Arts news

• Self-portraits inspired by 19th-century Iranian beauty ideals

  19-02-2022 18:00
  
  In 19th-century Iran, ideals of beauty were fluid and unconstrained by gender norms: facial hair was considered fashionable for women, while men wore feminine clothes and makeup. Using wigs and prosthetics, Shirin Fathi, artist in residence at the Sarabande Foundation in London, transformed herself into three Persian archetypes for her project Heart Throbs: adolescent man, adult man, and man who mimics the look of the European dandy. “A non-binary perspective on gender and androgyny has be
  
  Read more

• Harold Brown talks about serving as a Chief Diversity Officer

  19-02-2022 17:33 via artsjournal.com
  Harold Brown, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, discusses the role of Chief Diversity Officer in an orchestra.
  
  Read more

• On my radar: Akala’s cultural highlights

  19-02-2022 16:00
  
  The rapper, presenter and author on the album he’s listening to a lot, Idris Elba’s mean side, and the enduring power of TupacKingslee James McLean Daley, better known as Akala, 38, is a rapper, author, activist and poet from Kentish Town, north London. In 2006 he won a Mobo for best hip-hop act; in 2009, founded the Hip-hop Shakespeare Company; and in 2015 won a Bafta for a BBC Two series about Romantic poetry. His publications include 2018’s bestselling Natives: Race and Clas
  
  Read more

• ‘I was walking past her bedroom and spotted her legs sticking out’: Helge Skodvin’s best phone picture

  19-02-2022 11:00
  
  The Norwegian photographer on capturing his youngest daughter’s lockdown frustrationIt was April 2020, the sixth week of home schooling, and eight-year-old Lara was fed up. Her father, photographer Helge Skodvin, along with his wife and two elder daughters, was stuck inside with Lara at home in Norway. The first wave of Covid had closed schools across the country, so at 9am every day, each of Skodvin’s daughters took a room in the house to join online classes; his youngest was suppos
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Row about Congolese statue loan escalates into legal battle over NFTs

  19-02-2022 08:00
  
  Gallery at site of uprising against colonial rule accuses US museum of stonewalling request for artefactA statue depicting the angry spirit of a Belgian officer beheaded during an uprising in Congo in 1931 is at the centre of a tug of war between a US museum and a Congolese gallery at the site of the rebellion.The statue of Maximilien Balot, a colonial administrator, has travelled to Europe but the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is accused of stonewalling requests for a loan to the White Cube gall
  
  Read more

• From an avant-garde epic to empowering R&B: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment

  19-02-2022 07:00
  
  Whether you want Patrick Wang’s cinematic take on gentrification, Louise Bourgeois’s unique fabric artworks, or a slowburn dance-pop success story, our critics have your plans for the week coveredA Bread Factory: Parts One & Two
  Out now
  A battle between grassroots culture and a corporate impression of it plays out in the fictional upstate New York town of Checkford, in Patrick Wang’s new two-part avant-garde epic. Both parts are on release now, alongside a retrospective of
  
  Read more

• Why Hollywood Won’t Quit Guns

  19-02-2022 00:01 via theatlantic.com
  
  In the most heavily armed country, the presence of guns isn’t considered out of the ordinary, especially in states with open-carry laws. That familiarity extends to Hollywood sets, where guns are often treated with nonchalance. – The Atlantic
  
  Read more

Follow @ArtsUK1 on Twitter!