and smoke. Were you intentionally drawn to Surrealism, or the idea of art reflecting the unconscious mind?


I’ve always been drawn to the abstract. Straight lines and defined edges make me nervous (haha). I never really had friends my age and always had a problem with authority. As an eccentric child, my mind always ran away with me and I got bored easily, so in high school I found comfort in reading Einstein’s books on relativity, writing poetry, listening to jazz, playing chess and romanticizing the fantasy of a lunch date with Salvador Dalí and Nikola Tesla. My dreams are so vivid, too, sometimes I can’t tell whether I’m dreaming or not and a lot of my work draws inspiration from them.


So this form of expression comes very natural to me. In fact, I find it harder to take a normal portrait or digest a mundane reality represented in a more normal looking piece of art or work. I also feel that this form of expression allows you to break the boundaries of reality and tap into the unseen. An element that mankind has lost sight of amidst the race to get to the top. It’s a science that requires precision to make the ambiguous slightly more tangible and comprehensible.



You mentioned in an interview with Hyperallergic that the act of showcasing your series in a gallery ― a traditionally white space ― might not be the best way to raise awareness of mental conditions in black communities. Have you thought more about where you would take your series if not a gallery or museum?


Yeah, for sure. It’s been on my mind for the longest time, because presenting a body of work is good and well but what are the actions to change that status-quo? 


I’m still learning, as you can imagine. I’m meeting more people like me and being out there is still very new for me. We’re starting to think outside of the series, as a matter of fact. I don’t think contemporary and poetic representation is going to cut it if change is to happen. Don’t get me wrong, the body of work has had an impact in raising awareness and giving a lot of people the courage to step up, but the root is structural and in the communities.


Some friends of mine and I have been trying to put together a short visual that documents normal faces we walk past in society every day, people we would never suspect to be living with a mental condition and asking what if they were? Would you look past everything they have done, who they are, based on that one factor?


We are hoping that this will be shared with students, schools and mainstream media, to educate the youth early on. And we will be looking for ways to collaborate with those that have already been working toward the same end. But it’s still very early stages and we are not rushing ourselves for the sake of relevance. The youth is already talking and acting, but I am not under any illusions, there is still so much to be done and collaboration within the black community will be key.



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