lucialovewriting

[lucialovewriting]

Pick up the phone

LOVE CONNECTIONS

[lucialovewriting]

BLOOD WITCH_THE SCRIPT

BLOOD WITCH is a sort of vampire with a talk show. She sustains herself through an unholy practice of skinning celebrity faces off and installing them seamlessly over the congealed dark matter that is her true form.

{(Blood Witch currently looks like Ellen DeGeneres, but with glittering black eyes.)}

These are transcripts from an episode of the BLOOD WITCH (BW) talk show with special guest FORREST GUMP (FG) {(They both sit politely, facing each other in softly lit cream colored leather recliners between potted peace lilies decorated with plastic flamingo inserts.)} TAPED IN FRONT OF A LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE

BW So Forrest, I hear you have some famous things to say about life.

FG {(Hands folded politely in lap)} That's true Blood Witch. As I always say, Life is like a box of-

BW Yeah Yeah, we know. A bag of meow meow.

FG No, a box of-

BW Hey, whatever. TELL US! What's your deal? You smell so alive.

FG Well gosh, I was trying to say that life presents you with precious moments full of spontaneity and joy.

{(Blood Which makes the jerk off hand motion while the crowd goes AWWWWW)}

Or all sortsa pain, and unforeseeable confusion. The only thing you can do is savor it all by accepting each experience for what it is.

BW MMMM, such a sweet pair of eyes. Great. Some people still think you're a hero for that way you ran a really long time? They're very old and forgetful now. Tell them about that again.

FG I just felt like running.

{(AUDIENCE CLAPS FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES. CONFETTI BLASTS FROM THE CEILING. A PARADE OF CHILDREN IN MONSTER ENERGY DRINK SWAG RIDE SMALL DONKEYS FROM BACK STAGE, TRUMPETING THROUGH THE APPLAUDING AUDIENCE, HANDING EVERYONE GREEN ICE CREAM CONES WITH THE MONSTER ‘M’ STAMPED INTO EACH CONE.)}

BW {(Looking slyly off stage to where she knows a “greenroom" is located.)} So what you're saying is that you're super into Phish, you’re taking meow meow all the time with your beardo Marxist friends, and you have no love for the New Beyonce. You probably think she's not even a feminist -

FG {(Clearly Upset)} Now wait a minute. I did not SAY that! She is WONDERFUL gyrating on that black and white beach.

And - - - And you're eyes are really creeping me out. I can't tell where you're looking, please, stop.

BW {(Smiling and setting up the camera on her phone)} OOOO, Don't sweat, it'll ruin your stage makeup. Talk about your love life now -- Wait! Let me take a picture of you mad, then another of you happy, and post them side by side.

{(Gets up very close to Forrest for an up-nostril shot)}

Ha! So versatile, wow. Cuuuuuuute!

FG You done?

BW Two sec-onds…. Yup

FG.  {(Pushing camera and Witch away, and settling once more)} Well ok, my love life... I think I ran to put the past behind me. It wasn't working out between us... There was so much love. Gosh I've never felt so much for another person. But she didn’t want me to love her. Maybe fear got in the way? I don’t know but I still imagine what married life would be like for us.

BW {(Looking at photos just taken)} YaYaYa, heard That. Do you like to party? I've got some meow meow in the green room.

FG Meow meow… What's this, some Hollywood game? I feel like you aren't taking my art seriously.

BW It's fun you'll really like it.

FG Now you WAIT A MINUTE, I have an innocent character!

BW {(Deep sigh, and a soulful understanding face.)} Dear. I've lived for ALL OF TIME, and your platitudinous vomit pool of a character has aged about 20 years by now - it just gets tiring, listening to you. Taking it seriously? I interviewed Massoud about Bin Laden’s porn stash, Werner Herzog about Kinski’s philanthropic career, David Herzog about how no one knows who he is... I've interviewed Vlad the Impailer, Rihanna, Louis CK, all about their strange addictions to eating hair. Every Spice Girl in the back of a Greyhound Bus while speeding through a burning field, Maurice Ravel on a garden swing, Hunter S. Thompson in a ballgown. Everyone and anyone noteworthy. Are you bored now too? There's more! More simple tricks. More special feelings. And how dooo they use the power... All the same realizations. Over and over.

{(CROWD HISSES LIKE A PACK OF ANGRY CATS. THEY THROW THEIR LEFT OVER ICE CREAM AT THE STAGE. FORREST STARTS TO CRY QUIETLY. THEY BOTH FLINCH OCCASIONALLY WHEN HIT WITH SPRINKLES.)}

You've got to party now. It'll help us both forget how old we are. Come on, it'll be nice to let loose, just you and me.

{(BLOOD WITCH CARESSES FORREST'S THIGH, THEN SLOWLY RAISES HER HAND TO WIPE HIS TEARS AWAY.)}

FG I guess I'll try anything once - forgetting is nice sometimes.

BW That's great! Let me run and get my knife set, and I'll meet you in the back.

FG{(Gets up and walks off stage looking defeated. Loud metal clanging is heard coming from his new location out of view.)} Hey, this is a real funny green room. looks like a... bird cage. Can someone come get me outta here? It's cold away from the set lights. I don't like it... Hello?

BW{(Still on stage, standing with arms held out to the audience)} Ladies and gentlemen, that was Forrest Gump! Big round of applause. Stay tuned for next week, where I'll be hosting the show as Forrest Gump.

{(CHEERING, WHISTLING, STAMPING AUDIENCE)}

FG{(Feeling around the floor and walls of what he realizes is a dark cage with a love seat pushed against the bars he unwittingly walked into)} There's plastic on everything…

{(ONE WOMAN FROM THE AUDIENCE GETS UP, AND HUGGING THE WALL, SNEAKS AWAY TO THE GREEN ROOM AREA WHILE EVERYONE IS CHEERING)}

Woman{(Appearing at the bars of Forrest’s cage)} Forrest, I'm going to get you out of here, please don’t panic. I'm so sorry, this is horrible.

FG You're a real kind lady... But it's too late. I'm toast.

Woman No, not now! Not like this!! - Here, take these glasses. They'll give you the power to wrestle like a champion. When Blood Witch comes back, she'll step in the cage and try to eat your face, but you’ll be ready to fight her with these.

{(WOMAN HANDS FORREST THE GLASSES FROM THEY LIVE THROUGH THE BARS OF THE CAGE, AND SMILES WARMLY AS HE CLUTCHES THEM TO HIS HEART. REALLY THEY’RE RAY BANS. IT’S DARK BACK THERE AND BLOOD WITCH DIDN’T HAVE A FACE TO BEGIN WITH)}  

FG Now that is TOO much!

Woman It's true, that's why she looks like Ellen Degeneres now.

FG How do you know all this?

Woman {(Pulls back blonde hair to reveal a scar running around the circumference of her face)}

FG Ellen?

Woman Yes Forrest. It's too late for me, my face is unrecognizable. But you can save the rest of the celebrities by defeating that monster tonight.

{(Woman slips away vanishing into the surrounding shadows)}

FG Ok Ellen, I won't let you down.

{(BLOOD WITCH ENTERS, COVERED IN A SUIT OF JANGLING KNIVES, HUMMING GIDDILY)}

BW Ha. You're mine. I will wear your face. Haha. Watch me do a little dance. As I enter the ring I will blind you with magic. Put your faceless head in a bag of hungry rats. Ha. Damn. I’m bored all the time.

FG Not so fast Blood Witch!

{(FORREST PUTS THE GLASSES ON. HE CAN’T SEE ANYTHING BUT KNIFE GLINTS)}

BW Ha. Ha again. I'm covered in knives. Obey lol

FG No way - I fought in 'Nam!

{(THE TWO SQUARE OFF IN THE CAGE. TIME STANDS STILL. BLOOD WITCH MAKES THE FIRST MOVE, THROWS A PUNCH, IT SOUNDS LIKE CLASSIC CELERY FOLEY. FORREST DEFLECTS, BENDS HER ARM BACK. SHE KICKS FREE. THEY LOCK, SCRAP FURRIOUSLY. FINALLY, BLOOD SMEARED EVERYWHERE, THE TWO LAY WAISTED AND PANTING. BOTH ARE EXHAUSTED IN A STALEMATE.)}

BW You know, that was kinda hot Forrest. Who makes those glasses?

FG They were a gift.

BW I’m going to let you go but... It'd be great to see you again sometime?

FG Oh. Um. Certainly, Blood. Can I call you -

BW Sure honey.

{(BLOOD WITCH turns her back on FORREST to open the cage. In that moment he rushes for a knife loosened from the suit, and slices into her exposed neck)}

BW Bitch! {(She disappears in a puff of bats, and Ellen's face falls on the ground with a soft thud)}

FG I have a feeling this isn’t the end.

{(FORREST WALKS BACK ON STAGE SO AS TO EXIT THROUGH THE ABANDONED THEATRE BACK BY WAY OF THE AUDIENCE ENTRANCE. HE PASSES BY A DOZING SECURITY GUARD, AND EXITS TO THE STREET. ON THE STREET HE WALKS TO THE END OF THE BLOCK WHERE HE ASKES A KITCHEN WORKER ON BREAK FOR A LOOSE CIGARETTE. HE SMOKES IT AND WALKS BENEATH A SERIES OF STREET LIGHTS. A MOTHER SHIELDS HER CHILDREN FROM HIM, AS HE NOW LOOKS HORRIFIC AND KINDA COOL, BUT DEFINITELY WET WITH BLOOD. EVENTUALLY HE FINDS A PARK BENCH TO SIT DOWN ON. HE STARES INTO THE MIDDLE DISTANCE.)}

Writer’s note: I created this script to be realized through animation in 2014 - hence the dated Beyoncé reference and the mention of meow meow which was something people were afraid of for about six months of that year. I exhumed this iconic portrait of struggle from my phone’s notes this Halloween for its paranoiac charm, and because I didn’t feel like leaving the house, or working on anything logical. In hindsight I realize casting Ellen Degeneris as a face stealing vampire who is also simultaneously trying to perform kindness upon celebrities that dabbled in shameful wars was quite prescient, as the Ellen who is with us now has befriended George Bush (who is a bit like Forrest Gump) and pretended to be Cardi B on the toxic positivity show. Which of my scathingly accurate predictions will short circuit the deep state next?

[lucialovewriting]

THE NEA VS. THE FORD FOUNDATION

CH.1 (2019) There are as many art worlds as there are modes of finance. Most of these are eclipsed by the audacious white cube - art fair - auction circuit in all of its florid elitism. As wealth disparity continues to denude communities of basic necessities globally, this art market has been largely written off as a glorified tax haven, incapable of more than inadvertent gentrification on a virtue signaling world tour. While the spectacle of abundant creativity and aesthetic innovation is maintained through season after season of record breaking contemporary sales, we’ve come to see a leveling of expression from a host of interchangeable authors. A predominantly salable veneer has been applied to their artifacts, allowing connoisseurs to remain focused on jockeying to accrue wealth through stable investments. More often than not, the meaning of these works ends up lost to speculation inside of a network of international freeports. Just as quickly as one country can ban the construction of these climate controlled limbos, another country builds their own. The market’s evasion of most localized economic regulation is notorious as the bulk of new art investors strive to bend cultural exchange to resemble a global stock trade.

Jed Perl dubbed this cultural leveling under the buying power of a disaffected collector class “laissez faire aesthetics” in 2007, and we are still waiting for the bubble to pop. In contrast to this trend, a number of philanthropic organizations have evolved to produce both vastly different products, and controversies. To understand the spirit of this alternative, it’s helpful to first consider the creation of the NEA, and the private donors that continuously work in tandem to fund cultural endeavors. In a speech at Amherst College in 1963, President Kennedy spoke to his future hopes for a flourishing post war society: “I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens.”

He was inspired to believe that art production resides at “the center of a nation’s purpose” by the shared conviction of unofficial poet laureate Robert Frost, and that the figure of the artist was meant to be free from the necessity of any political agenda. This idealistic attempt to amplify the nation’s soft power initially garnered effusive bipartisan support when Johnson finally signed the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act in 1965, and would last for exactly three years before the first wave of conflicts arose. There was no issue with instating Nancy Hanks as chair (after Roger Stevens) who aside from being a distant cousin to Abraham Lincoln’s mother, was also responsible for working with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to produce The Performing Arts: Problems and Projects which expressly stated the benefits of private funding for the arts. The Rockefeller philosophy was theoretically in step with the agency’s founding belief in hands-off government support combining with a proactive business sector to fund individual creatives of note. In practice though, some more conservative representatives were beginning to rally around Frank Bow (R-OH) who believed our miring in the Vietnam War meant  “We cannot have guns and butter. And this is guns with strawberry short cake covered with whipped cream and a cherry on top.” Bow did not approve of the experimental theatre being funded at the time, and it turns out neither did Nixon who had a vocal interest in classical music - and a private distaste for “novel” contemporary work, “the horrible monstrosity of Lincoln Center”, and the “little uglies” hanging in the MoMA.  While credited with expanding the NEA’s budget exponentially during his term, Nixon arguably facilitated Hanks out of fear of a public that was polarized by war and the possibility that his legacy would end up dirt.

Hindsight clearly shows the issues of government spending on the arts and humanities to be baked into the NEA’s initial request for non-interference in guiding the national standards for tax payer funded art. While their entire budget comprises .004% of all federal spending, it has been perennially attacked as a safety net for the production of degenerate waste. After decades of content related scandal that saw awards rescinded, and budgets cut symbolically according to the cost of a Piss Christ, Newt Gingrich (who has a lot to say about why lions will starve if they only hunt chipmunks) called to “zero out” the NEA entirely in 1995. He didn’t succeed, but the conservative coalition which formed around the speaker of the house at that point managed to nearly halve the national budget. Since then Gingrich has kept on the culture war path to periodically fire shots at proponents of the NEA with statements like this dismissal of critic Robert Hughes: “Far too frequently, NEA grants have been utilized to express explicitly narrow political views rather than to celebrate legitimate cultural issues. As much as Hughes would like to pass off Serrano as an anomaly of the NEA process in the '80s, the fact is the beat goes on: This summer, California's Highways performance-arts center received a $15,000 NEA grant to help put on its "Ecco Lesbo/Ecco Homo" festival. With such acts as "Not for Republicans," "Dyke Night" and others with names unsuitable to be printed here, it is filled with political statement. Why should the American people be forced to pay for the political posturing of a few?”

This ironic zeroing out sentiment has been dredged up again recently by the Trump administration (who vociferously threatens to enact all kinds of policy changes) though a letter currently being circulated by Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and one by Representative David Price (D-NC) both call to provide the NEA and NEH with $167.5 million in the FY 2020 cycle - a $12.5 million increase.

If the laissez faire aesthetic could be reduced to a core thesis, it may be “this is worth it”. Every work in circulation is lauded as a statement in itself so that a theoretical underpinning can be used to speculate on its volatile market value. In contrast, art that has been brought to public attention through support of a National Endowment at odds with congress has been lent an air of decadence, and has been sentenced with perversion of American identity. The original hope of enabling a unified vision of Americana to develop and flourish has revealed the fact that there will never be a clear understanding of what that may actually entail, though McNaughton’s paintings currently hold the throne for many.

Philanthropic organizations stem from private industry, allowing their members to bypass the pressures of national funding, but few have considered their position in the constellation of art and finance as carefully as the United States Artists. Created in 2006 by the Ford, Rockefeller, Rasmuson, and Prudential Foundations, they are among the largest providers of unrestricted support to artists. They began this collective endeavor in part as a direct response to setbacks facing the NEA after witnessing the agency’s struggle with congress over illustration of some ineffable American soul. Rockefeller continues to support the National Endowment since the days of Nancy Hanks’s program, and both Ford and Rasmuson signed a petition with 9 other titans of philanthropy in early 2018, protesting the Trump budget proposal to once again cut funding. It is the Ford Foundation however which has been in operation since 1936 that has taken initiative to write the rules of beneficial engagement with national and international communities in the name of social progress and economic justice. The initial organization was created by Edsel and Henry Ford four years after the Ford Hunger March (where Ford’s Service Men opened fire with machine guns on protesters from the Unemployed Council and United Auto Workers coalition, resulting in a massacre) and one year before The Battle of The Overpass (where UAW members were beaten for attempting a pamphlet campaign). Needless to say, the company’s public approval suffered greatly from their treatment of workers though they went into bargaining with UAW at this time as well, and aggressively jump started their philanthropic efforts. Since then they’ve been credited with creating some of the largest financial allotments in history across all fields, but they’ve experienced push back on arts funding within their timeline as well. In 1977 Henry Ford II penned a resignation letter from his own family business stating, “The foundation always has prided itself on its emphasis on funding the experimental kind of effort—the new way that might lead to a significant breakthrough. Yet we stick with some programs for years and years—Office of the Arts being a prime example. Are we an ongoing funding agency or are we courageous backers of innovation in the huge field of human problems?… In effect, the foundation is a creature of capitalism—a statement that, I’m sure, would be shocking to many professional staff in the field of philanthropy.”

This rebuke of “anti-capitalist” activity did little to derail the foundation’s endeavors to support progressive expression as experienced by Susan Berresford who joined the foundation in 1970 as project assistant in the Division of National Affairs. She recounts beginning at the organization when women participated in the workforce on wildly unequal footing with men, but because the institution proved to be actively dedicated to applying the values of fairness and justice to its own business practice, and the Civil Rights movement had been struggling along for decades, they restructured in ways that eventually allowed her to become the first female president, holding the position from 1996-2007. The experience of working within a company culture that expands internal avenues for growth for all members was integral to the mindset Berresford later brought with her to the position of founding chair at United States Artists. Here she remarks on some of the thought process that formulated the origin of USA: “Why do we call ourselves US Artists? It sounds like a government agency, but we’re not! Kathy DeShaw, our first executive director understood some of us were troubled by the fact that the Americana aspects of our culture were being captured by one political party, and the flag was being used by one political party. What we set out to do was be non partisan and say that artists and donors exist across the entire political spectrum. One of the visuals we adopted early on was the Jasper Johns American flag. It was embracing that non partisan experience of America that we wanted to highlight.”  

USA works through a process of peer selection, where artists from disparate communities across the country are nominated each year for the chance to receive an unrestricted sum of $50,000 gifted from donors who may themselves be art collectors, but are usually at least sympathetic to nonlinear creativity. This freedom from restriction came directly from a belief that the elite culture wars needed to be circumvented to allow art the chance to solve social issues that had no metrics in place to gauge progress. Berresford keeps track of situations where this sort of networking lead to concrete support, and shares them openly approaching potential donors. “Once we were alerted to this sculptor that received two public commissions but didn’t have the money to pay for the necessary materials. We were happy to help her, but we also just kept running into these contradictions that were really interesting to us. While this was a clear case of what the artist would do with the money, we didn’t want to get into a kind of bean counting of which kind of art shows "a result". If you’re a philanthropist you should give someone money and get out of the way."

The art world functions in such a way that an artist may accrue social capital in spades without that translating to consistent financial gain, but some of the donors that USA approached were suspicious of offering anything to people who may not require outside support, claiming something akin to an “artist as welfare queen” argument. Another school of thought that potential donors entertained was that if the artist was worth anything, they would find themselves evaluated by the visual art market. As laissez faire aesthetics state, this is not always the case, especially if the work is ephemeral or does not fit a fashion trend that is palatable to the current collector class. Indeed, some of the artists were contacted for nomination directly through associates who saw them as community leaders. It is not a prerequisite for recipients to excel in the contemporary rituals of successful small business with self promotion based web presences. Though some are digital natives, other nominees may run local theaters that address race relations, choreograph dance with the disabled, produce journalism about incarcerated populations, teach the homeless to sing in choruses, or raise awareness of issues facing queer communities. In some rare cases they have even been scouted out living traditional indigenous lifestyles deep in the forests of Maine or Alaska.   (CHAPTER 2: IF PHILANTHROPISTS PAYED THEIR TAXES AND POLITICIANS PUT MONEY INTO INFRASTRUCTURE WE WOULDN’T “NEED” ARTISTS TO MAKE WORK THAT ULTIMATELY DOESN’T FIX THE PROBLEMS THEY ADDRESS. ARTISTS ARE INSTEAD HIRED TO REPLACE TRAINED SPECIALISTS IN THE FIELDS OF SOCIAL WORK AND LOCAL POLITICS - PERHAPS BECAUSE “ARTISTS” ARE WILLING TO BE FLEXIBLE AND OFFER ESTHETIC SOLUTIONS TO CONCRETE ISSUES. THIS SOCIALLY ENGAGED ART MAKES PHILANTHROPISTS FEEL LIKE THEY ARE GIVING MONEY TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE. THEY ARE PAYING TO HEAR WHAT IT IS LIKE TO STRUGGLE, INSTEAD OF WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE ALIVE.)

All uncertainty in the efficacy of private donations to individual recipients was weeded out of the board of US Artists, leaving a base of support that finds artistic production to be an integral part of community structuring. Berresford recalls the early days of formulating bonds around this understanding, “In the beginning there were people we supported like the painter Mark Bradford. He was an early recipient and later became a board member. There was an idea that outside the government there could be an endowment, which was the only way you free yourself from understandable political pressures to take some risks. With an endowment we attract a staff that works because they know they are going to get payed. Then we can take risks on artists who can then take risks on finding esthetic solutions, and can weather the issues that come up, and move on and evolve the organization with an emphasis on creativity.”

From the top down, this organization works internally to ensure all of its members are cared for as well, utilizing Berrisford’s experience at Ford as inspiration. In contrast to most unpaid internship programs in the art world, theirs is not only payed, but also places the interns into a position to create a publication that is distributed among the entirety of fellows and donors. There are few venues who will not only allow their artists freedom of expression, but also allow their staff a creative outlet. The consideration of how to create an egalitarian operation that satisfies its own members doesn’t stop there though. A study commonly referred to by the USA performed by the Urban Institute titled “Investing in Creativity” found that of the award programs that did exist “Media artists have the most discipline-specific awards (165) followed by visual artists (157). On the other end of the spectrum, dancers have only 22 discipline-specific awards, design artists 6, and performance artists a mere 2.” As if merit based selection processes were not complicated enough to begin with, they also take into account that the form individual expression takes has fallen into a hierarchy of importance based on other markets and general accessibility, and that this must also be overcome through careful selection. Add to this a concern for scouting out the most socially engaged creatives, and we begin to see why each round of decisions becomes a full year’s worth of work.  

The result of taking care to note these details is something the assembly members find to have a heartening effect. In previous years, reported 82% of fellows of the USA have spent their winnings on their own art, collaboration, and on supporting other artists in their local communities. The motto of USA is “Believe in artists” and it is arguable that the good faith approach to philanthropy has worked to turn the figure of artist into a representative of sorts. When these voices are elevated, we begin to see a shift of attention away from market aesthetic, towards the backgrounds and sociopolitical beliefs of independent actors who manage to garner audiences that verge on constituencies of varying size. This year also marked the inaugural run of The Berresford prize which their website states was “conceived of by several USA Fellows in response to the lack of acknowledgment for those who have dedicated their careers to the betterment of artists… remarkable administrators, curators, scholars, and producers who are building platforms and creating conditions for artists to thrive.” Kirsty Edmunds was the recipient, but this is only the beginning of focused support for a nationwide ecosystem of creatives and those who strive to amplify their work. A common complaint about philanthropy in the arts is that institutions who receive funding are generally not allowed to pay their own staff through those donations, because philanthropy is bound by our tax structure to refrain from funding individuals. Since United States Artists has found a way to bypass this issue with the Berrisford Prize, their effect on the creative sector has become unparalleled.  

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Say anything you want against The Seventh Seal. My fear of death — this infantile fixation of mine — was, at that moment, overwhelming. I felt myself in contact with death day and night, and my fear was tremendous. When I finished the picture, my fear went away. I have the feeling simply of having painted a canvas in an enormous hurry — with enormous pretension but without any arrogance. I said, ‘Here is a painting; take it, please.’

Ingmar Bergman about The Seventh Seal (via marxferatu)

[lucialovewriting]

WOMEN’S DAY NOTES

{These are some notes collected from 2016. The statistics will reflect last years analytics} 

EQUALITY REPORT #1

Taking note of social injustice is a complicated practice for first world residents who are comparatively well off. There will always be a critical dampening of concern towards those who should not complain for they have it "good enough”. At this point in the trajectory of liberation, questions arise as to the structure of traditional hierarchy being reformed in favor of those previously oppressed/ suppressed. This liberal reformation would require those in power to relinquish key positions of privilege, a possibility far less likely than the invention of ever more prestigious yet ultimately subordinate stations. The refinement of prejudice begins to feel like the race in Zeno’s Paradox - somehow with every advance comes a new expanse of inequality, ever refined, parceled out into fractions of images and turns of phrase that hold ignorance as the competition that will never be bested.

I am writing this as a college graduate living in Brooklyn participating in the ambiguous field of professional malingering known as the arts, knowing that there are approximately one billion illiterate people in the world - two-thirds of which are women. Education and information exchange ideally enables all people to relate their culture and daily existence to the rest of the world. From there the hope is that a class of thoughtful global citizens may be able to concoct the atmosphere necessary to foster empowerment. This generally ends up equating to the work of missionaries, where compromises are made through acquiescence to working models set forth by preexisting structures that have proved their efficacy.  

We exercise freedom achieved through generations of struggle in developed countries while knowing we operate within an oasis. Outside of the borders where the capitalist structure has deemed women vital to our economic engine - and therefor worthy of a constantly debated set of rights - there are still 155 distinct economies out of 173 with discriminatory laws against their economic independence. 46 countries still have no laws against domestic violence. 19 countries still make women legally obliged to their husbands - they may not obtain a passport without a husband's consent, have their own bank account, or manage property. Women suffer a gamut of disease ranging from easily treated issues such as anemia (which leads to 15% of newborns arriving to life in a state of malnourishment) to HIV (in Subsaharan Africa the percentage of women effected is 76% to the US population’s 20% of cases). In China, the One Child Policy is openly implemented. Families there as well as India and Pakistan are encouraged to practice sex selective abortion of which there were 24,561,345 worldwide between 2000 -2014 (that’s roughly 4,576 every day). In india, as well as practicing sex selective abortion, the country’s crime records bureau reports a murder each hour relating to issues of dowry payment.

Within the US there are less instances of obvious abuse and discrimination. With safeguards such as The Violence Against Women Act of 1994, female victims of murder have ben cut by 64%. While this is a hopeful pun of a statistic, we still find that one in every five women will be the victim of sexual violence in their lifetimes. In all racial and ethnic groups women are more likely to be living at poverty levels, with income gaps developing during the childbearing years of 18-24. Approximately two-thirds of all minimum wage workers in the country are female, earning $7.25 an hour (though there is a push to bring this wage to $15).

While these statistics stand to persist, we are also leading in some of the most radical possibilities for economic and social freedom with access to voters rights, higher education, ability to divorce, and the possibility to plan for families. The wealthiest self-made woman as of today is Elizabeth Holmes who who’s business acumen earned her fluctuating billions without the accompaniment of a husband. While she is ranked at 154 in the list of US Billionaires, she is a particular case for most women ahead of her are heiresses such as Alice Walton who’s inheritance came from her father’s Wal-Mart empire. Even being able to accept family money as one’s own is a new concept, as women couldn’t open their own bank accounts without a male to cosign until 1960, and the business kindling known as good credit wasn’t afforded until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974.

Examples of what’s deemed feasible for women to strive for in America are on the verge of becoming limitless as entrepreneurs, entertainers, politicians, and thinkers leave their contributions to a lineage of hard won victories. As the unprecedented careers of women become public knowledge, they themselves are transformed into realtime parables for future generations. These images are joined by the hypnotic power of Hollywood with a pantheon of evermore fantastic heroines. Popularity of characters like Ripley, The Bride, Furiosa, Laura Croft, Coffy, Lisbeth Salander, Thelma and Louise, and actual action professionals like Zo Bell ensure a future budget for the genre of female lead adventure. As these narratives proliferate it becomes less feasible to imagine a future where return to servitude could be deemed an option. Profound change must be celebrated as we strive towards a truly egalitarian society, but we must continue past the murk of “almost equal but not really” territory to a world that affords possibilities for all women.

To be visible, to be vocal, to educate oneself on the evolution of our collective rights, and to continue working towards a world where models of emancipated life outweigh those of misfortune at the hands of our own communities are all the duties of feminists moving forward.

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Pew Pew

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Bride in the Hedges

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Review of Andrew Sendor at Sperone Westwater http://www.berlinartlink.com/2017/04/26/exhibition-painting-the-fiction-of-saturdays-ascent-andrew-sendor-at-sperone-westwater-new-york/

[lucialovewriting]

Nice Skin, Great Nails, Safe Bird

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Write up of Adam Henry’s Handshakes and Networks at 247365 Gallery

http://www.berlinartlink.com/2016/09/19/work-adam-henrys-handshakes-and-networks-at-247365-new-york/

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Write up for Juwelia at Jack Hanley Gallery

http://www.berlinartlink.com/2016/01/28/exhibition-juwelia-at-jack-hanley-gallery-new-york/

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History of Written Sound for Berlin Art Link

http://www.berlinartlink.com/2015/07/07/sound-spectrum-origin-of-the-written-sound/

[lucialovewriting]

Look at Ryder Ripps

http://www.berlinartlink.com/2015/02/10/essay-ryder-ripps-a-short-history-on-the-making-of-ho-and-the-artist-who-paints-her/

[lucialovewriting]

Studio Visit with artist Robert Lazzarini for Berlin Art Link

http://www.berlinartlink.com/2016/12/07/robert-lazzarini/