Long-form Research Essays
by Sarah Grimes New York City and the subway were in a tailspin in the 1970s.1 A fiscal crisis had nearly bankrupted the city, and the municipally-owned subway was one of the many divisions suffering the consequences. The trains ran late when they ran at all; subway cars and stations were covered in grime and […]
by Flavie Chantälle Deveaux Weaving and embroidery are tactile forms of art in which the artist’s hands and mind move in harmony, thereby creating an ideal meditative state for prayer. This effect was amplified by medieval women who sang psalms and prayed aloud while crafting textiles.1 Between the 11th and 15th centuries, women of all […]
by Annelies Verellen In 1620, the prolific author, engraver, and printmaker Anna Roemers Visscher (1583–1651) dedicated a poem to thirteen-year-old Anna Maria van Schurman (1607–1678), who had attracted praise and attention for her formidable achievements in the arts. After extensively praising Van Schurman for her noble pursuit of learning as a young “maiden” and applauding […]
by Fatema Tasmia In the early nineteenth century, a striking episode of global commerce unfolded that connected the frozen ponds of New England to the tropical expanses of colonial India. At the center of this unlikely connection was Frederic Tudor, the so-called “Ice King,” who transformed a seasonal, local product into a global commodity. By […]
by Carolyn Hauk Submersion is at the center of Renee Royale’s photographic series Landscapes of Matter. In November 2021, Royale photographed landscapes and waterscapes with a Polaroid camera around Venice, Louisiana, the last stretch of walkable and drivable land before the Mississippi River plunges into the Gulf of Mexico. After each image developed, Royale submerged […]
by Melody Hsu What if the sea is a genius artist? The Taipei National Palace Museum houses an enigmatic object of display: a Southern Song dynasty (1127–1278) celadon bowl fused within an oyster shell (fig. 1). The porcelain, with its flared rim and bluish-green glaze, sits perfectly within the oyster’s opening, framed rather than concealed. […]
by Madison Clyburn A classically inspired bronze incense burner from a Paduan workshop, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, speaks to the multi-sensory meditations that once occurred in an early modern Italian home (fig. 1).1 This particular incense burner measures just over a foot tall, is pyramidal in shape, and […]
by Sunmin Cha Albert van Ouwater’s The Raising of Lazarus (ca. 1460–1475) is a spectacle in every sense of the word. This rare surviving work by the pioneering Haarlem painter is not only a visual feast for the viewer but also a profound meditation on the act of seeing itself.1 The painting is populated with carefully […]
by Gillian Yee When Peter Hujar died from AIDS-related complications on November 26th, 1987, David Wojnarowicz’s first inclination was to photograph his mentor and former lover’s body in excruciating detail. In the chapter “Living Close to the Knives,” from his memoir Close to the Knives, he recounts his experience with Hujar’s death: the rapid decline […]
by Hamin Kim As part of its New Year’s event, Hyundai Artlab commissioned artist Maia Ruth Lee to create a set of symbols predicting fortunes for 2024. This virtual project, titled Glyphoscope 2024, invited participants to select three cards from a set of twenty, each resembling ancient hieroglyphs (fig. 1). The experience, similar to drawing […]