The first Pussy Riot retrospective reveals the Russian artists at their defiant best Perspective by Sebastian Smee Critic The Washington PostDecember 16, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EST REYKJAVIK, Iceland — For more than a decade, Pussy Riot — a feminist, anti-Putin art collective — has been staging brilliant, disruptive and often poetic political stunts. These “actions,” … Read More
Author: Gail Prensky
What Does Community Mean To You?
In the summer of 2023, 40 college students from Pakistan, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Jordan traveled to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, USA to participate in the ……. SUSI program. Part of the SUSI program included a three-day, intensive digital storytelling workshop to explore WHAT DOES COMMUNITY MEAN TO YOU? Together, we experienced … Read More
A poet’s ground-level account of the collapse of Uyghur society
In ‘Waiting to be Arrested at Night,’ Tahir Hamut Izgil mourns a world of loved ones and letters lost Review by Dan KeaneThe Washington PostAugust 2, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. EDT Tahir Hamut Izgil in Fairfax, Va., on July 31. He and his family fled China in 2017. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) When mass detentions swept … Read More
Undaunted by Air Raids, a Ukrainian Duo Gets Ready for Eurovision
With a song inspired by the bravery of Ukrainian soldiers, the pop group Tvorchi sees the beloved, often campy global song competition as a serious opportunity to represent their country. Andrii Hutsuliak, left, and Jimoh Augustus Kehinde are representing Ukraine at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. With their track, “we just wanted to say, be … Read More
On canvas, Iranian artists capture the hope and turmoil of an uprising
By Miriam Berger The Washington Post, April 8, 2023 at 4:00 a.m. EDT A painting by Emad, an Iranian artist in Tehran, representing violence perpetrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. (Emad) It was incredibly risky to film or photograph the anti-government protests that swept Iran after the September death of Mahsa Amini. In the privacy … Read More
Newsletter — Summer/Autumn 2022
DONATE Power of Music and Art, Resiliency of the Human Spirit, Will to Survive Dear Friends, As we near the end of 2022, it is a time to reflect on all that we have achieved. People around the world continue to … Read More
How artists are changing Sri Lanka
Listen now For 25 years Sri Lanka went through a bitter civil war between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil minority. Earlier this year the country was declared bankrupt and has been facing a major economic crisis, with shortages of medicines, fuel, cooking gas and food. Tens of thousands of people, the vast majority of … Read More
Maestro Earle and Ukrainian music at the Berliner Musikfest
By Blair A. Ruble on September 23, 2022 KENNAN INSTITUTE ARTS AND LITERATURE CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PEACEBUILDING UKRAINE GERMANY RUSSIA BY BLAIR A. RUBLE On September 6, the Odesa Philharmonic Orchestra performed under the direction of Principal Conductor Hobart Earle at the prestigious Berliner Musikfest. The Orchestra’s program featured several works by Ukrainian composers before ending with Jean … Read More
ARTS AND LETTERS
The Artists Taking on Mass Incarceration The interdisciplinary artist Sable Elyse Smith in her New York City studio on July 5, 2022, with works from her “Coloring Book” series, still in progress.Credit…Tommy Kha More and more art is challenging long-held assumptions about the criminal justice system. By Adam Bradley The New York Times Aug. 11, 2022 … Read More
An Orchestra Supports Ukraine, and Reunites a Couple Parted by War
“I don’t have a gun, but I have my cello,” a musician says as he joins the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, which is made up of refugees who fled the war and artists who stayed behind. Musicians from Ukraine shortly after they crossed the border into Poland, on their way to meet up with the musicians … Read More