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REVIEW: Artists of the Photo-Secession Gallery Tour at UMMA

December 12, 2016December 12, 2016 Phillip Wachowiak Leave a comment

When did photography become an art form? At some point, the technology for capturing images of people, places, and things developed enough that people could start adding artistic flair.

At the turn of the 20th century, a young Alfred Stieglitz had a radical idea that photography could be art, which clashed with ideas of older, more established members such as Charles Buadelaire, who considered photography nothing more than a “servant of the sciences and arts.”

Luckily for us, Mr. Stieglitz would have none of that. He formed the Camera Club of New York and started an avant-garde photography journal that changed how people saw photography.

These new artists, rather than simply pointing and shooting, used more artistic methods for their photographs. They took pictures with a soft focus to try and emulate the “look” of paintings. They used more expensive materials to get better contrast of lights and darks. They printed on Japanese paper, because nothing says classy quite like Japanese paper.

Seeing the pictures was enough to see the transition to photography as an art form, but going on a tour of the exhibit helped place the photos in a social context.

Our photo-secession-3 stupendous tour guide compared two images of the Brooklyn bridge and pointed out how one was a standard picture of a bridge, while the other focused on the shapes and form of the structures of the bridge.

At the end, we learned about Stieglitz’s most famous work, The Steerage. He considered The Steerage to be his most important work because, while I only saw an interesting photograph with a lot going on, we learned that there was a deeper meaning.

The Steerage was one of the first photographs to make a social statement. Before the photograph of the protester in Tienanmen Square, or anything from Vietnam, there was a photo showing two separate classes in one photograph: the immigrants both literally and figuratively below the rich on the same ship.

The exhibit made it easy to see why opinions changed from viewing the camera as merely a gadget, to viewing it as a tool of the artist.

All the hard work put in by the photographers to distinguish their work as art, however, made me stop and think. In the era of iPhones and Instagram, where anyone can take a decent photo, are we regressing to a time where the photography is becoming a lesser art form?

REVIEW: Athi-Patra Ruga- Penny Stamps Speaker Series.

November 13, 2016November 13, 2016 Abby Z Leave a comment

Tonight’s choice of organ music was none other than “Over the Rainbow,” from the Wizard of Oz, a fitting tune considering featured guest Athi-Patra Ruga recently put on a show of the same name. Ruga framed his lecture by talking about self-made superheroes, these characters or rather, avatars, that he has both created and embodied to deal with past traumas. These figures have become the central focus of all his varied artistic ventures throughout the years.

One of the very first avatars he created was “Miss Congo,” who he describes as a “club kid.” At this time he took up tapestry work, saying that he would prefer to define his own fate, and his own story, rather than let others do so for him. In particular he wanted to explore the way that black women have been portrayed at art.

The next character he explored was “Injibhabha,” which translates from his native language of Xhosa into alopecia, or hair-loss, in English. This character was created directly in response to a specific incident that occurred in his life. Ruga had been in Switzerland when he saw a poster featuring cartoon white sheep kicking a cartoon black sheep out of the country, with the message promoting “cleaning up” the country by forcing immigrants out of the country. He had built up in his mind Switzerland as a kind of utopian space, but in this moment it all came crashing down. He did a piece of performance art in which he dressed up as this avatar by sewing together an outfit of “costume afros,” and entering a pen of white sheep. He continued to experiment with this avatar for a while, and some of the photos he took at this time of Injibhabha are placed below.

The next character he began exploring was “Beiruth,” which was made in response to a news story covering a South African woman that had been attacked by a man in a taxi for simply wearing a miniskirt. Beiruth was meant to be hyper sexualized, and create an immediate reaction in those that come across her. However, eventually the weight of these issues began to wear on him, and so he “killed off” both of these characters with a dramatic photo of Beiruth standing in front of the crashing waves.

His next major avatar was “Ilullwane,” which refers to a bat, or in the context of his culture, a boy who goes to circumcision school as a rite of passage. Many young boys would die because of infection and ill treatment during this process, and those who leave the program would have to face heavy social stigma. He wanted to create a “superhero” that would provide inspiration for these young boys. This idea led to several other interesting works. One of which being, “The Body in Question.” He showed the video below during the presentation.

With this series he hoped to raise awareness about transgender rights. One of his more elaborate works with the avatar of Ilullwane involved a performance act in an Olympic-sized swimming pool and 12 synchronized swimmers. The photo gallery below shows just some of the images from that performance.

The most recent of his series is “The Future White Women of Azania.” Azania is a word used to reference the East African coast line since at least 14 AD among the Greeks. The major motif of this series is Ruga’s body entirely covered in balloons, and by popping these balloons he is “shedding his identity.” This project is ongoing, and he continues to find new ways to explore this series, already producing everything from sculpture to photography to textiles.

The presentation ended with the premier of Ruga’s new video, “Queens In Exile,” which marks the start of yet another character. The video started out with Ruga dressed as a queen, with extravagant jewels and costuming. The video took us through several distinctive sections before ending with the shot you see below. You can see a clip of the video, and hopefully eventually the full video on Ruga’s Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/AthiPatraRuga/

I also got a chance to attend the Q&A session immediately following the presentation. Nearly every lecture has a Q&A session, and I’ve always found them to be tremendously enriching. This time Ruga discussed in further depth his thoughts on the recent US election, the current trend towards conservatism globally, his process for getting into character, and the influence the internet has had on his life and work.

The Stamps Speaker Series is held every Thursday at 5:10 PM at the Michigan Theater. There are only two more presentations this semester, but the series will pick right back up next semester.

REVIEW: Detroitography talk + exhibit

November 1, 2016November 1, 2016 Phillip Wachowiak Leave a comment

Alex Hill, the founder of Detroitography, spoke to a packed room inside the South Thayer Building about putting an emphasis on the human side of statistics and big data.

Although not a native of Detroit, Alex has been able to fuse his background in medical anthropology with his current work at the Wayne State Pediatric Research Center and love of statistics to create a number of incredible maps of Detroit.

Where's the nearest Starbucks? — Where’s the nearest Starbucks?

All of the maps are created using open source data to make them accessible to everyone. The aim, as Alex explained, is to present data in a way that shows the actual implications and makes it relevant to people.

When bringing up the Detroit bankruptcy–the largest municipal bankruptcy in history at 17 billion dollars–Alex addressed how the water shutoff was a fatal flaw in looking at data. While the city saw that they could save over 100 million dollars by confronting delinquent accounts, no one thought to consider the fact that the majority of delinquent accounts were owned by people that could not pay them off.

The rest of Alex’s sleek red, white and black presentation addressed the overarching question: how do we relate data not just to other data, but to people?

There is a risk of drowning in big data, as he explained, and it is up to us to figure out how the data relates to human beings. One of the biggest flaws about statistics is the belief that algorithms are completely objective. This is completely false–someone had to write the code for that algorithm, and they chose all the variables. Nothing is completely unbiased.

Numbers don’t motivate, but the connection to the people that correspond to those numbers. One map of the MidCassTown Corridor was a collection of responses from residents of that very corridor. Some residents called it the Cass Corridor, and some called it Midtown. Mapping the data showed the Midtown-naming residents to be in the more affluent, modernized areas. As one individual stated: “They [white people] call it Midtown.”

Detroitography is an interesting concept, there’s no doubt about that. Will it be effective? Will mapping data about Detroit have a positive impact on policy decisions for the city, or will it turn out to be simply another aesthetically pleasing project related to the Motor City?

REVIEW: C. Dale Young Reading & Booksigning

October 13, 2016October 13, 2016 Phillip Wachowiak Leave a comment

I readily admit that I tend to avoid both poets and poetry. Whether it’s the dense arrangement of words or the way I stereotype poets as aloof and didactic, I don’t give them as much thought.

C. Dale Young, MD, MFA, proves why I’m wrong. I was drawn immediately to him because he has an MFA, but he also went on to medical school, and is now a practicing physician in Redwood, California. So while he was certainly poetic, he was also warm, polite and engaging.

Dr. Young’s poetry is a blend of soul and landscape, in addition to the body. His poems wove through the fabric of his life, mixing in a bit of science here, a dash of hapless romance there, and a zesty topping of fantasy.

As most poets do, Dr. Young’s poetry contains gems such as:

“Things always beg for significance, would that we had time to come back to them”

And:

“No one talks about joy anymore; it is more taboo than love”

He saved the two best ones, however, for the very end. “The Bridge” is available online, and is a whimsical piece about love. On the exact other end of the spectrum was “Torn,” a moving piece about him suturing a victim of homophobic assault and his fear of suffering the same fate.

There is also a recording of “One More Thing” here.

For the audience’s sake, Dr. Young kept his poems short, and his commentary in between readings was also curt, but often humorous. This is a poet to explore, if you ever have the chance.

REVIEW: Guys and Dolls

April 19, 2016April 19, 2016 musickim Leave a comment

The stage opens with an impressive performance of the difficult Fugue for Tinhorns, and suddenly I knew the Musical Theatre Department had quite the show in store for us this year. It was quite the change from past years to see such a lighthearted, flamboyant musical, considering the first musical I saw performed on this stage was Les Misérables. This was the first time I have been able to leave the theatre without contemplating the show for hours time after. It was pure, straightforward, good entertainment. Of course, it could be said that this is a negative quality of a performance, but I believe Guys and Dolls should be performed in this way. For the last 60 years, Guys and Dolls has been a comedic, cheerful show with classic and memorable tunes that people will have stuck in their heads for days. Therefore, it was quite refreshing to leave a Michigan School of Theatre performance and for once not be caught up in analyzing the show.

Now I would love to argue that either the guys cast or the dolls cast far outshone the other, but this argument simply cannot be made. The lead female actresses played their parts perfectly. Adelaide Lament was adorable and charming, with an incredible confidence when performing in her hotbox shows. She, as well as the rest of the cast, used the New York accent impeccably without ever faltering. Each time she came on the stage, I had a smile on my face because of the joy I got from watching her perform. Sarah Brown’s consternation from her interactions with Sky were endearing and their scene in Havana clearly portrayed the actors’ chemistry, even if it wasn’t featured much throughout the rest of the play.

Additionally, the guys cast was spectacular. Sky Masterson was charming and suave, per usual, while Nathan Detroit was portrayed differently from the persona I am used to seeing in Guys and Dolls. In this performance, the actor who played Nathan made him quirky and goofy, which made the whole show all the more entertaining. But above and beyond the lead male characters was the male chorus. Their performance of the Crapshooters Ballet must have been the most impressive dance number I have seen performed in a play on this campus. The timing was impeccable, with every member of the chorus completely in synchronicity. The moves were challenging, but executed with grace and ease, making the whole number look incredibly easy. I must say this was, in my opinion, the shining moment of the entire musical. Without a challenging emotional struggle to portray on stage, as in Les Misérables, the show may have lacked its ‘wow’ factor if not for this dance number.

Overall, I am overjoyed to have seen our talented students perform yet again. I do miss the intense emotional performances of past years, but it was a nice change to have an unambiguously fun show. I do look forward to next year’s performance of The Little Mermaid and to seeing the new students that will be brought into the spotlight!

Spotlight Movie Review

April 16, 2016April 16, 2016 LitaPitasMusings Leave a comment

Synopsis ( spoiler alert!) : This story is about the Investigative journalism unit within the Newspaper, “The Boston Globe.” In fact, “Spotlight” is the longest running investigative unit of a newspaper in the US. In the beginning of the movie, Martin “Marty” Baron ( played by Liev Schreiber) is the new editor for the “Boston Globe.” He reads an article about Lawyer Mitchell Garabedian who found out that Cardinal Bernard Law knew about a Priest abusing children and did NOT take any action to stop him. Spotlight sends Rezendes ( played by Mark Ruffalo) to go talk with Garabedian. Garabedian, a very solitary, singular-minded, workaholic lawyer ( played by Stanley Tucci) initially does not want to disclose any details with Rezendes. But later changes his mind, once Rezendes reveals that he is with Spotlight.
At first the Spotlight team think that they are searching for just one priest. Then they meet with Phil Saviano who heads the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, who informs them that there are 13 priests who are abused. Then through Richard Sipe ( a man who helped rehabilitate priests who had abused) they learn that there are 90 priests.
The journalists all do extensive research and meet up with actual victims. Rachel McAdams’ character Sacha Pfeiffer meets with a victim who was nervous and ate nervously. The two connect on that, and the victim reveals to her that he is homosexual. She tries to connect with her victims- some who shut the door in her face. One is a priest who actually admittedly admits that he molested children, but denies that he raped them. When she asks him, how he knows that is not rape, “He says I would know because I was raped.” Before he can talk further a woman ( perhaps his sister) tells him to stop talking and shuts the door in Rachel McAdams’ face.
As the movie proceeds one of the journalists worries about other newspapers beating them to the story- which could hurt other victims in the process. It is also revealed the Cardinal Law knew about the abuse, but tried to do a cover-up. The story also gets a bit pushed to the back burner thanks to 9/11. But, eventually… well the rest is history.

The power of the newspaper:
I loved that this movie showed people the power of investigative journalism- it is not something you usually see in this day and age. When I came as a freshman, I wanted to major in journalism. I was told by an academic adviser, “ That is a major that is not offered here. But, it is also technically not a major” Housemates later said that they don’t believe what is in the news about the war in Afghanistan, and that you cannot trust the media. They said, that one of their cousins is actually in Afghanistan ( I am not sure whether as a member of the armed forces or as a member of the NGO) and that they get the news from him. This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hearing from my peers about the lack of their belief and faith in the credibility of newspaper industry- and journalism as a whole.

If you compound that with how in the Great Recession many newspapers like the Detroit Free Press or the Time Picayune have died or reduced their circulation ( thanks to their advertisers pulling out) as well as many citing newspapers’ method of circulation being slow compared with online news then it is easy to say that newspapers/journalism do not share the best reputation in the 21st century.

So as someone who loves journalism and newspapers it was very pleasing to see classic print journalism at its best- from all aspects. It was great to see Sacha and Rezendes on their feet as reporters as they interview victims; and it was equally great to see how employees from the Boston Globe’s library wheeling up books and materials in carts to the journalists. Getting research is a fact-finding process involving books, and materials to be brought up from the bowels of buildings- it is not a superficial line of work. It requires depth and legwork, that’s what resonates with audiences when they see the books being wheeled- they are symbol of the depth of investigative journalism.

The filmmakers could have easily taken out the boring scenes of books being wheeled around. But this is purposeful. The wheeling of the books are a symbol which show the machine of journalism. And as a fan of print journalism, I am a fan.

A boys club based on ethnicity: Now, I have only to been to Boston once and briefly- on a layover flight when I was 8 years old. In other words, I don’t know much. Yea, I have heard my Dad and others say that they liked Boston. But, truth be told I don’t know much about it.
But perhaps once, I heard that Boston is not like a real city like New York or Chicago- but more of a big town. Well, if this movie has taught me anything, Boston is a town indeed; and this town is run by a good ol’ boys club; and this boys’ club is comprised of those who are Irish Catholic. Not WASPS, not Jews, not Armenians, but Catholics who run this city.
I was shocked when I heard men at the golf course discuss the new editor’s Jewishness so openly and negatively question how he would belong as a Jew in Boston. Later when Baron met with the Cardinal, he gave Baron a gift ( knowing of Baron’s religious background) calling it the true guide to understanding Boston. It was a Catechism .
When Garabedian and Rezendes sup together, Garabedian says to Rezendes that he is an outsider (being Armenian) who does not belong here. Then he says that in order to show to the wrongs in this city, it needs outsiders like them to do so.

I was going to fall off my chair hearing all these ethnic assertions. Could this really be? Personally speaking, I cannot fully believe these statements. I cannot believe that things are that rigid. You hear about glass ceilings but, ethnic ceilings in modern times (versus say the 1920s) is news to me. But then again, I did not live through such happenings..

Parting Thoughts:
This film included a great Ensemble cast with actors who portrayed reporters as diligent, passionate, and humble (with Rezendes’ character being a bit sarcastic) and other actors like Garabedian as irreverent but good-hearted; it had appropriate and somber art direction and lighting that for instance, showed the Cardinal’s church as this dark cave and the city of Boston always under the shadow of some gloomy clouds. For a movie which was not about war, or famines, it showed suspense and intrigue thanks to a great musical score, and cinematography-Rezendes running to the court house is such a scene. In these and in many other ways, it truly is filmmaking at its best.