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Hi, Art!

Sunday, February 04, 2024

Hi, Art!

Sunday, February 04, 2024

Hi, art lovers!

 
Promotional portrait of Amanda Parris, host of For the Culture. She is seated in profile against an olive green curtain. Amanda, a Black woman wearing a braided updo, wears a baggy beige jumpsuit, and stares intently into the distance.

Amanda Parris is the host and executive producer of the CBC Gem series For the Culture. (CBC)

 
February is Black History Month, and as CBC celebrates Black voices and stories across the network, there are a few programming highlights that might be of special interest to anyone who lives for arts and culture. (That’s you!) 

First, there’s theatre! The PlayMe podcast has an audio production of Trey Anthony’s famed play, ‘da Kink in My Hair. (Part 1 will be available to stream on CBC Listen this Wednesday.) CBC Books has compiled 40 must-reads by Black Canadian authors, and over on CBC Music, The Block will be paying tribute to trailblazers in Black Canadian music every Tuesday and Thursday this month. (They’ve already aired a segment on Eleanor Collins, Canada’s First Lady of Jazz. Listen!) If it’s film and TV you’re looking for, CBC Gem is stacked with options, but I’ll highlight this curated collection, which includes acclaimed international series, Oscar-winning films, at least one CBC Arts project you might have missed — plus the new show I was telling you about last week: For the Culture with Amanda Parris. The entire season is now online, and before you press play, listen to Amanda talk about the series on Commotion (the convo begins around the 15-minute mark), and maybe bookmark this companion reading list, too.
 

And because we promised you eye candy ...

 
Top down photo. Large bronze sculptures replicating plastic flower hair clips and a hair bauble next to an outstretched hand holding a clip and bauble for scale.

Kosisochukwu Nnebe

Last weekend, I singled out an episode of For the Culture — the one about restitution. And when I came across Kosisochukwu Nnebe’s Instagram the other day, I was immediately reminded of Amanda’s museum visits in London to discuss the Benin Bronzes. Kosisochukwu moved to Canada from Nigeria as a little girl, and using her home country's ancient artifacts as a jumping-off point, she's made supersize versions of kids' hair accessories out of solid bronze. According to her website, she’s planning to continue the series. The goal: “a full burial chamber with artifacts representative of experiences of Black girlhood and womanhood across time and space.” Wow.
 
Collage of cut photos on a white background.

Aaron Jones

Chariot by Aaron Jones. In Toronto? Aaron’s co-presenting an exhibition with Tiffany J. Sutton as part of Harbourfront Centre’s Kuumba festival. It’s up through Feb. 29.  
 
Textile portrait of a woman reclining. It is in the style of a line drawing, but created with thread and fabric.

Gio Swaby

Seeing You Through Her and Me: Verneisha by Gio Swaby. The Toronto artist shared this one on Instagram last week with some news: the piece has been acquired by the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
 
Illustrative painting on a red canvas. Depicts a faceless, voluptuous female figure with blue gradient skin. Cartoonish red flames burst from her chest, and she plucks them and holds them above her head while kneeling.

Hanna Lee Joshi

It’s been a minute — roughly 1 million, actually — since Hanna Lee Joshi debuted this CBC Arts logo design. So what’s new with the Vancouver artist? She’s showing this painting at the Red Envelope Show at Harman Projects in New York, an annual exhibition that brings dozens of international artists together to celebrate Lunar New Year. It opens Feb. 10.
 
Three artworks photographed on a blonde wood surface. They are cut-paper dragons illustrating red paper envelopes.

Nicole Jang

Also opening on Feb. 10: Vancouver’s Get Lucky Art Show, which will return after a long pause for its third edition. Similar to the event happening in New York, the exhibition features original artwork on hundreds of red envelopes. These paper-cut dragons are by local artist Nicole Jang. 
 
 

You've got to see this

 
 
 
Pop star Lil Nas X, a Black man wearing a blue trucker hat and blue varsity jacket, lies on the ground. He appears in medium closeup, bathed in the dappled light of sundown.
HBO

On the road with Lil Nas X

 
In Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero, directors Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel put the star’s singular story on screen.
 
Still from the 2023 Barbie movie. Scene: the interior of the Barbie dreamhouse, decorated for a disco party. A large group of Barbies and Kens wear sparkly party clothes and dance. Barbie, as played by Margot Robbie, is front and centre, winking and clapping her hands.
Warner Bros.

Confessions of a former Oscar junkie

 
Anne T. Donahue used to be obsessed with awards season, but now it just bums her out.
 
Still from Here and Queer. Luke Gilford, a white man in a black cowboy hat and open black leather western shirt, smiles as he sits on a greige couch. The background is pink and blue and a fiddle leaf fig appears behind the couch.

CBC

 

It's not his first queer rodeo

 
Luke Gilford pays tribute to a great American subculture in his new film, National Anthem. 
 

Follow this artist

 
 
 
Instagram

blackpowerbarbie

@blackpowerbarbie
2D digital illustration of the CBC Arts logo in a cartoon-inspired Afrofuturist style. The geometric forms of the CBC gem are black and blobby, suggesting motion. At the centre of the "gem" is a cartoon-style illustration of a feminine Black face, their eyes covered with a dark reflective shield. A yellow star shines from their forehead. The background, which is dotted with tiny stars, is comprised of layers of airbrush-style rings in black, green and red.

blackpowerbarbie

Hi, blackpowerbarbie! Meet the artist behind our Black History Month logo. And yes, her work does look familiar.
 

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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time!

 
XOXO CBC Arts
XOXO CBC Arts
 
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