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This Pop-Up Museum Chronicles The History Of Reproductive Rights In America

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A piece of cotton root bark, a twisted metal coat hanger, and a pack of birth control pills are among the objects on display this week in a pop-up museum dedicated to the history of abortion rights and contraceptive access in America.

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High School Janitor Wows With Sam Cooke Classic At Orchestra Recital

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A janitor who cleans Omaha Burke High School in Nebraska blew the doors off the place last week when he gave a killer performance during an orchestra recital.


Video of Roy Smith belting out the 1964 Sam Cooke hit "A Change Is Gonna Come" has since gone viral. Wearing a bright pink suit, he hit all the right notes in all the right places.






According to Inside Edition, Smith has been singing since he was 13 years oldHe was offered a recording deal in his early 20s, but turned it down because he thought it was too risky. Nowadays, he mainly sings with gospel groups.


Last Tuesday's performance may be the first time his talent was revealed to a wider audience. Smith, who's originally from New Orleans, said he's more known for singing while going about his job.


"Whistle while you work, that's my motto," he told ABC News. "I'm like that every day. It brings joy to the students. The ones that are down and out, I give them something to cheer them up."


See how his version compares to the original:




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'White Walker' Creates Stunning 'Game Of Thrones' Snow Art

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Just call him a real-life White Walker.


Simon Beck celebrated the much-awaited return of "Game of Thrones" with this spectacular snow art.


He spent 13 hours trudging 64,800 steps in the Les Arcs ski resort of the French Alps. He created a gigantic direwolf's head, the sigil of House Stark, alongside the show's most famous catchphrase: "Winter is Coming."





According to Digital Spy, Beck first sketched out his plans for the enormous tribute on paper before using a tape measure and an orienteering compass as his guide.


"The first thing you've got to work out is which way round you're going to turn the drawing and where to start it so you don't run off the edge of it," Beck said in footage posted online on Monday.


"The second stage is measuring a skeleton of accurately plotted lines that go through the drawing, and once you've got enough points measured out you can then do a join-up-the-dots process," he added.





Beck worked on the art with British TV channel Sky Atlantic, which premieres the sixth season of the HBO show in the U.K. on Apr. 24. 


He's well-known for his snow masterpieces, and we've previously covered his work here, here and here


Beck has also tried his hand at sand art in the past:





And he's even talked about his passion in a TEDx Talk:




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Historical Fiction Gets No Respect -- Here's Why It Should

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When Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and other novels about Thomas Cromwell became surprise international bestsellers several years back, it wasn't their length or literary aspirations that made the books' popularity surprising to commentators: It was the subject matter.


James Wood, The New Yorker's finicky fiction reviewer, deemed Mantel's books good despite being "historical novels, a somewhat gimcrack genre not exactly jammed with greatness." In The Nation, Leo Robson noted, "Historical fiction has become a byword for middlebrow wasteland." His piece proposed that two white female British authors, Mantel and Penelope Fitzgerald, could be credited with saving the reputation of historical fiction nearly singlehandedly. In a profile of Mantel in The New Yorker, Larissa MacFarquhar observed that "these days the historical novel is not quite respectable. It has difficulty distinguishing itself from its easy sister the historical romance. It is thought to involve irritating ways of talking, or excessive descriptions of clothes."


Ouch.


For authors who aren't Mantel, pursuing historical fiction can be a ding to their reputation, stamping them as mediocre or less interested in literary accomplishment than playing in a historical sandbox. Author Katy Simpson Smith, whose second novel, Free Men, was published last month, told The Huffington Post in an email that she's definitely noticed this stigma. "I'm not sure why," she added, "since so much of our great literature is about the past."


Free Men is the second historical novel from Smith, who holds not only an MFA in creative writing, but a PhD in history. Like her first novel, The Story of Land and SeaFree Men takes place in the post-Revolutionary coastal South, which Smith studied academically, and examines the stew of social disorder, racial oppression, and shifting alliances that defined the nascent American region.


Also like her first novel, Free Men marries exhaustive research into the time period with effortless prose and insight into her characters that makes a story from several centuries ago feel immediate. In Smith's full email conversation with HuffPost, she shared more about her process for writing a historical novel, her new book, and her frustration with the stigma attached to historical fiction. 



Free Men is your second historical novel set in the post-Revolutionary South, and you also studied the period academically. What compels you to focus on this era and region?


I'm fascinated by the early stages of this country -- shouldn't we all be wondering how we got this way, for better or worse? -- and the South is such a perfect crucible of developing ideas on race and class and gender. Marginalization here was increasingly the order of the day, and I've found myself obsessed with figuring out how those on the edges of power fought back. 


Free Men is based on an actual historical event. How did you stumble across the story? What made you feel drawn to turn it into a novel?


I was researching a very different story when I found myself knee-deep in the geography of south Alabama, wondering how on earth a place called Murder Creek got its name. Turns out it's exactly how you'd think! There's a great 19th-century history of Alabama that includes descriptions of the culprits (a white man, a black man, and an Indian man), and I thought that unlikely trio was begging to be unpacked. 


Was taking on the voices of such a diverse cast of characters, including a Native American and black slaves, daunting? How did you approach trying to make sure their stories and voices were resonant and truthful?


Absolutely -- as a writer, you can never walk into someone else's head without a certain terror. But I also knew that a story about the early South without black and Native voices was even more irresponsible, so I was going to try my darnedest. Which meant: combining as much knowledge about their historical context as possible with an unwavering empathy and an awareness of my own cultural blind spots. And, of course, this turns out to be the same basic recipe for writing any character. 


You have degrees in both creative writing and history -- when did you know you'd write historical fiction?


I was writing historical fiction as early as middle school (I had a story, e.g., about a girl my age growing up in a medieval Welsh castle -- because why not!), but as I got older I think I veered toward history as the most rational way to indulge my love of stories. But there's a big dream in all of us that's struggling to find its way out, and for me, that was fiction writing.  


Have you ever written fiction in a contemporary setting, or would you ever?


I have written a few contemporary short stories but felt out of my element, weirdly. I don't consider myself solely a historical novelist, though, so I will happily go wherever the stories take me! 


How do you balance making your fiction feel fluid and natural with adhering to the historical accuracy? Do you ever find this to be a struggle?


It is indeed tough, and one's initial impulse as a historian is to Get the Facts Right, but there's a larger purpose in fiction, and I've had to teach myself that those factual details are just handmaidens to the story. I want this world to be fully and clearly eighteenth-century, but I want its reach and relevance to be much broader than that. 



It's the story that will burrow into the hearts of readers, not the petticoats.



What is your approach to research? Do you do lots of research specifically for a novel, research as you go, or try to immerse yourself more generally in the time period instead of doing focused research?


I've been fortunate that my first two novels have sprung from the same period as my academic research, so I have a foundational knowledge of this world on which to build. But I invariably run into all sorts of things I don't know (How do you steer a sailing ship? What birds sing in the Alabama woods in March?), and it's fun to take breaks from the writing to go down those research paths. If I tried to do all the research at the beginning, I'd still be at it! It's good to know one's weaknesses. 


Do you have any advice for aspiring historical novelists?


Again, I'd say: put the story first. It's the story that will burrow into the hearts of readers, not the petticoats. Do the research, but then feel free to put most of what you learned in a separate folder, only to be pulled out when readers ask about your research process. 


Historical fiction isn't exactly a clear-cut genre as sci-fi, romance, or fantasy are, though it does tend to cross over here and there (historical romance, for example, is a huge subgenre). Do you ever feel that historical fiction carries a stigma compared to literary fiction with a more contemporary focus?


YES. And I'm not sure why, since so much of our great literature is about the past. Is a human 100 years ago worth less than a human today? Does a story set 100 years ago need to be more brilliant than a story set today, just to claim the adjective "literary"? Is it considered a "genre" because most contemporary readers are only interested in what's around them? And isn't that narrow, given that literature should be a project of horizon-expanding? You can tell I've thought a lot about this, and have reached no conclusions. 


Are there any other writers of fiction set in the past you particularly admire or enjoy?


There are so many who do it well -- my personal pantheon includes Edward P. Jones, Charles Johnson, Toni Morrison, Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Hilary Mantel -- but I've recently gotten excited about poets who are taking up the work of marrying imagination and history, especially in the South: Natasha Trethewey, Nikky Finney, Derrick Harriell. 


You've also published nonfiction historical research before; do you ever plan to write history again in the future?


I don't have plans to write a straightforward history again, only because fiction is so deeply satisfying to me right now.  


Have you started working on another book, or thinking about one? If so, could you share anything about your next subject?


I have! I'm in the early stages, so I'm entirely lacking confidence, but if it ever sees the light of day, it'll be a parable of Rome, with blood and guts and love and faith. 

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Celebrate Women’s History Month With 11 Fabulous New Books By Women

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March is Women’s History Month, a great time to cozy up with a novel or a smart work of nonfiction penned by a woman.


There are too many to choose from those published this year alone: Nancy Jo Sales’ examination of cell phone-centric dating, Tessa Hadley’s moving portrait of the past, Amber Sparks’ surreal settings.



American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales


As if the first foray into dating isn’t scary enough, today’s teens’ experiences are complicated further by SnapChat, texting, and other modes of constant contact. It’s easy to jump to conclusions about how social media messes with young girls, but Nancy Jo Sales -- author of The Bling Ring -- lets the teens she interviewed do the talking. The result is a powerful narrative about the timeless weirdness of puberty, and the strange new ways kids experience it.



13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad


These connected stories explore body image and the impossible beauty standards women are expected to adhere to. Protagonist Lizzie (or Beth, or Elizabeth -- her name transforms along with her) remains obsessed with food, even after she sheds extra pounds due to a strict routine. Here, Awad expertly comments on weight and identity, which she sees as inextricably intertwined. The story is funny, and avoids clichés.


Read our interview with Mona Awad.



The Vegetarian by Han Kang


First published in South Korea in 2007, Kang’s connected stories offer up three different perspectives on one girl’s choice to become a vegetarian. That eating habits are a deeply personal decision isn’t lost on the author, who decides to tell the story from perspectives other than the subject herself, illustrating the social implications of our food preferences.


Read our review of The Vegetarian.



The Past by Tessa Hadley


Domestic fiction meets the acuity of a biology textbook in Hadley’s story of a three-week-long family reunion. Writes Claire Fallon on HuffPost: “A lushly written novel about four siblings revisiting their family’s country home, The Past reads like the lovechild of a nature essay and domestic drama, with all the joys of both.”


Read our review of The Past.



Innocents and Others by Dana Spiotta 


Female friendships are having a moment in fiction right now -- which isn’t to say they haven’t been examined beautifully in the past, but that these narratives are now in the critical spotlight more than ever. Spiotta’s book is a great addition to the canon: two women filmmakers who don’t agree on their craft, but manage to maintain a close relationship in spite of it all.



Free Men by Katy Simpson Smith


Based on a true story, Katy Simpson Smith’s Free Men follows a clan breathlessly escaping the law -- they’re wanted for murder, and are fleeing the charges while reflecting on all that they’ve left behind. Smith has studied both writing and history, and her work within the genre of historical fiction adds a fresh voice to a sometimes stigmatized genre.


Read our interview with Katy Simpson Smith.



All the Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister 


Until very recently, the average age for a woman to get married was 20-22. But a big, recent shift has bumped the age up to 27, marking a major change in how women live their lives. Traister delves into the trend, and its social and economic implications. The author is a great reporter, and pieces together interview upon interview with single women and scholars, creating a comprehensive look at womanhood today.



The Unfinished World by Amber Sparks


When you think of fairy tales, you probably think of happy endings rather than violent scenes and peculiar characters. But the age-old stories might be grittier than you remember. Staying true to the genre, Sparks’s collection of short, surreal tales takes readers back in time, and all the way up to outer space. Her voice is pithy and confident; her plots are lovely and coruscating.



The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie


A quirky love story, made quirkier by its protagonists’ warring interests in environmental protection and pharmaceutical inventions. In a review of the book, I wrote that McKenzie “accurately and funnily captures the complexities of modern families, made knotty by the work we’re encouraged to do in our individual lives. Think The Corrections meets The Wallcreeper -- where the warring wants of career-centric success and familial harmony converge, tension and comedy emerge.


Read our review of The Portable Veblen.



My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout


A slim novel written in concise language, this book would appeal to fellow writers and readers alike. From our review: “A brief, meditative novel contemplating the bonds of family and community over the years, and the quietly tragic ways they stretch and break, My Name Is Lucy Barton may not be entirely captivating, but it is a poignant and skillfully drawn read.”


Read our review of My Name Is Lucy Barton.



The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer


For fans of Room and other stories narrated by children, Hamer’s book is narrated by a lost girl and her emotionally lost mother. It’s a fast-paced debut well-suited for book clubs.


Also on HuffPost:


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The Life Of Forgotten Feminist Artist Ana Mendieta, As Told By Her Sister

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Ana Mendieta was interested in blood. In part, her fascination with the stuff stemmed from the violence against women she witnessed in her lifetime, beginning when a student was raped and murdered on her college campus. But the obsession also stemmed from her knowledge of rituals practiced in the Afro-Cuban religion Santería, in which chicken's blood is offered as sacrifice. And, of course, the fact that the viscous fluid pulses through all of our veins, threading us together. 


When women write, their words are often assumed to be confessional. When Ana made images, she was interpreted through a similar lens. When the radical, dynamic and irrepressible artist died under tragic and mysterious circumstances at 36 years old, her haunting work was read like an omen. But to view her work in light of her death is to miss its essence. "Her death has really nothing to do with her work," Ana's sister Raquelin Mendieta told The Guardian. "Her work was about life and power and energy and not about death."


Ana was a Cuban-born multidisciplinary artist whose work floated weightlessly between performance, sculpture, earth art, photography and film. Born in 1948 in Havana, Cuba, she fled to the United States with her sister at a young age, eventually settling in the Midwest. Ana's work is uncanny in its ability to feel at once radically progressive and ancient, vibrating with a feminine power that stretches back to the earliest human rites. 


In one of her most well known pieces, "Imagen de Yagul," Ana documented her unclothed body in a pre-Hispanic tomb at the Mesoamerican site of Yagul, covered in a spray of white flowers. The foliage consumed her silhouette, obscuring her body and rendering her an otherworldly hybrid. In her 1974 piece, "Untitled (Body Tracks)," Ana created a wall drawing on camera, drenching her forearms in blood and slowly dragging them down a white wall. The resulting imprint resembles the marks left by a corpse that's been dragged off screen. 


Lesser known are Ana's experimental films -- on view now in "Ana Mendieta: Experimental and Interactive Films" at Galerie LeLong in New York -- despite the fact that she made over 100 throughout her lifetime. Like her more recognized performances and photographs, Ana's films are characterized by a haunting combination of presence and absence, manifested in scratches on the emulsion of celluloid film or filmed reactions to blood poured onto an unassuming sidewalk.



The exhibition at Galerie LeLong came into being thanks, in part, to the tireless work of Ana's older sister Raquelin. Since Ana's death, Raquelin has taken it upon herself to ensure her sister's name and legacy live on. While Ana's works are so often framed in the context of her death, Raquelin describes her sister in life, not only as one of the most influential feminist makers and overlooked artists of our time, but as a perky, fearless, confrontational young woman who let nothing and no one get in her way.


Their story begins when Ana and Raquelin were sent by their father to the United States in 1961 to flee Castro's regime. The sisters were two of 14,000 children to immigrate to America unaccompanied by adults. Anna was 12, Raquelin had just turned 15. On the plane that brought them to Florida, all passengers were under 18 years old.


"I didn’t want to leave," Raquelin explained in an interview with The Huffington Post. "I was very upset. I remember in the airport crying the whole time." Ana, however, was more excited. "She had this image in her mind from all the teenage movies that were in fashion. The parties, the teenagers going around in convertible sports cars, going to the beach and having fun." 


The plan was to send the children away for six months or so until political tensions in Cuba died down. The Mendieta girls and their parents expected the family to reunite in Cuba within the year; however, they did not. Through a collaborative program run by the U.S. government and Catholic charities, the sisters stayed in a refugee camp before relocating to Iowa, where they passed through various foster homes and institutions. During their first two years in the United States, the sisters moved eight times. With every move, they let go of the friendships they'd forget, knowing they would not be back. For the most part, the sisters had only each other. 


The Mendieta parents had signed a power of attorney declaring that the sisters not be separated. They told Raquelin to look after her younger sister, which is what she'd always done.


In our interview, Raquelin described her sister as forward, sociable, energetic and active. "She was a prankster, joking around a lot, playing tricks on people. She wouldn’t sit still for a second ... I, on the other hand, especially when I was around people I didn’t know very well, was very shy and timid. It was hard for me to deal with new people." When they moved to Iowa, however, Ana took it harder, at least on the outside. "I had to be the spokesperson for us," Raquelin said. "Once we got here she was very upset and crying all the time. I had to hold it in to be a role model for her."


School was, according to Raquelin, "not a good place." Back home, the Mendieta sisters lived sheltered, middle class lives and attended an all-girls private Catholic school. In Iowa, they were put in a reform school, where most of the other students had been sent by the court to avoid a state institution. Cursing, fighting, and violence were rampant. 


The sisters didn't speak much English. They'd studied it in school, but their vocabulary was limited. "We could say 'this is a boy, this is a girl, this is a pencil,'" Raquelin said. "To have a conversation was very difficult, to understand someone speaking was even worse."


Both sisters found solace in art. Ana became interested when she was a junior in high school; Raquelin, at this point, had graduated from high school and was studying art in college herself. Teachers told Ana she didn't have any talent, but she wasn't dissuaded. "I don't care! I like it!" Raquelin recalled her saying. 


Ana began college as a French major and art minor but soon switched them around. She worked mostly in drawing and some sculpture. After two years, she transferred to the University of Iowa, where she earned a bachelor's and master's in painting and an M.F.A. in intermedia. Just before graduation, Ana became particularly interested in performance art, "happenings," as Raquelin referred to them with amusement. 



During college, much of Ana's work focused on blood and violence toward women, resulting from a rape and murder of a university student on her campus. "People were scared," Raquelin said. "We didn’t know who this person was, if he was around the corner, if we could be next. It was a small university town where hardly stuff like this ever happens." In her apartment, Ana tied herself to a table for two hours and remained motionless, her naked body smeared with cow's blood. She invited male students to drop by the apartment, thereby becoming witnesses to a "murder."


At the same time, Ana explored other matters, matters less of this earth. In 1973 and 1974, her art revolved around the idea of a single thread connecting everything. In her words: "My art is grounded in the belief of one universal energy which runs through everything: from insect to man, from man to spectre, from spectre to plant, from plant to galaxy."


"She was interested in spiritual things, religious things, primitive rituals, from Mesoamerica, the Mayas and the Aztecs, Afro-Cuban traditions. What connected her with nature and basic humanity. Things that are true for almost all cultures," Raquelin explained. "She wasn’t afraid of using any kind of medium -- drawing, painting, sculpture, gunpowder, film. She didn’t feel any limitations to what she could do."


Beginning in 1973, Ana began a sculptural performance series called "Siluetas," in which she hid her naked body in surrounding natural landscapes -- sand, earth, snow, trees, grass, ice, and rocks -- blurring the boundaries between woman and Mother Nature. In another iconic series, known as "earth-body" sculptures, Ana stuck and spread blood, feathers, flowers and dirt across her flesh in varied combinations.


"My works are the irrigation veins of this universal fluid," Ana said. "Through them ascend the ancestral sap, the original beliefs, the primordial accumulations, the unconscious thoughts that animate the world."


In the sites and materials she selected, Ana was always very particular to incorporate the spaces and places she held close to her. Because of her uprooting at a young age, she grappled with feelings of belonging, impermanence and place. For her initial silhouette, Ana went to an ancient Zapotec grave. "She would collect earth from certain places she held dear -- Cuba, The Nile. She called it a charge. An object would have a charge, it would have the vibration of that place," Raquelin added.


"She wanted to leave her mark on everything," curator Howard Oransky explained, "and she used her body to merge with the history of a place. The land and earth became a metaphor for family and love and culture. You can sense a yearning for what she lost as a child, and that is powerful."



In college, both Ana and Raquelin studied art, but there was never a sense of competition between them. "We were exchanging ideas a lot but our work was very different," Raquelin said. "We had the kind of relationship where I felt like I was watching over her, and she was looking up to me ... There was never really a competition."


Besides, they had to watch each other's backs. Even in art school, Raquelin remembers the discrimination they faced as women. Raquelin, who married before her senior year, had a drawing teacher tell her to "go home and wash your dishes." Professors paid nearly all their attention to their male students. Ana, however, was able to tune out the debasement.


"She felt she was free to speak her mind," Raquelin said. Ana managed to ignore the whispers of Cuban tradition, the voice advising you to respect your professors. She felt equal to them and thus able to contradict them. "She was not afraid of telling people what she thought of them. She fought for herself and what she believed in. She didn’t feel constricted by the expectations they had of what a woman should do."


After graduate school, Ana moved to New York and her work gained more and more recognition. In 1978, she joined Artists In Residence, Inc. (A.I.R. Gallery), the first gallery dedicated specifically to women artists in the U.S. At the gallery, Ana met the man who would become her husband, minimalist sculptor Carl Andre. He was serving on a panel titled "How has women's art practices affected male artist social attitudes?"


Before long the name Ana Mendieta meant something. "I was not surprised," Raquelin said. "Her work was very powerful to me, very special. I could see she had that spark. She was never afraid of anything. Nothing Ana ever did surprised me."


For those who knew her, Ana's mainstream success was only a matter of time. "I never had any doubts about it that it would happen," Raquelin said. "Her career was cut short by her death. She had all this encouragement; the art world was saying to her: you are accepted. Your work means something. It's important."



Sadly, Ana died on September 8, 1985, after the artist fell from the window of her 34th floor apartment in Greenwich Village. Her husband was in the apartment with her just before. Neighbors heard fighting. A doorman heard a woman screaming "No, no, no, no," before hearing the artist's body thud onto the roof of the deli 33 floors down. Andre had scratches on his nose and forearm.


Andre was tried and acquitted for Ana's murder, found not guilty on grounds of reasonable doubt. The defense argued Ana's death was suicide, and utilized her haunting artwork to back up the claim. Ana's circle believed she was incapable of killing herself when her work was finally receiving the recognition she'd sought. Also, she was scared of heights. 


Ana's death split the art world in half, with many prominent artists leaping to shelter Andre from the so-called "feminist cabal." While they deemed Ana's death a tragedy, many felt the incident wasn't worth putting a damper on "Andre's brilliant career." From this dark perspective, the loss of a Hispanic woman's life was not worth tarnishing a white male artist's name. 


On the other side, artists like Carolee Schneemann and activist group the Guerrilla Girls were horrified both by the event and the subsequent handling of it. "We were all stunned by her violent death," the Guerrilla Girls told The Observer. "We witnessed how the art world closed around Andre to shield him." Outside of Andre's Dia:Beacon retrospective in 2014, protestors donning sheer track suits reading "I Wish Ana Mendieta Was Still Alive," trickling chicken blood along the pavement. 


"When she was taken from us it was very traumatic," Raquelin said. "She was my best friend and my sister." their mother couldn't deal with the pain, and asked Raquelin to take charge of gathering all Ana's work and belongings -- from Iowa, New York, Rome, and wherever else. "I had to read all the letters and notebooks and sketchbooks. It was a very healing experience. It continues to be. I feel like I’m still in touch with her. I still have her in my life. Her physical form is gone but her essence is still here, it’s still with me."



Raquelin knew there was nothing more important to her sister than her work. "I felt like if her work was not looked after and promoted, she could not rest in peace." She joined forces with a group of Ana's friends to form the Ana Mendieta Committee, devoted to finding a venue to host a solo show of Ana's work. This wish came true in 1987, when Ana received a solo retrospective at the New Museum in New York. 


After the exhibition, the committee disbanded, and Raquelin took it upon herself to send out the bios and market the work, the banal tasks the artist normally would have done. Raquelin formed a partnership with Galerie LeLong, which now represents Ana's work. "Going there, helping install, seeing that everything is set the way she would like it to be. That has been my life’s work since she passed away."


More recently, due to health issues, Raquelin has had less time to devote to Ana's oeuvre. Her daughter and Ana's niece, filmmaker Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, played a large role in preparing Galerie LeLong's ongoing exhibition "Ana Mendieta: Experimental and Interactive Films," which features 15 film works from the artist, nine of which had never before been seen. 


After asking Raquelin if it feels strange to watch Ana rise to such legendary heights today, she replied: "I don’t feel there is too much of a difference between now and then," she said. "I think it would have happened eventually whether she was alive or dead."


Over the years, Raquelin has carried on Ana's artistic legacy, a legacy that fittingly balances presence and absence, love and healing, life, death and rebirth. "I have continued my relationship with my sister through the work," Raquelin said. "My purpose was to let her know that it was okay, that I was taking care of her still. Through that, she was taking care of me."


"Ana Mendieta: Experimental and Interactive Films" runs until March 26, 2016 at Galerie LeLong in New York. 



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Awesomely Vintage Baby Names From The 19th Century

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Records on baby names only started to be tabulated in the U.S. in 1880, and so getting an accurate read on what babies were named before that has been difficult at best. But now a researcher named Douglas Galbi has compiled lists of baby names drawn from census records of the early 19th century. Nameberry combed through Galbi's data on baby names from 1800 to 1850 in search of trends, patterns, and vintage baby names that go way beyond the expected JohnMary, Elizabeth and James.


Biblical Names


Religious names, particularly from the Bible, were prominent in the early 19th century. Girls’ names most frequently found are Mary, used more than twice as often as the number two name, Elizabeth (until 1840, when it became Sarah). Other popular Biblical names for girls were Martha, Ann, Hannah, Rebecca, Rachel and Lydia. More unusual religious names for girls include Christia, Dinah, Dorcas, Electa (which relates to Freemasonry), Kesiah, Jemima, Mahala and Tabitha.


But along with common names like John, James, and Joseph were more unusual Biblical names for boys like Abner, Amos, Asa, Ebenezer, Hezekiah, Hiram, Job, Lemuel, Luther, Moses, Obadiah, Reuben and Thaddeus.


Names From Mythology Or History


Early 19th century Americans revered the classics, with names from mythology or ancient history widely used. These include Cyrus, Erasmus, Homer, Horace, Leonidas and Newton for boys. For girls, the popular classical names include Fidelia, Hulda, Leta, Minerva, Narcissa, Parthena and Sophrona.


Americana Names


In the century after the birth of the United States, names that honored American places and heroes were popular. For girls, these included America, Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee. Americana names for boys included Columbus, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Washington.


Gender-Swapping Names


Names in common use for boys from 1800 to 1850 include several choices now found more often for girls. These include Addison, Elisha, Ellis, Emery, Loren, Madison and Marion.


Modern-Sounding Names


Among the old-school Lavinias and Hezekiahs are several names that feel more like modern inventions. For girls, these include Angel, Keri, Lee, Lou, Marci and Rox. Boys’ names with a modern feel include August,Jesse, Miles, Perry, Riley, Taylor and Wesley. Other names with a contemporary style include such nature- and word-inspired names like Dahlia, Easter and Olive for girls and Almond, Green and Pleasant for boys.


Lost Names


Of course there are many names on the rolls for 1800-1850 that are rarely found today. Some names were spelled differently then than they are now, for instance: Malinda, Malissa, Phebe. In addition, names such as Permilia, thought to be an antiquated form of Pamela, as well as Electa, Fidelia, Hulda, Narcissa, Parthena and Sophrona do not appear at all on the 2014 U.S. baby name records.


Boys names found in the records for the first half of the 19th century that do not appear at all on the complete baby names list for 2014 include Adalbert, Erasmus and Lafayette. A number of others hang on with just a handful of modern bearers. These include Chauncy, Elbert, Enos, Granville and Lyman.


Popular Names


While Mary and John held tight to the number one spots through the first half of the 19th century, many of the most popular names of the era are popular and stylish again today, some of them after a long decline (or two) and rebirth. These include Alice, Charlotte, Clara, Emily, Isabella, Julia, Laura and Sophia for girls and Benjamin, Charles, Daniel, Henry Jacob, James, Samuel, and William for boys.

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Mystery Solved? Scientists Reveal Banksy's Identity

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This article originally appeared on artnet News on March 4.



A study conducted by scientists at London's Queen Mary University claims to have discovered the identity of Banksy by using geographic profiling, a technique used to catch serial criminals. The academic research identified the anonymous graffiti artist as Robin Gunningham.


Geographic profiling is a sophisticated statistical analysis technique used in criminology to locate repeat offenders. The scientists looked for a correlation between 140 artworks in London and Bristol attributed to Banksy, and 10 commonly touted names purported to be the elusive street artist.


“The pseudonymous artist Banksy is one of the UK's most successful contemporary artists, but his identity remains a mystery. The model takes as input the locations of these artworks, and calculates the probability of ‘offender' residence across the study area," the authors write in the paper.


According to The Independentthe analysis revealed a series of hotspots, narrowing down a number of areas for the researchers to investigate further. The hotspots included a pub, a playing field, a residential address in Bristol, and three addresses in London.


After cross-referencing the hotspots with publicly accessible information on the list of 10 potential Banksy "candidates," the researchers found that each of the hotspots were places lived in or frequented by Gunningham—a name identified as Banksy by a 2008 newspaper investigation.


“I'd be surprised if it's not [Gunningham], even without our analysis, but it's interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it," Steve Le Comber, a biologist and co-author of the study, told the BBC.


“What I thought I would do is pull out the 10 most likely suspects, evaluate all of them and not name any. But it rapidly became apparent that there is only one serious suspect, and everyone knows who it is. If you Google Banksy and Gunningham you get something like 43,500 hits," he said.


But does the study hold weight? There have been several attempts to unmask the mysterious street artist. Individuals thought to be Banksy have been arrested outside London and in New York. Others identified him as a parking attendant, and some say Banksy is in fact female.


The authors maintain the artist's identity isn't really the point. They say the purpose of the study is to use the identification of Banksy as an example of how geographical profiling can help catch more serious criminals.


“These results support previous suggestions that analysis of minor terrorism-related acts (e.g., graffiti) could be used to help locate terrorist bases before more serious incidents occur, and provides a fascinating example of the application of the model to a complex, real-world problem," the report states.


But for fans (and haters) of the elusive street artist this could be a huge revelation indeed. Meanwhile, Banksy's own website was offline this morning, UK time.


Follow artnet News on Facebook. 

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Northern Lights Mesmerize UK And Germany In Rare Appearance

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On Sunday night, some lucky people in parts of the United Kingdom and Germany were treated to a rare sighting of the northern lights.


The lights, also known as polar aurorae, appear when particles from the sun enter the Earth's atmosphere near the magnetic poles of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, colliding with oxygen and nitrogen particles that emit a range of light as a result.


The colors of the aurorae depend on the types of gas particles involved and the altitude at which the reaction occurs. Oxygen reactions emit greenish-yellow aurorae at lower altitudes, as can be seen in the time-lapse video above, and red aurorae at higher altitudes. Nitrogen gives off blue lights at lower altitudes and purple at higher altitudes.



Polar aurorae are most often visible in regions nearer the North and South poles, such as Iceland, Greenland, Alaska and southern New Zealand and Australia. The lights are called are aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere, and aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere.


Many people flock to these areas to "chase" the aurorae, or locate spots with clear skies and a lack of light pollution to see the lights at their best.


People in the U.K. and Germany were able to view the northern lights on Sunday because the particles entered the Earth's atmosphere and collided with the oxygen and nitrogen particles at a particularly high speed, according to the Met Office, the U.K.'s national weather service.


Take a look at some mesmerizing photos of the northern lights that photographers and social media users captured:























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19 (Totally Real) Cringeworthy Casting Calls, Read By Women

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When actresses look for jobs, they are met with casting like the following:


"She loves being a woman so she probably wears a push-up bra."


"Please only apply if you are of slender build as performance space is limited."


To shine the spotlight on this ridiculous -- and very particular -- brand of sexism that exists in the entertainment industry, three friends had women read completely insane, but very real casting calls. In under five minutes, things go from kind of creepy to downright cringeworthy.


The video is part of Casting Call, The Project, a venture from artists Julie Asriyan, Laura Bray and Jenna Ciralli that addresses the frustratingly sexist way women's roles are often advertised in casting calls. Inspired by a Tumblr blog called Casting Call Woe which gathers such descriptions online, the project includes a video of women reading sexist casting calls aloud. Some perpetuate stereotypes like the "nerdy type of girl," while others are blatantly ageist with different age requirements for men and women. With bits like having cleavage as "her best feature" to "being gagged briefly," the descriptions for the roles range from laughable to kind of disturbing.





According to the project's website, Asriyan, Bray and Ciralli hope to use Casting Call, The Project to spark positive change in the entertainment industry, and improve the variety of roles offered to women.


"We are hoping that this fun and cathartic project will contribute to the conversation about the deeply flawed ideas of female characters and work for women in the arts in general," they wrote. 


H/T The Cut

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Fall Into A Deep Trance Watching Calligraphy Pens In Motion

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In theory, an Instagram account devoted to close-ups of pens doesn't sound all that appealing. And then you watch one of the short, surprisingly lavish videos from King Blotto III, where colored ink flows fluidly in perfectly formed strokes, looping and swirling like the most natural of dances. 


And then you watch it again. And again. Maybe one more time.




The master calligrapher known as King Blotto III posts short and strangely delicious videos of pens in motion. Whether you're a calligraphy nerd yourself, or have no idea what a Pelikan Souverän M800 fountain pen is, you just might find yourself glued to the screen as the King takes a variety of fancy looking writing utensils on a test ride. 


If you're a bit concerned the videos may be making you a little too happy, don't fret, you may just be experiencing an autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR. ASMR occurs when certain noises send a euphoric tingle down your scalp and spine, literally making you feel good. The often banal and unexpected noises can cause relaxation, giddiness or a sort of hypnotic trance, hence the constant re-watching of doodle videos. 


Get your zen on and watch King Blotto do his thing:







Enjoying Leap Day with the vintage Waterman 52 fountain pen.

A video posted by King Blotto III (@kingblottothethird) on















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Photos Show What Breakfast In Bed Looks Like When You Have Kids

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As parents, Polish photographers Anna Waluda and Michal Zawer know that life is a lot messier than it looks on social media. The couple's latest photo project shows what happens when their toddlers join their "Pinterest-perfect" breakfast in bed.


"We've seen thousands of those beautiful Pinterest or Instagram breakfast shots: a pyramid of small same-size pancakes topped with honey and fruit, some fancy smoothie, perfectly brewed coffee, some flowers, of course everything perfectly arranged on a wooden tray, fresh linen sheets and beautiful people having the meal," the parents told The Huffington Post.


In their breakfast photos, 3-year-old Leonard and 1-year-old Emilka share the reality behind seemingly pristine breakfasts at home -- from the spills to the total toddler chaos.


"We can often see perfect people living their perfect lives on social media," they continued. "But we are all just human beings and we all have bad days, oats porridge for breakfast, and our sheets sometimes need changing, so let's not be fooled by the beauty we see in photographs that people often post on social media."


Here's the reality that Waluda and Zawer found with their breakfast in bed:


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J.K. Rowling's New Stories Prove The Wizarding World Is 'Larger Than You Imagined'

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The wizarding world of Harry Potter continues to keep us under its spell. 


J.K. Rowling announced that she'll be releasing four brand new original stories, which will debut exclusively on Pottermore this week. The series, called "Magic in North America," will shed some light on a previously unexplored period of time in wizard history. 


The first story, "The History of Magic in North America," is set to hit Rowling's interactive website tomorrow. Until then, you can catch a glimpse of the magic in this exclusive video from Entertainment Weekly





A few things you can expect to see in the series are skin-walkers; the Salem witch trials; Hogwarts' American counterpart, Ilvermorny; and the Magical Congress of the U.S.A.; all of which preclude Newt Scamander's arrival in New York City and the subsequent events in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." 


As a note on Pottermore states, "You’ll want to get up to speed before the film comes around in November." 


We can't wait! 


"The History of Magic in North America" will be published on Pottermore tomorrow at 2 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. ET). 

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19 Comics That Perfectly Capture The First Year Of Motherhood

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For new mom Alison Wong, the first year of parenthood was a blur of tears, laughter, diaper changes, frustration, chaos and so many questions. Though some days were difficult, she decided to always end them on a positive, humorous note.


Wong created "New Mom Comics" -- a series of spot-on comics that capture her everyday parenting adventures with her husband and baby son Elliot, who just turned 1. Looking back, the mom says her first year of motherhood was "the most transformative year" in her life. 


"I evolved from a scared novice whose heart skipped at the slightest baby sounds to being an expert on one little human's routine and mannerisms," she told The Huffington Post, adding, "It was a year of very high highs and some low lows. I felt like I went through the wringer, but I came out feeling like I could face anything, even a toddler."



Wong works as a product designer, but has enjoyed drawing comics since she was a kid. Creating "New Mom Comics" helped her get through the most challenging days and be able to laugh with her husband. She hopes her comics can help other parents feel less alone and overwhelmed. 


"I hope they remember, in those worst moments, to look on the bright side, knowing that other parents have been there too," the mom said. "See a little humor in each of those never-ending nights, and know that it will pass all too quickly and that you'll miss it before you realize it's gone."


Though the series is called "New Mom Comics," she says Elliot's supportive and loving dad Eli plays a huge role in her parenting experience. "I am looking forward to many years of funny parenting moments with him!"


Keep scrolling and visit Wong's website and Facebook page to see her hilarious and too-real parenting comics.


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Mom's Maternity Photos Serve As Touching Tribute To Kids' Late Father

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With the help of a photographer, Nicole Bennett was able to pay tribute to her children's late father in a creative and memorable way.


In February, Bennett, who is expecting a daughter later this month, had a maternity photo shoot with her 4-year-old son, Landen. According to Mississippi News Now, Landen's father, Deonta Bennett, died in prison before her due date. She told The Huffington Post they were legally divorced at the time of his death, but were working things out. After his death, she asked photographer Sidney Conley if there was a way to include him in the photos.


Bennett told HuffPost that Conley was "up for the challenge" and made her vision "come to life" by editing her children's father into the photos.



"I was very surprised and happy at the results," she said. 


Bennett mentioned the photos were especially memorable since she was unable to do a photo shoot while pregnant with Landen because he was born prematurely. 


"They actually were inspired due to the fact that my son was born at 32 weeks, and we were not able to do a photo shoot, so we decided that we wanted to do a photo shoot with our second child," she said. "Even though [Deonta] had passed we still wanted to do it."


The expectant mother told Mississippi News Now she and her kids will cherish the photos.  


"Memories for the kids, that's all that matters at the end of the day."


Check out more of the touching photos below.


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Mara Brock Akil's Empowering Lesson On Embracing Her Natural Hair

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To Mara Brock Akil, the resiliency and transformative power of black women's hair is partly what makes it so magical.


Akil, the celebrated producer and screenwriter behind popular shows like "Being Mary Jane" and "Girlfriends", is featured in the second episode of "The Hair Tales," an online show created by cultural critic Michaela Angela Davis that highlights black women and their hair stories.


In the episode, which debuts Tuesday, Akil opened up about her own personal hair journey, which she said came with one not-so-pleasant experience growing up as a biracial child.


She told the story of how she was physically and verbally picked on by kids who made fun of her big hair as a young girl. "I remember being in the bathroom and attacked by these girls," Akil recounted. "[They] were like 'there she go, thinking she cute with her hair,'" she added.


Akil moved passed the taunts and instead used the moment as an important lesson on self-empowerment. "I accepted being different, I wanted to standout," Akil said. And she did, by continuing to rock her curls for years to come. "I come from a family of beautiful women, strong women, and strong defined by being themselves." 


Davis said Akil and her lustrous natural hair help to exemplify the power and beauty of black women.  


"Her hair, that luxurious wavy texture just tumbles out of her head, it's magnificent," Davis told The Huffington Post. "And though she has hair 'to die for,' I knew at some point it was probably threatening, confronting and liberating in all its beauty." 


Akil's resiliency shows through not only her curls but also through her character. Perhaps this is what makes her so magical, too. 


"Truth is all black girls hold stories in their hair, all of us," Davis said. "Mara is just brilliant at telling a specific intimate story in a big way."

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Take A Walk In Barcelona, And Look Down

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Floors are underrated. We'd rather look at our phones than look at the ground beneath us or the buildings that surround us. 


German photographer Sebastian Erras first became fascinated with floors when he saw intricate patterns of mosaic on the ground during a trip to the Moroccan city of Marrakech. Once he returned to Paris, he decided to investigate the French capital's floors. The result was Parisian Floors, a one-year, nearly 300-photograph project that has garnered him a following of more than 62,000 people on Instagram. Later, he extended the project and launched Floors in collaboration with Pixartprinting Spain.


"It's about exploring floors with strong characters in different cities, and about getting to know the history of those cities through their various materials," a spokesman for Pixartprinting told HuffPost Spain.


After an initial stop in Venice, Floors has now taken Erras to the Catalan capital of Barcelona.


"I found a great partner in Pixartprinting to support my projects outside of Paris," Erras told HuffPost Spain after returning from the northeastern Spanish city, where he has primarily worked in the downtown area. "It has allowed me to continue discovering new floors in different European cities.


Erras and his team spent four days touring Barcelona to locate the city's traditional hydraulic floors. "Many of them were in shops, cafes and restaurants," he said. "Luckily, we had done previous projects that allowed us to gain access to sites such as the Círculo Del Liceo, with its magnificent animal mosaic, which is probably one of my favorites in Barcelona."


The authenticity and variety of the floors they found surprised him. "There are many interesting floors and many that we still need to discover," he added. 


Floors aims to capture the city's history. If marble dominated Venice, hydraulic mosaics -- a pigmented cement decorative tile that was invented in the mid-19th century -- were the rule in Catalonia's capital.


"In Paris, I usually find art deco style floors in the foyers and corridors of buildings in the Haussmann Boulevard, while in Barcelona, most are in cafes, restaurants and public buildings," Erras said.


The German photographer has at least two more stops to make in 2016, and is considering Lisbon and London. 



This post first appeared on HuffPost Spain. It has been translated into English and edited for clarity.

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Amy Schumer's Book 'The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo' Has An Official Release Date

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Amy Schumer fans, rejoice! The comedienne's first book has a release date.


The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo (best title ever?), is set to hit bookstores on August 16, 2016. The news was announced Tuesday by publisher Jennifer Bergstrom, who had nothing but praise for the actress and now author.


"Amy Schumer is not an entertainer who can actually write," said Bergstrom. "She’s a writer. Who also happens to entertain." 


According to a statement on Schumer's website, the book (published by Gallery Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint) "will feature personal and observational stories from Schumer that range from the raunchy to the romantic, the heartfelt to the harrowing." 


To make things even better, the title will also be available as an audiobook, read by Schumer herself. We're already laughing just thinking about the "Trainwreck" star reciting the trials and tribulations of her life. 


The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo is available for pre-order online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. So, what are you waiting for? Add to cart! 





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101 Artists You Should Remember This International Women's Day

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Today is International Women's Day, a day devoted to recognizing the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women across the world. The holiday lands in Women's History Month, a month devoted to recognizing the contributions of women throughout history. In summary, March 8 is a perfect storm of celebrations geared toward remembering that women -- amidst a persisting lack of access to education and positions of power around the globe -- are still fighting for gender parity in the 21st century. 


Throughout the month of March, one American museum in particular, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, is shining a spotlight on the art world and the women artists who have left their mark on history. It has launched a social media campaign dubbed #5womenartists, which asks individuals to publicly recognize five women artists, a feat that's proven more difficult that it might sound. "If you ask someone to name five artists, they will likely name prominent male artists, but how many people can list five women artists?" the NMWA writes online.


In honor of Women's History Month, #5womenartists and the shameful underrepresentation of women in museums, galleries and auctions today, we're recognizing not five but 101 artists you should remember this International Women's Day.


Remember, this is but a sample -- in no specific order -- of the many, many, many women and non-gender binary artists who deserve your attention. List your favorites in the comments so we can grow the list even larger. And if you come across an artist you've never heard of, we encourage you to look them up at a museum near you.


1. Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)



2. Judy Chicago (1939- )



3. Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)



4. Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010)



5. Cindy Sherman (1954- )



6. Kara Walker (1969- )



7. Yayoi Kusama (1929- )



8. Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)



9. Martha Rosler (1943- )



10. Shirin Neshat (1957- )



11. Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)



12. Mickalene Thomas (1971- )



13. Marlene Dumas (1953- )



14. Maya Lin (1959- )



15. Eva Hesse (1936-1970)



16. Yoko Ono (1933- )



17. Agnes Martin (1912-2004)



18. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899)



19. Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907)



20. Artemisia Gentileschi (1593- 1653)



21. Ruth Asawa (1926-2013)



22. Wangechi Mutu (1972- )



23. Alina Szapocznikow (1926-1973)



24. Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842)



25. Camille Claudel (1864-1943)



26. Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)



27. Juliana Huxtable (1987- )



I'm spiraling

A photo posted by Juliana Huxtable (@julianahuxtable) on




28. Rachel Whiteread (1963- )



29. Marina Abramović (1946- )



30. Ana Mendieta (1948-1985)



31. Judith Leyster (1609-1660)



32. Carolee Schneemann (1939- )



33. Francesca Woodman (1958-1981)



34. Carrie Mae Weems (1953- )



35. Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985)



36. Alice Neel (1900-1984)



37. Betye Saar (1926- )



38. Joan Mitchell (1925-1992)



39. Faith Ringgold (1930- )



40. Annie Leibovitz (1949- )



41. Lorna Simpson (1960- )



42. Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945)



43. Selma Burke (1900-1995)



44. Barbara Kruger (1945- )



45. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (1950- )



46. Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998)



47. Leonora Carrington (1917-2011)



48. Hannah Höch (1889-1978)



49. Ann Hamilton (1956- )



50. Francoise Gilot (1921- )



51. Adrian Piper (1948- )



52. Leonor Fini (1907-1996)



53. Alma Thomas (1891-1978)



54. Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971)



55. Diane Arbus (1932-1971)



56. Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877-1968)



57. Elaine de Kooning (1918-1989)



58. Julie Mehretu (1970- )



59. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (1977- )



60. Tracey Emin (1963- )



61. Jenny Saville (1970- )



62. Catherine Opie (1961- )



63. Mariko Mori (1967- )



64. Maya Hayuk (1969- )



65. Cecily Brown (1969- )



66. Sally Mann (1951- )



67. Kiki Smith (1954- )



68. Nan Goldin (1953- )



69. Orlan (1947- )



70. Joan Jonas (1936- )



71. Marisol Escobar (1930- )



72. Agnes Denes (1938- )



73. Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011)



74. Swoon (1978- )



75. Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011)



76. Dorothea Tanning (1910-2012)



77. Toyen (1902-1980)



78. Romaine Brooks (1874-1970)



79. Bridget Bate Tichenor (1917-1990)



80. Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)



81. Tania Bruguera (1968- )



82. Pushpamala N (1956- )



83. Laurie Anderson (1947- )



84. Yael Bartana (1970- )



85. Lisa Yuskavage (1962- )



86. Ghada Amer (1963- )



87. Vivian Maier (1926-2009)



88. Isa Genzken (1948- )



89. Carol Rama (1918-2015)



90. Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (1985- )



91. Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova (1881-1962)



92. Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012)



93. Cady Noland (1956- )



94. Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975)



95. Candy Darling (1944-1974)



96. Bharti Kher (1969- )



97. Augusta Savage (1892-1962)



98. Judy Baca (1946- )



99. Zackary Drucker (1983- )



100. Lee Krasner (1908-1984)



101. Vaginal Davis (1969- )



Can we make it to 200? How about 500? HuffPost Culture editors will be adding artists to the comments section throughout the day. Join us!

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Psychedelic Crochet Cartoons Celebrate All Things Queer

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I want to beach the way Frostina beaches. Do you see him up there, the crocheted wool figure, legs propped open to expose a genderqueer, psychedelic rainbow? You can see the scars from a double mastectomy, perhaps from a gender confirmation surgery, glorious badges of nonconformity. The only item of clothing on his stitched body is a pink cape, identifying Frostina as not just not ordinary but extraordinary, a super queer superhero who feels right at home spreading wide for the world to see. 


Frostina is one of artist Caroline Wells Chandler's "Beach Bois," a crew of genderqueer bathers whose awkward, cheesy smiles and rainbow physiques celebrate radical queerness, recently on view at Lord Ludd in Philadelphia.


The series takes inspiration from Paul Cézanne's "The Large Bathers," an early 20th century painting of nude women huddled around a natural bath. The Post-Impressionist figures sit and sprawl together on the shore, their unclothed bodies in various positions of gentle, passive repose. The naked ritual is sensual but not sexualized, as if the work's erotic charge emanated from the viscous layers of paint more than what they depict. The nude forms allude ever so slightly to an undoing of gender, their pale, fleshy bodies possessing both strength and grace in a way that contests normative fantasy and desire. 


If Cézanne's 30-year effort to paint bathers in various iterations was an early call to undo binary distinctions between men and women, through the unifying beauty of flesh-colored paint, Chandler takes this holy aspiration to its most radical endpoint. In his crocheted cast of characters, rainbows spew from butt cracks, and genitals are awesomely ambiguous. While Cézanne worked in paint, a medium closely aligned with brooding male genius and docile female muses, Chandler opts for the typically feminine domestic craft of crochet, undoing the veil of masculine seriousness that pervades Cézanne's original. 



Growing up as a queer trans person in a conservative family, Chandler often made those around him uneasy just by virtue of existing. "My presence can be uncomfortable for them, which is a bummer," he explained in an interview with The Huffington Post. And, of course, the reverse was just as true, as Chandler was constantly rattled by the traditional values he encountered. Because of his precarious relationship to comfort, motifs related to coziness and tradition often appear in his work -- for example comfort food, blankets and crochet. 


Chandler originally picked up crochet when he was 19, when he was spending lots of time caring for his aging grandparents. Before this period he'd focused primarily on painting, but dipped into crochet because the social art form allowed him to create and interact with his grandparents at the same time. "I didn’t really want to ditch them and crochet is completely opposite to painting, which seems so solitary and isolated. Crochet is inherently a social way of making art," he added.


At first, Chandler didn't spend much time thinking about crochet's reputation as "women's work," a domestic craft that paled in comparison to the seriousness of macho painting. But somewhere down the line, the tension between masculinity and femininity, tradition and experimentation, seriousness and play, began to manifest in the form of mythical cartoon people who liked to get naked and go swimming. 



While Cézanne's bathers are still, composed and a bit on the pale side, Chandler's batch of swimmers in the site-specific installation "Freestyln" emerge in parts from an invisible body of water, their multicolored bodies doing the freestyle stroke in unison, the passive stance replaced by sprightly motion, the averted gazes swapped for manic, giddy grins that meet the viewer head on. 


Chandler identifies his bathers as cartoon people, somewhat mythical, some with superpowers, others imbued with a psychedelic something. "I dream in cartoons," Chandler says, explaining how the psychedelic nature of his work comes naturally, or perhaps supernaturally. "Art is the ultimate psychedelic experience," he said. "It's corny but I do believe it. Art is a mind altering experience. At least for the art maker."


Chandler mentions some of his favorite psychedelic art influences -- Hieronymus Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights," Michelangelo's "The Torment of Saint Anthony," Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Like the latter, Chandler's work has a somewhat childlike energy to it, his simple, outstretched bodies reminiscent of a euphoric, naked kid at the beach. 



While Chandler himself wouldn't describe the show as nostalgic or innocent, he explains that many viewers recognize a whiff of prepubescence in the artwork. "Most kids are pretty open and confident in their bodies, before an adult tries to enforce a cultural viewpoint," Chandler said. "It's this place of openness that I’m interested in, which I think a lot of people can associate with childhood. My childhood was weird. I don’t think of it as a place of happy bliss."


Kids' drawings, however, did serve as a source of inspiration. When Chandler first started making figurative work, he took inspiration from coloring books and outsider art, particularly their use of urgent and primal forms. For Chandler, the immediacy of untrained artists amounts to images that feel direct, energetic, and often genderless. 


Combine this youthful artistic urgency with the coziness of a wool blanket, the delicious allure of a gingerbread cookie and the throwback vibes of a masterpiece made on Kid Pix and you have Chandler's "Beach Bois" -- exuberant, ambiguous, unclothed and ready to play.


May we all go to the beach with as much confidence, fluidity and colorful body parts as Frostina and his crew.


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