Me: “I love my art studio because it’s a retreat from the world of heinous political violence and horror I’m immersed in working on 24/7.”
Also me:
nowhere near close to finished
Anyway, if and when I ever manage to finish this piece, getting a representative photograph is going to be impossible — given all the glass and mirrors.
why am i like this
Progress is painful — and so is photography.
When you have the brilliantly idiotic idea to use mirrors for the framing enclosure.
This is never going to get done but I can guarantee I’m likely to die trying.
Closer but still far from finished.
Took it outside to test how reflections in the mirrored frame casing will impact the composition’s overall effect.
In a word: jarring.
I think this one comes closest to what I’m hoping to achieve — I want the viewer to be disturbed by the juxtaposition with beautiful surroundings, and unsuccessfully trying to avoid their own reflection in the center’s infinite atrocity.
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Internal Wix messages “encouraged staff to support Israel’s ‘narrative’ in Hamas conflict,” specifically advising them to “‘show Westernity’ in social media posts backing Israel, as ‘unlike the Gazans, we look and live like Europeans or Americans.’” irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/1…
I’m just going to repeat a key point here.
Wix employees were specifically encouraged to “show Westernity” in pro-Israel social media posts, underscoring that Israelis “unlike the Gazans, look and live like Europeans and Americans.”
There’s an apt adjective for this: racist.
I’ll go ahead and be a bit more blunt with my translation:
“Make sure your pro-Israel posts are as white as possible and emphasize that people in Gaza are brown so we have to kill them if we want a Disneyland in the Middle East”
Extremely brief thread and then I’m eating sleeping pills and praying for a few hours of unconsciousness.
Here goes: on #Gaza, amplifying Palestinian voices, and interview requests.
If you’re already here, you’re no doubt aware that while I fail relentlessly in all things, I do like to try to live up to the ethical standards I set for myself.
I’ve publicly stated here and on other platforms that I won’t be doing any media interviews on Gaza, and request that Palestinians be contacted instead.
Regardless of one’s political stance on this conflict, it is a fact that Palestinian voices are far less covered.
If I’m quiet for a few more days, please understand that I’m completely drained from everything going on offline — especially from people I haven’t heard from in literal decades hitting me up “because you have a PhD” for “your perspective” on all of this.
I can’t say I’m familiar with this person’s work (apologies), but this is accurate, and it sucks that such a statement is controversial.
For now, what I will say is that I guarantee 99.9% of the commentary you’re consuming — especially on here — is shit, and the loudest voices (as per usual) are generally those who know the least about historical and geopolitical contexts that ABSOLUTELY matter.
I’m not about to get sucked into any debates on Palestine / Israel right now, but what I will tell you as a geopolitical analyst vis-a-vis the hawks calling for war with Iran:
Iranian nationalism is nothing to take lightly - any such scenario would be disastrous for ALL parties.
The other thing that I will say (and believe me it gives me less than zero joy) concerns Hamas’ latest statement concerning the potential execution of civilian hostages.
Hamas’ desperation in laying out this ultimatum - that Israel stop bombing Gaza civilians or Hamas will execute Israeli civilian hostages because “that’s the only language Israel understands” (paraphrased) is a very bad sign.
And Muslims, y’all know more than anyone what it’s like to be expected to apologize or explain the actions of someone in a diverse community to which you happen to belong.
Empathy, support, and solidarity — now, more than ever.
It doesn’t matter if you “don’t understand being trans.”
I don’t either — because it’s not my struggle.
But I know this: Ramadan is about compassion, mercy, and fighting base impulses like judgment. Don’t forget that.
I'm on day 2 of an all-nighter trying to finish writing this case study / profile of Dylann Roof --
-- whose actions were not considered representative of an entire community.
Before that, I wrote about Tres Genco.
Before that, James Reardon.
Before that, Patrick Crusius.