Stories about Arts & Culture from October, 2020
The importance of ‘unlearning’ the past: Interview with Balkans expert Keith Brown
"Critical thinking [...] liberates us from the illusion that figures in the past imagined their own identity in terms of the nationalisms of their future."
Nepali literature lovers take respite from COVID-19 by celebrating Dashain with new books
"I'm ready to travel to places where I don’t need corona travel guidance and information. Hoping the pages will transport me to different time zones and destinations."
Two Tanzanian musicians turn to opposition politics to improve their communities
Two musicians get political in this year's general elections in Tanzania. "As a musician, I'm the voice of the people ... getting into politics [allows me] to bring real change."
Pakistan lifts ban on TikTok with conditions
Pakistani social media users strongly reacted to the ban on TikTok and criticized the telecom regulator.
Ali Banisadr and the art of ‘visual thinking’
Ali Banisadr's MATRIX 185 exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is the Iranian-American artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the US.
Indian ad featuring Hindu-Muslim family pulled after rightwing backlash
The advert by jewellery brand Tanishq shows a Hindu woman being led by her Muslim mother-in-law to a traditional Hindu baby shower.
During the pandemic, El Salvador hopes to revive tourism with a folkloric art rebrand
"To recover the identity and pride of being Salvadorans, today we launch the destination brand El Salvador inspired by the work of Fernando Llort."
Caribbean alphabet series provides lots of laughs on TikTok
Laughter has become a critical coping mechanism in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but in an era of social media "influencers," can anyone lay claim to originality?
K-Pop band BTS targeted by Chinese netizens over Korean War comments
BTS leader Kim Nam-joon paid tribute to the U.S. and South Korea in the 70th anniversary of the war. Chinese netizens say he should have acknowledged Chinese deaths too.
A Kashmiri medical student paints on leaves to beat COVID-19 stress
Tabish Aijaz, a young medical student from Anantnag district in Kashmir, is using her natural ability to paint to beat the stress caused by exams and the COVID 19 pandemic.
New literary magazine makes contemporary Japanese fiction accessible to English readers
The literary journal's debut issue translates a plethora of Japanese literature both old and new, and facilitates discussion about the translation itself.
‘Life and Limb’: Foresters on the front line of climate change in Vanuatu
"This documentary is about Vanuatu's forests, but it highlights the value of forests to people's lives the world over."
The Mexican indigenous artists who are defying labels and stereotypes
"For us, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples is not a celebration of labels, customs or exoticisms, it is a day that must acknowledge the systematic attempt to erase us."
Uzbek DJ with a mission to popularize vintage Soviet music
The musicians of the time, like war partisans, overcame a great number of obstacles standing in their way to perform the kind of music they wanted to play.
‘We have a strange destiny': a conversation with the Livonian poet Valts Ernštreits: Part II
"That's the idea of the series: to tell the Livonian story to the Latvian public, so they would better understand why Livonian is important."
‘We have a strange destiny': a conversation with the Livonian poet Valts Ernštreits: Part I
"There are only a few countries in Europe who have indigenous people, and Latvia is one of them."
Supergirl and Vieršnica: Symbols of revolution and gender equality in Belarus
From the early days, women have stood at the forefront of the protests in Belarus, whether on the streets or as leaders of the opposition movement.
Trinidad & Tobago loses a fount of cultural knowledge with the passing of comedian Dennis ‘Sprangalang’ Hall
"He was our identity, he was a creole griot. A historical raconteur who spoke the nation language in a way that was universal. A comedian who made us think."
Artists from around the world bid farewell to the creator of Mafalda
Iconic comic strip character Mafalda became "a universal symbol of rebellion and faith in a better world."
