essays

Ruins of the sublime
Ruins of the sublime
In critical conversation with Gabriel Figueroa's sublime, Mitzi Falcón exposes the entanglements of ruination, colonialism, and environmental violence in Mexico.
Basquiat’s black-eyed beams
Basquiat’s black-eyed beams
Basquiat’s brushstrokes in UFOs offer a crash course in the history of Black flight, from the Black slave seeking to flee the deadly sugar plantations of the Americas to the minor traffic violator driving his Toyota Camry a little too fast in today's US.
Nothing more than a passport
Nothing more than a passport
A personal reflection on how identity, migration, and bureaucracy intersect visually through the seemingly simple object of a passport.
Constellating Eastern Europe and the Middle East
Constellating Eastern Europe and the Middle East
Two series of landscape images shaped by seemingly discrete historical events from Lithuanian and Palestinian contexts offer hopeful glimpses of futures interconnected.
More than ever do we need to think
More than ever do we need to think
on planetary inseparability, the abolition of all political parties (à la Simone Weil) and today's visual culture that is born of oppression
One day a general concern: All artists, think of the Earth
One day a general concern: All artists, think of the Earth
Reaching back to a statement uttered by curator Scott Watson in the 1980s, “Art is not a general concern,” the recent wave of environmental art actions are examined within a history of art vandalisms, representation in media and popular culture, and their potential for political agency (or lack thereof).
The power of abuse always comes as a surprise
The power of abuse always comes as a surprise
In 2020, a combination of the pandemic, the police, and public events allowed me to recover my dissociated experience of being abused via the portal of key photographs. It’s a cautionary tale, not a redemptive one. The power of abuse always comes as a surprise. Trigger warnings for sexual abuse, rape, and violence.
The democratic sensible: Becoming word in protest recitations
The democratic sensible: Becoming word in protest recitations
Images of texts from sites of protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens have been transcribed into embodied performances.
Thinking in motion
Thinking in motion
A reflection on the online action ​Face Mask, Not Muzzle ​by Tucumán collective​ La Lola Mora, which responds to a present undergoing multiple crises.
Contemporary art, activism, and symbolic value
Contemporary art, activism, and symbolic value
Telepathy without the internet
Telepathy without the internet
Is it possible to practice telepathy outside of the oppressive market dynamics that dominate the internet today?