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6 documentaries on Netflix that every woman should watch right now

When the 24-hour news cycle bombards us with information on our devices on the daily, sometimes I find myself needing to take a step back.

I don’t completely estrange myself from daily news headlines but sometimes I need another outlet to receive information on social issues.

In short, I need information delivered to me in a different and more humanizing form — through the lens of story-telling.

That is why I click on the documentary tab on Netflix.

Whether I want to delve into the life of a female artist or public figure or whether I want to follow a filmmaker’s investigation on a systemic issue or historical event, sometimes a gal wants to lay in bed and immerse myself in a story whether it takes me around the world or into the history of my own neighborhood of Harlem.

Peep these 6 documentaries on women and women’s issues.

Amy

Exclusively employing voiceover and found footage, this documentary powerfully offers an intimate, raw and devastating look a the life of the late artist.

Amy not only revisits and commemorate her incredible artistry but shows the cost of fame, stardom and the perils that come with being a celebrity in the modern era.

The documentary foregrounds Amy Winehouse as an artist and talent gone too soon.


The Hunting Ground

Rape and sexual assault are alarmingly all too common on college campuses.

The Hunting Ground is a documentary that offers an extensive investigation on the systemic issue, interviewing victims of sexual assault, exposing the college administrations’ inaction, the faults of Title IX and unveils the financial incentive colleges have to cover up any reported cases sexual assault that occur on their campuses.

It is a film that should be seen by everyone going to college, who are in college, but really, everyone needs to see this film because misogyny and rape culture are rampant and systemic.


Reversing Roe

This concise and powerful documentary highlights the historic Supreme Court ruling of Roe Vs Wade which legalized abortion.

Given that the current administration seems hell-bent on regulating and policing women’s bodies, this documentary is an important reminder that our vote matters and how women’s reproductive rights still remain a contentious issue in the United States and of course, the world.


The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson

The Stonewall Uprising in 1969 is widely known as the historical event that catalyzed the LGBT liberation movement. Yet, many are unaware that Marsha P Johnson; a black transgender woman spearheaded the movement.

Queer activists point to Johnson as responsible for igniting the Stonewall riots, specifically citing her as the one to have thrown the first brick.’ The documentary, however, foregrounds Johnson’s grass-roots activism before that historic moment.

The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson is an important contribution in the representation of LGBTQ history — a history that has been whitewashed in other media representations.


Paris is Burning

27 years have passed since Jennie Livingston’s documentary offered viewers an intimate look at the Harlem drag ball scene of the 1980s in New York City.

Yet, there is still much to be said about Livingston’s documentary given the development of queer theory and the increase in transgender representation in the media.

Paris is Burning explores the notion of passing, termed in the drag world as ‘realness, ‘and uses gender performance and presentation to subvert social norms.


20 Feet from Stardom

While there are countless biographical books, biopics and documentaries on our favorite solo artists and lead singers, 20 Feet from Stardom spotlights the backup singers who have accompanied the big-name acts.

With their stories at the foreground, the documentary offers the much-deserved attention and recognition to backup singers whose identities have occupies a place in the shadows of notable lead singers.

The backup singers, Darlene Love, Jo Lawry, Judith Hill, and Lisa Fischer, cited in the film all offer unabashed first-hand accounts of their experiences and careers. 20 Feet From Stardom is truly riveting to watch.

How producing beats made Calmatic one of the best music video directors

Watching an ATM endlessly dispense cash on a wild and lucrative journey across the cityscape of Los Angeles with Anderson .Paak, prompts one to question, who exactly is the creative mind behind the dope visuals for the music video, “Bubblin?”

The answer is, Calmatic; a Los Angeles born filmmaker and artist.

If you do a quick Google search, you will find that Calmatic has an impressive and long list of collaborations with artists.

Calmatic has made music videos for the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Khalid, Anderson .Paak, Vince Staples, Esperanza Spalding, Jhene Aiko, Lizzo, Mehyhem Lauren, The Internet, Zayn, Kosher Kris and Overdoz.

Calmatic, however, got his start through producing his own music.

Back in the day when Myspace was the go-to social media platform, Calmatic would share the beats he produced on his account page where he began to develop a small network of followers and artists.

 

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Big shoutout to Zayn and Luti Media for bringing me onto this project and trusting in my vision. Many more to come. ✊🏾 #ZAYN

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Music has always been important to Calmatic and his creative process, in an interview with Madame Noire, he said,

“Music is the medicine for the heart, brain and mind.”

Still, it was only after acquiring his first video camera that Calmatic was able to marry his love of music with visuals.

Calmatic frequented open-mics around Los Angeles, filming rappers on stage, in hopes of finding an artist or group he could create music videos for, free of charge.

 

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🎱

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His visits paid off, ultimately linking up with the LA group Overdoz (a hip-hop group whose sound and vibe have been compared to OutKast and N.E.R.D), where he made several music videos for the music collective.

The collaboration was twofold. It created the necessary visuals for an emerging hip-hop group and also aided Calmatic in developing his own editing style and visual authorship.

The open-mic circuit was also where Calmatic crossed paths with the Anderson .Paak, who at the time, was still an up-and-coming artist.

Blown away by his flow, unique sound, and the funky percussive beats he produced on the drum set,  Calmatic connected with .Paak and created a music video for him.

The two had kept in touch over the years.

Evidently, .Paak’s fame has grown significantly. Since, their first encounter, the Oxnard artist has collaborated with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Dr.Dre, Snoop Dogg and more. When the time came to make a budgetless music video under Dr. Dre’s label, Aftermath Entertainment, .Paak reached out to Calmatic for the “Bubblin’” project.

Calmatic notes that his directing and editing style are instrumentally shaped by musical background. He refuses to conceive visuals and sound as mutually exclusive.

A break in the beat is viewed as an opening, an opportunity for improvisation and for the filmmaker to insert his own artistic signature. In an interview with Madame Noire, Calmatic said,

“I treat editing like I am making a beat. I do all my cuts in like the little in-between, intricate sounds that people don’t really hear. Like to me, the edit has its own beat to complete the beat of the actual song.”

 

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Calmatic has now stepped through the doors of the West Coast hip-hop and rap scene.

For sure, his early days of trying to make it as a music video director are an admirable model for aspiring music video directors to take note of and follow suit.

Obama and Oprah pull up to show why the midterm elections matter

The U.S. midterm elections usually do not garner a lot of attention domestically, let alone internationally. The global political climate, however, is at a crossroads.

Right-wing extremism and nationalism have proven to be a formidable wave across Europe and Latin America, leaving many political analysts concerned about the state of liberal democracy at this current historical juncture. In short, the stakes are higher than ever.

The results of the midterm elections essentially trouble the prospect of Trump’s re-election in 2020, whom in the short timeline of his presidency since 2016 has made a stirring impact on the stage of global politics. With tomorrow’s midterm election results looming — the atmosphere is palpable — a conflation of angst and fear but importantly, also hope.

The midterms offer an opportunity for Democratic voters to recover from both their disappointment and shock of the 2016 election by regaining the majority of the House and possibly the Senate, if a “blue wave” is indeed engendered by the turnout of the midterms.

It is for these reasons that the democratic campaign trail drew some of the biggest and most influential names this weekend to galvanize people to vote in the red states of Georgia and Florida. Former U.S. President Barack Obama touched down in Florida to endorse Mayor Andrew Gillum and Bill Nelson. Obama later joined TV mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey in Georgia to endorse Governor hopeful Stacey Abrams.

 

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U never know who’s gonna come a knocking! #teamabrams

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Should Gillum win, he will be Florida’s first black governor. A victory for Abrams would make history. Should Abrams win, she would not only be Georgia’s first black female governor but would also be the first black female governor in the United States.

Reaffirming his status as one of the most eloquent orators, Obama delivered one of his many inspiring speeches. Refusing to state the current President’s name, Obama opted to allude to the 45th President, pointing to the current administration’s routinely divisive and inflammatory rhetoric. Obama declared,

“When you vote you can choose hope over fear.”

In his speech, Obama emphasized how a single election does not completely rid society from systemic issues of racism, misogyny, sexism, homophobia etc, but it is the starting point to producing a progressive trajectory for the nation to follow.

Obama has chosen not to follow the tradition of former presidents who have relinquished themselves from the political scene after their term, stating in his first campaign appearance earlier in September in Chicago,

“This is one of those pivotal moments when every one of us, as citizens of the United States, need to determine just who it is that we are, just what it is that we stand for.”

In his speech, Obama reminded the crowd in Florida that Republicans were one vote short of completely repealing the Affordable Care Act, sending a strong warning and urging Americans not to be misled by Republicans on healthcare ahead of the upcoming election, declaring their messages as blatant lies.

Following the words of the former President, Gillum made the stage, asserting in his speech,

“We have a chance to send them an unapologetic message: that their brand of politics is no longer acceptable in the state of Florida.”

 

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As I reflect on election night ten years ago today, I can’t help but think about where my political career started. I wasn’t running for office. I was running a voter-registration drive in Chicago. What I learned then — and what would become the premise of my 2008 campaign — was that you couldn’t just fight for existing votes. You had to reach out to all of these people who had lost faith and lost trust, and get them off the sidelines. So during our first campaign, when I started seeing all these stories about record turnout in communities all over the country — from young people in line for hours in Iowa to elderly folks in lawn chairs down in Florida — I knew that we had shown what is possible when everybody decides to participate. And that, in and of itself, gave people a sense of their own power — their own agency in the kind of country we want to leave for our kids. When more people get off the sidelines and decide to participate, our country becomes a little more representative of its people — of everyone’s collective decision. And American politics can change as a result. So on Election Day this Tuesday, I’m not just asking you to vote. I’m asking you to really show up once again. Talk with your friends, convince some new voters, and get them out to vote because then something powerful happens. Change happens. Hope happens. And with each new step we take in the direction of fairness, and justice, and equality, and opportunity, hope spreads.

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Meanwhile in Georgia, Oprah Winfrey went door-to-door urging local residents to vote. Winfrey again delivered another mesmerizing speech to the town hall floors of Cobb County and DeKalb County, telling voters,

“Make your voice heard on Nov. 6. We have this incredible opportunity to make history. We have our inalienable right, because the one place that all people are equal is at the polls.”

“For anybody here who has an ancestor who didn’t have the right to vote, and you are choosing not to vote — wherever you are in this state, in this country — you are dishonoring your family. You are disrespecting and disregarding their legacy, their suffering and their dreams, when you don’t vote. When I go to the polls, I cast a vote for my grandmother who died in 1963 before the voting rights act of 1965 and never had the chance to vote…”

“And I’m here today because of the men and because of the women who were lynched, who were humiliated, who were discriminated against, who were suppressed, who were repressed and oppressed, for the right of the equality of the polls. And I want you to know that their blood has seeped into my DNA, and I refuse to let their sacrifices be in vain.”

Abrams is running against Brian Kemp who is reeling of the back of the controversy of taking thousands of voters, (the majority of whom were black) off state’s voter rolls.

This controversy that was further exacerbated by the earlier instance in the state, where a group of black senior voters were ordered off a bus on its way to the polls. The event made national headlines and has became the paradigmatic case for highlighting the reality of black voter suppression this midterm election.

Undoubtedly, Trump’s presidency has created a highly divisive and contentious political climate. The implications of the midterms, however, are not just political but also economic, though these two forces are inextricably intertwined.

One cannot overlook the impact the election results will have on markets around the world. Evidently, the upcoming U.S. elections have engendered strong interest from those in the private sector. While November 6th is a date that doesn’t tend to be on the world’s radar, perhaps for the first time, it will be this year.

Some may view such sentiments as hyperbolic. Yet, the results on November 6th are instrumental in shaping the course of the nation’s trajectory in the next two years and this of course has global implications.

Akin Omotoso’s film ‘Vaya’ takes us on a journey to the South African ‘city of gold’

As urbanization continues to rapidly take place across the globe, it is critical to consider how cities “figure in” our thinking about identity and its formulation. Cities have and continue to be widely conceived as sites that provide the opportunity for a better life and allow individuals equal access to self-determination.

Still, cities have proven to be sites that produce rampant inequity and are a reality that increasingly, and indeed alarmingly, is viewed simply as a derivative of structuring society around a free-market global economy. In other words, there are winners and there are losers but the game includes more players than ever.

Invoked by the film’s title, that translates ‘to go,’ Akin Omotoso’s fourth feature film explores this very tradition — the movement of people to urban localities. Vaya follows the story of three young South Africans who leave their rural homes on a train bound to Johannesburg.

Vaya

From the establishing shot of Omotoso’s pulsating drama, audiences are taken on a journey. Cutting across vast rural farmland on route to Johannesburg, what is nicknamed ‘Jozi’ in the film, it is in this opening sequence that viewers are introduced to the film’s three main characters, each of whom, come with their own agendas and aspirations in their journey to the city.

Zanelle (Zimkhitha Nyoka) has the task of delivering a young girl to her mother. Nkulu (Msimang Sibusiso) must retrieve the body of his father and return him home in order to reconnect his father to his homeland. Then, finally, Nhlanhla’s (Sihle Xaba) incentive to migrate is the promise of work by his cousin, Xolani.

However, once they arrive in Johannesburg, each character shares the experience of being betrayed, abused, exploited or abandoned by those they’ve entrusted to protect and provide for them. Although the characters never meet, their lives are intertwined.

Vaya

The film forces us to guess and approximate the agendas of the people the characters encounter. Vayas interweaving narrative structure powerfully aligns the audience with the characters’ subjectivities. We actively piece together and decipher the little information that is disclosed to us by moving through the urban milieu with Zanelle, Nkulu, and Nhlanhla.

We feel their anxiety as they desperately navigate the city and feel their hope in the limited times it is provided and then crudely stripped away. Everything is filtered through them.

Even the drone shots of Johannesburg bears semblance to Vaya’s crisscrossing narrative. Exquisitely executed by cinematographer Kabelo Thathe, the aerial shots of Jozi’s train lines and intersecting highways foreshadow the obstacles the city has in store for the three characters. At the same time, these stunning floating shots seem to carve through space and time in a way that is illustrative of the flowing movement of people and goods under globalization.

Vaya

While time seems to accelerate, space seems to compress. With the stakes continually raised, the uncertainty over the fates of the characters increase, as the internal frontiers of the cityscape seem to close in on them. Plus, the continual presence of othering dichotomies, between ‘us’ and ‘them,’ that is to say, between those who live ‘here’ and those who live ‘there’ further elucidates the power of the film’s title.

With the city’s nickname being “The City of Gold,” the film taps into the mythology around Johannesburg. The three characters come to the city with a set of lucrative expectations and dreams already set in motion by public discourse.

Yet, the three interweaving stories show the city as loci for crime and the creation of informal economies (drug trade and prostitution). In this sense, the characters of Vaya are betrayed not only on a human level but also by a larger false promise. Vaya, however, is not presenting the city as utterly devoid of morality.

Vaya

There are moments of compassion enacted by other city-dwellers and locals who lend a hand out to the film’s three main characters. Though the audience observes the three characters constantly on the move, their social or economic mobility, however, struggles against the confines of the cityscape and Vaya’s open ending prompts audiences to ponder the safety and wellbeing of the characters.

In this sense, Vaya speaks to the effectiveness in crafting a narrative that is so specific while it simultaneously has the capacity to speak about universal themes. Indeed, it is this message of universality that instrumentally shapes Omotoso’s commitment to storytelling, as he described in his interview with KultureHub,

“I am always trying to find the thing that connects us. Of course there are things that are culturally specific, but on the whole, our experiences, for the most part, are not that far apart.”

 

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As Seen By The Editor @marionalloreta

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Vaya underlines that not everyone is in control of one’s own destiny, as Omotoso asserts,

“People who are on the fringe of society do not control their narrative.”

Vaya came about through the continuation of an important dialogue. After Omotoso’s media company produced the South African television series, A Place to Call Home, co-producer Robbie Thorpe started ‘The Homeless Writers Project,’ which is now ran by Harriet Perlman, as a way to provide visibility to the invisible; the many homeless individuals who originally came to the city of Johannesburg in the search for a better life.

In speaking to KultureHub, Omotoso described the ‘The Homeless Writer’s Project,’

“It was a space where we people could come together and tell their stories and share their experiences of coming to Johannesburg and living on the street. So, it started as an exploration, a continual exploration of our neighbors; the people who inhabit Johannesburg.”

Meeting every Wednesday to share their stories and experiences, the project started off with a large number of contributors. As the years went on, the group got smaller and it was via a process of elimination that the group eventually became comprised of four individuals whose stories ultimately translated into a screenplay for Vaya.

In asking if Omotoso felt the pressure in creating a film based on the lives of real people, he said,

“Absolutely, but I would like to call it a challenge or opportunity. There was a pressure because you want to make sure it’s authentic as they wrote. But they also said ‘don’t sugarcoat our story.’ We were all working toward the same goal. The whole time they were along with us on the journey of dreaming up the script.”

Omotoso emphasized how the writers David Majoka, Tshabalira Lebakeng, Anthony Mafela, and Madoda Ntuli were involved every step of the way. He recalls how they took the producers to the places where they actually lived when they first arrived in Jozi.

Omotoso relayed in our interview how he went through line by line of the script with them, asking what they were feeling when they delivered those words that are now inscribed on the film’s script. The filmmaker’s attention to detail has certainly paid off as there is a level of authenticity that exudes out of the screen.

The migrant legacy of Apartheid echoes in Omotoso’s film. Vaya offers a commentary, albeit subliminally, on post-Apartheid public discourse’s heralding of social progress via a neatly bookended and linear narrative of South African history. Importantly, Vaya puts a face to the countless disenfranchised that live on the street.

In crafting an interweaving story that focuses on the gap between cause and effect, Vaya draws attention to our collective responsibility, complicity, but crucially, our common humanity in order recognize how a set of circumstances or events cause people to occupy a position in the margins of society.

Vaya is the 19th film to be picked up by Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing. Vaya made its world premiere at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and garnered Mr. Omotoso the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Director.

An outsider’s perspective on TIME Magazine’s issue for ‘Guns in America’

In the wake of the tragedy in Pittsburgh last week, TIME’s releasing of the cover of its November issue titled “Guns In America” could not be more pertinent. The latest issue tackles the debate over gun control in the United States. Within the timeline of just over 5 months, the TIME’s project on guns covered three cities; St. Louis, Washington D.C. and Dallas.

Infamous French street artist JR, who is known for his politicized work across the world, was commissioned to work on the magazine’s new issue. An extensive interview process made up of the distinct views of 245 people across these three U.S. cities, provided the framework for the project.

The testimonials came from a range of individuals across the political spectrum. The project’s participants included gun enthusiasts, teachers, competitive shooters, Black Lives Matter activists, marines, cops, and more. Each participant was photographed.

 

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OUT TOMORROW ! See the full @time cover and video mural on http://time.com/Guns-In-America/ (link in bio)

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After all of the interviews were conducted and all of the testimonials were gathered, JR was tasked with carefully arranging each photograph of the interviewees.

Bearing semblance to the floor of Congress, every individual is positioned around a centered bureau with microphones and the U.S. Constitution unscrolled. The result is a stunning black and white photomontage and visual rendering of the democratic spirit of debate.

The French artist immersed himself within the highly vexed dialogue on guns in America. While he admitted to being somewhat naive on the issue, describing how the project forced him to journey into new territory, his signature shades ultimately do not blind him from seeing what’s really going on in America.

The French artist has an outsider’s perspective on the issue of gun control. Like JR, I am also an outsider looking in on the issue. I was born and grew up in Sydney, Australia.

This factor doesn’t make us omniscient figures. What it does offer, however, is an important perspective.

The 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia is widely known as the event that catalyzed the Australian conservative government’s decision to restrict gun laws. As a result, gun-related deaths have reduced dramatically in the country. The Port Arthur massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in Australian history. But it was also the last.

1996 was also the year I was born. I was fortunate to grow up in a cultural climate where I went to school devoid of the conception that an individual would come onto school grounds and be intent on killing as many people as possible with their military-style arsenal. It wasn’t a thought that crossed my mind.

 

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How would an artist, one whose body of work explores the world’s most complex social issues, approach the topic of guns in America today? TIME’s Editor-in-Chief, Edward Felsenthal, asked that question in the From the Editor letter in this week’s special report: Guns in America. “If he were @jr, a native of Paris,” writes Felsenthal, “it would be with fresh eyes (behind his trademark sunglasses) and an open mind. His latest work—extraordinary murals that bring together on one canvas people from all points of view and walks of life—is about our common humanity. His message, powerful and regrettably rare at this cultural moment, landed him on this year’s TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people.” @jr’s mural—pasted on the Houston Bowery Wall on Oct. 26, through Nov. 15—envisions the cover of TIME as a table, the kind of setting where we might actually listen to one another. Over five months, he and his team, along with a group of TIME journalists, traveled to three cities—St. Louis; Washington, D.C.; and Dallas—to film, photograph and record, one by one, people who represent the vast range of voices in our gun debate. The final result brought together 245 people from every imaginable vantage point: veterans and teachers, hunters and doctors, people afraid that guns may kill their children and people afraid they won’t have guns to protect their children. The participants in this project “will always be part of the same mural even if they don’t share the same ideas,” says the artist. “I really hope they will actually listen to each other, and I hope that people will join this conversation.” Explore all 245 voices in this @time and @jr project at TIME.com/guns-in-america. Photographs by @claramokriphoto for @time

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For me, school was a place of learning. That’s the way it should be.

At the same time, I attended college in the U.S. Situating myself now in the context of what an American student encounters and the fears they carry, I recognize that my experience back home was a fortunate position to uphold but it shouldn’t have to be.

I didn’t have to walk into a classroom feeling unsafe or walk through a metal detector to start the school day. Nor was my class day interrupted by “active shooter” drills. Children and teachers should not have to be equipped with skills or tactics to take down a gunman. Gun violence is a systemic issue.

Importantly, gun violence and the threat of gun violence are one of several ways in which children and youth in the United States are denied access to a complete education.

I am alert to the fact that efforts to solve the issue of gun violence have gained momentum both on and off school/college campus, because it impacts all communities, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, and class.

In other words, the discourse on these mass shootings isn’t racialized in the same way other forms of gun violence in the United States are.

These mass shootings, whether in schools, colleges, malls, cinemas, and nightclubs, are a form of terrorism. They disrupt the routine of daily life in the public sphere and affect how we chose to operate in our quotidian environments. But these events are not discursively positioned as such.

In the wake of these mass shootings, the dialogue is orientated around the shooter; focusing on their mental health as well as pathologizing and reducing the event to an isolated occurrence of a ‘lone wolf’ acting out.

The fact that these events are normalized is astounding to me.

I want to be able to go into a movie theater and not have to pay closer attention to the exit signs or feel my stomach drop when someone leaves in the middle of a movie, prompting me to internally ask myself, “what if that individual comes back into the theater with a gun?”

I am also queer woman. I want to be able to go to a queer bar or club with the sole intent of dancing and having a good time and not have the thought of someone with a semi-automatic rifle entering into space and turn a nightclub into a combat war zone.

I point to the Port Arthur case in Australia earlier as a paradigm as to what a government can and should do in response to such devastating events.

I know Americans who have pro-gun views and/or are hunting enthusiasts are quick to quash this Australian model on the basis of cultural differences.

 

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When 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27, in one of the deadliest attacks on Jews in U.S. history, people from all sides condemned the violence. Then the conversation quickly became familiar. The alleged shooter carried an assault-style rifle and three pistols, authorities said. His ability to bring those weapons into the synagogue unchallenged has again elicited questions about who is allowed to own a gun in America. President Trump quickly interjected the role of armed protection into the debate. Different communities view these questions in vastly different ways, discussing them largely in echo chambers of those who share their geography, their political party, their newsfeed. This division is part of what @time sought to address in its “Guns in America” project, published just two days before the Pittsburgh shooting. TIME partnered with the artist @jr to ask 245 Americans about their experiences with guns and invited them to share their stories and perspectives on how to find common ground. The resulting mural, composed of 245 portraits, was pasted on the Houston Bowery Wall in New York City on Oct. 26, and meant as a testament to the goals of hearing one another and searching for understanding. Over the weekend, the mural was spray painted with the number 11 in red—an apparent reference to the individuals slain in Pittsburgh. Flowers were placed at the base of the mural, making it a makeshift memorial. After the weekend’s events, we talked to two of the project’s participants about how it informed their views and what they hope to see in the national gun conversation moving forward. Read more on TIME.com. Photograph by @andreskudacki for TIME

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But is crucial to point out that before the Port Arthur Massacre, there had been 13 shootings in Australia in the 18 years leading up to the horrific massacre in Tasmania. There was a gun culture. Some Australians enjoy hunting, just as some Americans do.

In other words, the Port Arthur massacre was not a single isolated event. It was constitutive of a thread of violent instances linked to the systemic issue of gun violence in Australia.

For that reason, the government accepted that it needed to make reforms to the nation’s gun legislation. Consequently, the Australian government introduced strict gun laws that prohibited military-style assault rifles and weapons, prohibited their import, and provided a nationwide buyback program, funded with a Medicare tax as an incentive for people to relinquish their weapons.

There is no underestimating of the fact that the issue of guns in the United States is complex. I have observed that debates on the second amendment haven’t been particularly productive since the American public’s consciousness is so embedded in the Constitution and the Founding Fathers.

It is for this reason that I concur with the TIME interviewee Jamison Sweet (47, a gun owner in St.Louis), that “guns aren’t going anywhere.” When people and politicians assert the need to make reforms to gun legislation, this shouldn’t be interpreted as an impending sweeping scheme to take every gun away from gun-owner.

Plus, a lot of people aren’t aware that 75% of Americans favor stricter gun laws, 94% are in favor of gun owners requiring background checks and 72% support banning assault-style weapons.

So why hasn’t there been any traction on this issue given that there is a significant amount of common ground shared amongst the American public?

Well, if President no. 45 really wants to talk about actually draining the swamp, let’s rid the NRA from its political machinations and its investment in putting money into the pockets of U.S. political officials.

Nonetheless, I have hope that there will be change.

The history of social justice movements in the United States have come about through student activism. The survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, are spearheading a national movement for gun control. Indeed, their leadership and inspiring initiative have rejuvenated the debate on the gun control.

I strongly hope the organizing taking place right now across the country in the wake of what happened in Parkland and now Pittsburgh, will not just be a moment, but a movement.

Brazil just voted in a far-right extremist president: Why it matters

Brazil is a nation famous for producing and exporting some of the world’s most talented futbol players, but as of Sunday, the world’s eyes are on the nation for a different reason. Brazil has elected the far-right politician and former military leader, Jair Bolsonaro as the nation’s new President.

Winning 55 percent of the vote, Bolsonaro defeated Fernando Haddad from the leftist Workers Party, marking a decisive moment for the Latin American continent and global politics.

A long-time congressman and backbencher, Bolsonaro’s presidential victory is particularly remarkable given that Bolsonaro has largely occupied a relatively marginal position in the Brazilian political scene.

Yet, similar to other far-right and nationalist political movements that have gained traction across Europe and the United States, a combination of factors and crises have led to this move to political extremism in Brazil.

Corruption

 

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01/11/2018: Coletiva de imprensa. Para assistir clique no link em nossa BIO ou vá a nosso canal no youtube: Jair Bolsonaro

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Brazil is still reeling from the biggest corruption scandal the country has ever faced.

Dubbed ‘Operation Car Wash,’ a federal investigation exposed a monumental money laundering scheme that funneled billions of dollars into the pockets of Brazilian politicians and business leaders.

With allegations of bribery and corruption connected to the former government (PT), it was always going to be an uphill battle for Bolsonaro’s opposition leader, Fernando Haddad.

In addition, the popular former President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva (also a member of the Workers Party), was barred from running for the Presidential election due to his ties to the national corruption scandal.


Crime

With crime in Brazil rampant and continuing to escalate, the Brazilian public is looking to the government for answers.

Since Brazil shares a border with three nations that are the world’s biggest cocaine producers and distributors, much of the violence in Brazil is drug-related and induced by gang violence.

Still, the problem has been exacerbated by the continual mismanagement of public security funds from government officials. Consequently, the police and local security forces are underpaid and devoid of the resources to combat the crime on the street.

As violence, suffering, and death rage on in the streets of Brazil, the fraudulence enacted by the leftist government and the corporate class has been viewed with disdain from the Brazilian public.

Evidently, since much of the public’s safety day-to-day is not guaranteed, people are scared and perceive the government as neither representative of their interests nor fulfilling its role to protect its own citizens.

The corruption and the government’s seeming indifference to the issue of crime in Brazil have led to a lack of faith in the democratic system.

Plus, Brazil has only been a democracy for just over two decades. Like most Latin American countries, the transition (or imposition) of democracy and a free-market economic system has been fraught with difficulty.


Economy

 

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O Brasil é de todos nós! 🇧🇷

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Brazil recently endured its worst recession in 100 years. Though it was announced that the recession had come to an end in 2017, 13 million people remain unemployed in Brazil.

Although Bolsonaro was quoted saying he knows nothing about economics, that didn’t deter 55 percent of the voting population to elect him as President.

When this is the political, social and economic climate, people look to people for answers. In other words, all of these conditions provide fertile ground for political extremism.

Cue, Jair Bolsonaro.

 

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Bom dia!🌻

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In his campaign speeches, Bolsonaro has promoted himself as an anti-establishment candidate and has relentlessly pointed out both the failings of the opposition party promised to end political and corporate corruption.

Bolsonaro has capitalized on people’s fears, anxieties and discontent with the current state of the nation. Despite his endorsement of torture and brutal strategies executed by the former military dictatorship that reigned from 1964-1985, his pro-military stance and propagation of law and order have resonated with the public.

Throughout his political career, Bolsonaro has been a vocal supporter of Brazil’s former right-wing dictatorship. Given that Bolsonaro openly declared during his campaign that if elected he would imprison his political opponents, there is a lot to be concerned about.

His strategy to combat Brazil’s rampant street crime is to loosen the nation’s gun laws so that more people are armed for self-defense. With Brazil having the largest national homicide rate in the world, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Bolsonaro is also a climate change denier. In light of the IPCC report published last month, the administration’s decision to continue to privilege industries of mining and invest nuclear energy over green energy proves immensely alarming.

Plus, with Bolsonaro’s government announcing their intention of carrying out ‘agricultural activities’ in the Amazon rainforest, it is apparent that our natural wonders are under serious threat.

I think it is meek to call Bolsonaro’s rhetoric as simply ‘provocative.’

There is a pressing need to call out his language for what it exactly is — racist, misogynist and homophobic. We must move away from falling into the dangerous terrain of normalizing such rhetoric.

The retrenchment of democracy and the seemingly inevitable installment of the military dictatorship should not be taken lightly since the former regime was an era characterized by extreme violence, mass murder, torture and censorship.

Bolsonaro will take office on January 1, 2019.

Wanuri Kahiu’s film ‘Rafiki’ gives a real look into queer love in Kenya

When Kena reluctantly wears a pink floral dress for her mother, she proudly announces that Kena finally looks “like a proper woman.”

What it means to be “a proper woman,” a young woman, or more specifically, a queer young woman in Kenya is beautifully explored and performed in Wanuri Kahiu’s feature film Rafiki.

The film follows the queer love story between two young women, Kena and Ziki.

Rafiki

It is a story of young love. A story of first love. A story riddled with giggles, deep inhales and exhales, and long lingering looks. With this film, we can’t help but appreciate all of the authentic awkward moments that come with negotiating the intensity of your feelings.

Truly, it stirs emotions unparalleled to anything you have ever felt before. Queer stories of first love, however, perhaps carry even more weight.

Not only must one contend with the intensity of their feelings, but one is also exploring a side of their identity that is suppressed because of the family they are born into, the town they grew up in, or in extreme cases, the fear of violence and government persecution.

The notion of ‘forbidden love’ operates on two registers in the film.

Rafiki

In the context of the conservative and religious society the two women grow up in, Kena and Ziki’s queer sexuality is viewed as ‘deviant’ and a transgression against social norms.

In addition, the fathers of the two young women are political opponents in the upcoming local election. Evidently, the two young women are up against the institutional barriers of government and religion.

Yet, they must challenge the traditional heteronormative values upheld by their families and the local community — whose members love a good gossip! As each of these forces continues to foil the blossoming love between Kena and Ziki, the young women are put into the painful position of having to choose between their love and safety.

Rafiki

With Kena and Ziki’s personal navigation posited within a close-knit community and housing estate in Nairobi, the two continually seek to carve out a space of privacy within the chaotic and intrusive milieu. Despite these bleak set of circumstances, Rafiki offers a hopeful and optimistic narrative.

Whether rendered through the surrounding pink-hued buildings, the neon party Kena and Ziki attend, the clothes they wear, the interior of their families home, and finally, Ziki’s colorful hair braids (that screams out her free-spirited nature), Rafiki’s cinematography is rich in color, patterns, and texture.

Rafiki

With a color scheme that explores the full spectrum of color are a visual nod to the LGBTQ rainbow flag. The vibrant colors, both primary and neon, that saturate the film, make it easy to celebrate and support the love between these two young women.

Plus, Rafiki presents a serious inversion of the male gaze. The gaze of the women take primary focus as their mutual desire and vehement attraction to one another is conveyed by their exchange of beaming smiles, furtive glances, and drawn-out looks.

Rafiki is a project produced by AfroBubbleGum Productions, co-founded by the film’s director, Wanuri Kahiu.

Classified as a genre, aesthetic and art movement, AfroBubbleGum is invested in producing art that captures the full range of human experiences and stories out of Africa.

It seeks to create and share African narratives that are not restricted to the issues of war, famine or rampant poverty. The reason being that such representations are viewed as fuelling Western paternalism, reinforcing Western indifference and the West’s complete dissociation from geographies of the ‘Third World.’

 

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My Ted Talk is up. Link in bio. #tedfellow2017

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However, due to the film’s LGBTQ content, Rafiki had been banned in its home nation of Kenya. Still, that hasn’t stopped Rafiki from finding an audience.

The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival this year and received a standing ovation from the crowd. Since Cannes, the film screened at the Toronto Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, and recently found its way to New York.

In the “City that Never Sleeps” I was lucky enough to attend the screening as part of the New York LGBT Film Festival, aka NewFest.

Wanuri had intended on attending the New York screening that was to be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker. However, due to issues over her visa, Wanuri was unable to attend the screening.

Nonetheless, its successful international reception has inevitably generated Oscar buzz. In order for a film to be considered for the Academy Award category of Best Foreign Language Film, however, the film must have a theatrical release and run in its home country.

A temporary ban has been lifted by the Kenyan High Court for the screening of the film.

LGBTQ rights continue to be a battle in Kenya and across East Africa.

Rafiki and the controversy surrounding the film brings about an important dialogue on our right to love whom we love, as well as the freedom to create and share stories.

Rafiki’s screenplay is based on the award-winning short story, Jambula Tree (2007) by Monica Arac de Nyeko.

5 women behind the lens who are setting the tone for photography

Some photographers prefer film, while others prefer digital. Some choose black and white, while others privilege color.

In occupying a position behind the lens, what all photographers share is the ability to choose what they want in the frame and outside the frame and use their gaze and subjectivity to capture an array of people, environments, worlds, and experiences that incite curiosity for the eye of the beholder.

From documenting life on the road, capturing the energy of your favorite live concert performances to taking intimate and raw portraits; meet these five women creating some incredible visuals that will transform your IG feed into a captivating photography portfolio.

Raven B. Varona

 

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Got the heart of a giant, don’t you ever forget.

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At the age of 26, Ravie B may have landed the coolest job in the world. She was recently on tour with Beyonce and Jay Z as their official photographer. On tour, she captured awe-inspiring visuals of The Carters, On the Run II tour that has repeatedly sold-out stadium arenas around the world.

Traveling on the road with the world’s most popular power-couple created a narrative that is comparable to the storyline of Almost Famous. Incredibly, however, Varona’s story is real and the other is a movie.

Fun fact, Varona tweeted about the prospect of photographing The Carters OTR tour four years ago. Well, I guess her story is proof that if you put your ideas out into the Twittersphere they shall manifest???

 

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ROME. LOVEHAPPY.

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Born in the Bronx, Varona grew up in New York City and is also an NYU graduate.

While it is apparent Varona has taken photos for some of the biggest names and brands, she has a natural curiosity for people and places. She developed her love for photography from an early age, and recalled in her website’s about page,

“I used to look at photos of strangers, places I’d never been, and ask my mom to tell me stories about them, I’d also just make up my own.”

Varona has had exclusive access to the intimate backstage moments of The Carters’ tour and has also documented the live concert performances of J-Lo, Drake, Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, The Weeknd, Cardi B, and many more. Plus, Varona also shoots with major brands such as Nike, Beats for Dre, and Finish Line.


Renell Medrano

 

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It’s cold in London

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Medrano is another up and coming photographer from the Bronx. As a graduate of Parson’s School of Design, Medrano has a strong background in fashion photography.

Though Medrano is comfortable in both the medium of digital and film, in an interview with W Magazine, Medrano emphasizes the magical quality film photography evokes for her, describing how it reaffirms her love for photography.

If you scroll through her IG feed, her photos are indeed magical.

 

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SLICK 🖤

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Medrano continually explores using different color palettes in her photography. One of the many things which make her body of work so stunning is that it conveys a timeless quality which is typically easier to be rendered in a black and white aesthetic.

Medrano’s visuals are so spectacular. It is no surprise that she has been lured in by the fashion world to photograph for major publications.


Renata Raksha

 

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Monthly sexy selfie #boredomeyes

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Originally from Russia, Raksha is an NYC based photographer and filmmaker.

Her photography portfolio is laden with celebrities, from Rihanna, Charli XCX and St Vincent.

Renata’s non-commercial work and photography is definitely worth looking at due to its eclecticism.

 

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@kembrapfahler_ @kingkongmagazine

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Raksha often puts masks and prosthetics on her models and subjects. These props are a way to combine her love and artistic interest in sculpture with the photographic medium.

In addition, motifs of nature are included in her work as the photographer draws from her upbringing in Russia and the nation’s cultural affinity to past artistic movements and styles such as Romanticism.


Hana Knizova

Born in the Czech-Republic, Knizova is a London-based photographer that has done editorial work and personal projects.

She has been featured in publications such as The Fader, VICE and Sleek.

Her subject matter is often orientated around youth and there is an intimacy that is threaded throughout her portraiture.

 

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August 2018

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Her notable series ‘Young Hollywood’ captures a collection of aspiring actresses, models and actors living and toiling away in La La Land, aka, Los Angeles. Her work explores notions of ambition, the sentiment of ‘following your dreams,’ and the aspiration for fame and fortune that are embedded in the city’s culture.

Her other project, Hamr na Jezeře, is a moving collection of portraits from a teenage detention center in the Czech Republic that explores issues around institutionalization, the notion of displacement, and estrangement that is often experienced by those detained.


Elle Pérez

Bronx-born, Pérez lives and works in NYC.

She has recently made strides in the art world with a solo exhibition on 47 Canal and an exhibition at the MoMa this year.

The arrangement of her subjects are both intimate and distant.

 

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Festival de las Máscaras, Hatillo

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Her photography seeks to break down the boundaries between public and private life and explore ideas around sexuality and queerness.

Fragmented female body parts have typically been regarded as a visual mode in which women are objectified. The fragmentation of her subjects probe into notions of identity construction and plays with the idea of desire and the queer gaze.

Free Richardson opens the gates to creativity at The Compound

An artistic and cultural haven is tucked away within the South Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven. A site in which art, music, fashion, sports and film, react, intermix, and synthesize into what is called, The Compound; a creative agency and gallery founded and run by the cultural pioneer, that is, Free Richardson.

Born in the Bronx and growing up between Queens and Philadelphia, Richardson is embedded in the East Coasts’ hip-hop and rap scene. He is widely known as the creative mind behind AND1 Mixtapes; a project that took streetball and hip-hop music on a cultural cross-country tour, with the circuit visiting the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and more.

The AND1 Mixtapes popularity ascended to immense heights during the 1990s. Yet, the project is ultimately indicative of Richardson’s continual innovation and advocacy for the collaboration between different industries, as he has never seen different art forms as mutually exclusive.

Indeed, the interplay between different art forms and industries is exactly what defines his space, The Compound.

The gallery’s location is fitting given that the South Bronx is widely considered to be the birthplace of hip-hop in the 1970s. The beats, breaks, and sounds that were produced in the Bronx, however, reverberated across the different boroughs of New York City, as well as state lines, as the groundbreaking music incited the discovery of more artistic outlets and means of self-expression.

With graffiti art sprayed on subway carts and neighborhood walls, U.S. cityscapes became canvases. The bright, bold, and vibrant colors that decorated the urban environment also translated into the world of fashion, reflected in the streetwear of city-dwellers, and each neighborhood had its own flow.

The colors sprayed across the urban milieus and the colors worn on black and brown bodies ultimately had an audible effect, as if their identity and humanity was screaming out not to be denied amidst the violence, poverty, and struggles that pervaded life on the street. Evidently, hip-hop has a deep and rich history.

Nonetheless, the attention the music garners due to its expansive global reach often dominates over the art and culture that developed alongside the production of the beats, kicks, rhymes, and lyrics.

While art has not exactly been the discursive focal point in regards to hip-hop, in speaking to KultureHub, Richardson maintains that art has always been there and this informed his decision to transform The Compound. The space metamorphed from a personal office and business space, into a gallery where he could showcase emerging artists from marginalized backgrounds.

Setor Tsikudo (@tsikudo_/)

On Wednesday night (October 24th), The Compound opened its doors for the art show,  ‘A WAY OUT,’ exhibiting the work of contemporary abstract artist, King Saladeen. In our interview, Richardson revealed his views on the relationship between art and hip-hop music, declaring,

“To me art is everything. Hip-hop and art are like hip-hop and basketball. It’s never been separate. When you think of hip-hop, from the album covers that have been drawn, to the stage designs that have been drawn, to the way an artist even gets dressed, these are all art forms. A lot of artists today, from King Saladeen to other artists, this [hip-hop] is the soundtrack to what they paint too, so it’s always been connected.”

Saladeen also discussed the interconnectedness between the two art forms, citing it as instrumental to his own creative process. He says,

“All of these pieces here are from a different vibe or different feeling I got from a certain song or from a certain album. When I first started seeing hip-hop as a kid, I would see art. It was art in all the videos. If it was a certain wall they would rap in front of a certain area or neighbourhood.”

In asking the importance of bridging the gap between artists and creatives from different industries, Richardson described how he wanted to formulate a space for creatives to exercise their artistic license to the utmost degree and to pioneer new ways to experience art, as he asserted,

“You know, I could curate an art show with King Saladeen and a person who does fencing, and the guy could be doing fencing while Saladeen paints. That’s going to draw a way better crowd than if I just put him with another painter. So, the space is about combining things that normally don’t go together and compounding them together makes everything just a bigger experience.”

 

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Shout out to @daveeast for pulling up to “A Way Out” last night! #Compound @iam_setfree @kingsaladeen 📸 by @sonnyshootswaves

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Saladeen added that moments of collaboration as Richardson imagines, from an artists viewpoint, make for a more exciting, inspiring and comfortable artistic environment. He stated,

“If you bridge the gap and make different things come together, people feel more comfortable. At the end of the day, if you ask a basketball player what does he do when he is not playing basketball, he is probably listening to music, loving clothes, liking different kinds of art.”

In discussing the title of the exhibition, Saladeen commented that the title was fitting since, despite both Richardson and Saladeen growing up in the same neighborhood in Philadelphia, the two didn’t know each other and speculates that in all likelihood if they were still there, they still wouldn’t have crossed paths.

In other words, it was art that allowed them to gain economic mobility and provided the opportunities necessary to levitate beyond the hardships that characterize life on the street. Saladeen emphasized the importance of the space for the local community, noting the space’s didactic purpose.

He described how for the youth in the community, The Compound puts art on their radar and provides crucial access to an exciting and inspiring space that is not relegated to the localities of Soho or Chelsea. Saladeen illustrated,

“When you walk past these windows and these different shows, they are all amazing. You might haven’t been inside yet, but you are wondering when you are going to get your chance come inside and it is around the corner from your house. It helps people feel like they are a part of this world too.”

Setor Tsikudo (@tsikudo_/)

Both Richardson and Saladeen agreed that the art world needs more outlets, with Saladeen underlining how the title of the exhibition in itself seeks to break out of the confines of the industry,

“We are creating a way out because there hasn’t been many young black artists or even black gallery owners to even put something like this together so, it was the perfect name I think.”

In this sense, the show’s title ‘A Way Out’ applies to both the project of using art as a mode to provide economic opportunity for marginalized communities while also transcending the institutional confines of the art world.

With hip-hop built on the premise of overcoming obstacles and any limitations, we see this rendered through both the oeuvre of Saladeen and Richardson’s vision for the Compound.

The Compound and Saladeen’s exhibition ultimately elucidates black cultural production as a full of movement and reactive.

In doing so, ‘A Way Out’ underlines how different art forms never operate statically, but rather, the relationship is reciprocal and interconnected. Simply put, there is not one singular modality in which to articulate and express our set of experiences.

TIDAL X Brooklyn used dope music to raise awareness about prison reform

On Tuesday night (October 23rd), 20,000 fans gathered for the fourth annual TIDAL X Brooklyn benefit concert at Barclay’s Center.

The event brought together major stars, emerging artists and activists in an effort to stand up and advocate for criminal justice and prison reform.

Headlining the concert was Ms. Lauryn Hill, Lil Wayne, Nick Jonas, Lil Kim, Meek Mill, Anderson.Paak, with the lineup also composed with the likes of Kaskade, Kodak Black, Normani, Teyana Taylor, Black Thought, Tom Morello, Queen Naija, The Lox and more.

 

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A night we’ll never forget. #TIDALXBrooklyn 2018. Link in bio.

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It was a party with a purpose with 100% of the proceeds from the star-studded event going to the four non-profits, #Cut 50, Equal Justice Initiative, Innocence Project and REFORM, aiding each organizations’ reformative projects that seek to put an end to mass incarceration.

The concert was also punctuated by keynote speakers such as Democratic Senator Cory Booker, CNN presenter Van Jones, Angie Martinez, Angela Rye and finally, director Ava DuVernay.

 

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#TIDALXBrooklyn x TIDAL.com/Brooklyn

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Each speaker delivered powerful and moving speeches on the pressing and crucial need to stop mass incarceration in the U.S, highlighting how the issue disproportionately impacts black and brown communities.

DuVernay’s presence at the benefit concert was particularly notable, given that the filmmaker’s critically acclaimed Netflix documentary, 13th offers a comprehensive investigation of the constitutional loopholes that have led to the current prison-industrial complex.

Tidal | Getty Images

In addition, DuVernay presented an award to Tommie Smith, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Olympic Gold Medalists’ powerful and iconic Black Power salute at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games. In accepting his award, Smith urged the Barclay crowd to make their way to the polls for the upcoming elections and to never give up the fight for equality.

But with such a huge lineup of talented artists, there were, of course, major highlights to the concert.

 

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More #TIDALXBrooklyn. You been watching the #TIDALXBrooklyn livestream for #REFORM? Link in bio.

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Dressed completely in vibrant red, Teyana Taylor popped on the concerts’ stage and opened the special event with her stunning vocals, singing her track, “Rose in Harlem.”

Andeson Paak exhibited his rich talent and artistic versatility, rapping his latest single “Tints” while also producing groovy percussive beats when he took his turn on the drumset. Just when his performance couldn’t get any better, .Paak brought out Too $hort to the stage, where the two artists dished out the lyrics to “Blow the Whistle,” that was met with roars from the crowd.

Setor Tsikudo (@tsikudo_)

The crowd went off during Normani’s set, with her performance of “Checklist” (originally featuring big-name DJ Calvin Harris). Normani thrilled audiences by premiering her new single, “Waves,” that truly showcased the artist as destined for big things.

The show ultimately closed out with super-star Lil Wayne. The hip-hop heavyweight rapper delivered his first live performance of his insanely popular new track “Uproar, ” while also teasing audiences with verses and beats from his iconic track “A Milli,” and later transitioning to the tracks “Don’t Cry,” and “Let It Fly,” on his newly released album, Tha Carter V.

Tidal | Getty Images