Marginalized Communities will Bear the Brunt of Forced Pregnancy Policies

The US Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in 1973. Individual states now have the power to regulate abortion access, and many will ban the procedure outright, or severely restrict it.

Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as it’s Kept

Every two years, the Whitney Museum holds an exhibition that is regarded as one of the most important and influential events in contemporary art. Some version of this exhibition, the Whitney Biennial, has been in existence since 1932, making it the longest-running survey of American art. Delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s biennial is a “startlingly coherent and bold” forum for artists’ musings on the events, changes, and trials of last three years. There is a wide variety of perspectives and mediums, from more traditional painting, sculpture, and photography to experimentations with performance, video, light, chemicals, makeup and prosthetics, textiles, and technology. The artworks tackle a wide range of themes, including racial justice, class discrepancy, capitalism, corporatism, imperialism and the effects of colonialist action, the American prison system, indigenous issues, and the widespread grief of a global pandemic. An exhibition this far-reaching and ambitious could easily feel disjointed and chaotic, but instead it encourages the viewer to understand that the issues and conditions addressed by the art “are not new, their overlap, their intensity, and their sheer ubiquity created a context in which past, present, and future folded into one another.” The curators “organized this Biennial to reflect these precarious and improvised times.”

"Here" by Santi Flores

The city of New York, home to people from hundreds of different countries and cultures, takes great pride in its diversity. The Garment District, a neighborhood in midtown Manhattan, is currently home to an art installation celebrating the unique “unity, diversity, and individuality” of “New Yorkers and visitors passing through” the city. Called “Here,” the installation consists of fourteen figures standing in the pedestrian plaza with hands raised high in the air, “as if to say ‘Here we are. We are moving forward together.’” The installation is by Spanish artist Santi Flores, who created each figure out of steel and painted them with unique designs and patterns on their “skin.” The larger-than life figures are a whimsical tribute to New York and the people who live in and visit the city.

Summer for the City at Lincoln Center

As summer starts, Lincoln Center, the world-famous performing arts complex, is bringing music, dancing, and celebration to New Yorkers with a slate of over 300 events lined up through August, including social dances on “New York City’s largest outdoor dance floor” under an enormous disco ball, a group wedding celebration for “folks whose weddings were canceled or diminished because of the pandemic,” and performances of live music, poetry, theatre, and dance. Throughout June, Lincoln Center is also celebrating Pride month, coloring the iconic plaza steps and fountain the rainbow colors of the Pride flag. They are also hosting series of free events celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community. Pride is a time for celebration, and this year is especially celebratory, as communities begin to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The “symbolic Pride colors flying high up in the sky and boldly sprawling across the main stairs” make a beautiful image of solidarity and support at one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks.

Corgis for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Photos by Smita Daryanani

This year marks seventy years since Queen Elizabeth II took the throne, making her the first British Monarch in history to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. The Jubilee celebrations, will include many events across the country including the Trooping of the Color followed by a Flypast, the Derby at Epsom Downs, Platinum Jubilee Beacons, a party at Buckingham palace, street parties all over the country, and a Pageant on Sunday to end the weekend. As part of the celebrations, and given the Queen’s love of corgis, a trail of larger-than-life corgi statues has been set up in London. Nineteen statues, each designed and decorated by a different contemporary artist, are eye-catching additions to the streets of central London around Buckingham Palace.

Grand Central Concourse

Opened in 1913, Grand Central Terminal is a gorgeous example of the Beaux-Arts architectural style, blending modern efficiency with ornate and impressive detail. The Main Concourse is one of the most recognizable spaces in New York City, particularly because of the famous mural on the ceiling, which features the night sky complete with several constellations. The mural was originally painted directly on the plaster ceiling of the Main Concourse, with detailed artistic depictions of several of the zodiac signs, including Cancer, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, and Aquarius, along with Orion, Pegasus, and a few lesser-known constellations. Unfortunately, a leaky roof mostly destroyed the original mural within the first few decades after it was painted, so the roof was “restored” in the 1940s. However, when the new ceiling was unveiled, the original mural had not been restored at all, merely covered up with large boards. A new mural was painted, with a few puzzling changes, including much-simplified images. The new mural retained a major error in the original – the mural was painted backwards, with east and west reversed. The original mural is probably long-gone behind the boards and their “restoration,” but the Main Concourse is still an impressive sight to behold.