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Category / Editor’s Picks

He Dreamt of an African Utopia with Fantastic Futuristic Cities

During his lifetime, Congolese sculptor Bodys Isek Kingelez, did not have a commercial art dealer to represent his work. The self-taught visionary reimagined glittering global capitals for a post-colonial Africa, and made hundreds of “extreme” miniature architectural models throughout his career, which was cut short in 2015 following his battle with cancer. A few years…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDXCXVIII)

1. Academy Theater, Inglewood California, 1940 Still standing, screened movies from 1933 until it became a church in 1975. It got it’s name “The Academy Theater” because it was originally built to be the home and venue for the Academy Awards (the Oscars). But the plans changed. Photographed by Julius Shulman, found here. 2. ‘Sciopticon’…

A Brief Compendium of Amazing African Architecture

You can probably clearly picture the architecture of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and India – but can you say the same for Africa? For thousands of years, Africa helped shape our modern world and yet, so much of it is underrepresented. We spent the day getting to know its architecture better, discovering just how…

Harlem’s Forgotten Fight to Save Africa’s Last Uncolonised Nation from Mussolini

Harlem, New York, the summer of 1935. Years before the United States or even Allied Europe has entered World War II. Large crowds of African Americans are gathering around a registration desk, volunteering to take on a fascist Italian dictator who is soon to become Hitler’s fiercest collaborator. No doubt, Black Americans have enough battles…

For a Year, They Lived Tied Together with 8 Feet of Social Distance

The promise was made on American Independence Day, 1983. “We, Linda Montano and Tehching Hsieh, plan to do a one year performance. We will stay together for one year and never be alone…tied together at [the] waist with an 8 foot rope.” Arguably the most difficult part of this promise? That artists Hsieh and Montano…

Like Dalí, She Should Have Been a Household Name for Surrealist Art

She became famous overnight with a strange furry teacup that mesmerised the art world in a way that no woman had done before. In a time before shock-seeking art became the norm, Meret Oppenheim was a pioneer; a force of nature who had all the Surrealists of Paris speaking her name, even though she didn’t…

An Introductory Guide to Black Paris

The Black Lives Matter movement has opened our eyes in so many ways. It plays a crucial role in upholding the living history of a different side of Paris. This week, Keyholders joined me on Zoom for an introductory Black History Tour through Paris, – one that belonged to Black America’s own “Lost Generation” of…

The All-Black Utopian Ghost City that Lost its Soul

In the heart of what was North Carolina’s old tobacco and cotton-field industry, lies the remains of Soul City, an unrealised utopia born in the midst of America’s 1970s urban crisis, intended to encourage black empowerment in a new all-African American planned community. Bankrolled by Nixon’s Republican government, “built by black people and for black people”, Soul City was projected to…

In Defence of Clutter: The American Castle of a Renaissance Hoarder

Forget the great and gaudy Hearst Castle – why don’t they talk about Fonthill Castle? Now that’s a house worth seeing. Some might call him America’s first hoarder, but for any aspiring collector or lover of eclectic arts, Pennsylvania’s most underrated treasure is an astonishing visual treat at every turn, telling the story of a…

Our Zoom Date with Britain’s First Woman to Explore the World (Alone) by Motorbike

In the summer of 1982, a 23-year-old Elspeth Beard set off on her motorbike, and didn’t return home until she’d travelled the entire globe – a remarkable feat for any person, but particularly as a solo female biker nearly 40 years ago, making her one of the first women to ride around the world alone…

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