POLITICS

Eva Lanska

Live and Breathe the Film Industry: Israeli’s Star Artist Eva Lanska’s take on the Film Industry and NFT Spaces

The NFT space is a haven for art lovers and artists all over the world. Our recent conversation with the Israeli star Eva Lanska provides an intimate understanding of her experience in the NFT space and the film industry. Being an Israeli film director and artist, she sells and promotes her work in the NFT space while also working as a film director in her Tel Aviv studio. Eva claims that film direction and art have been her passions since the age of seven, but it has taken her twenty years to realize her dream. She discusses her struggles as a female director and artist, highlighting the challenges she has faced in the industry. “Art, film, this is what we choose, these are our lives, one day the door will open and we will become who we want to be, and we will take our place,” she encourages women in the industry. Eva reveals that she does not come from an influential family of Hollywood personalities and as such, she has had to work her way into the Hollywood family.

The story behind the exceptional woman reveals the reality in Hollywood. “If you do not come from a famous Hollywood family, you have to work extra hard to get noticed in the industry…because the Hollywood inner circle is a very small, closely knit family,” Eva states. “Before getting noticed, one has to live and breathe Hollywood,” she confesses. We all admire the stunning Israeli artist for navigating the difficult path into Hollywood’s inner circle. “Talent is simply not enough, knowledge is not enough; you must become one with the community,” Eva says, possibly the most candid advice she has for people trying to make it in the entertainment industry.

The conversation quickly shifts to the NFT space and what it means to artists around the world. Eva describes the NFT space as a platform that offers artists the freedom of expression. At first, she finds it intimidating, particularly as a woman new to the platform. It becomes even more intimidating for her when she meets award-winning scholars, but she overcomes her fears and eventually establishes a reputable name in the industry. Eva also expresses her dissatisfaction with the platform’s marginalization of women, claiming that their projects often take longer to be approved or funded. “We can only go forward, never look back, and we are gonna go till we achieve,” she encourages women in the industry. “Stopping, giving up is not an option,” she adds, “we have to keep going and moving forward.”

Miami Art Week is a celebration and appreciation of the world’s best art collections, it is no surprise that Eva Lanska’s collection is featured. The NFT exhibition will display some of Eva’s large-scale sculptures and paintings, along with Michael Benisty, WhIsBe, Noah Becker, Lauren Baker, Maxim Zhestkov, and more, at the Bagatelle Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Photographic works from Lanska’s Gematria collection and The Existential Choice are featured exclusively at the NFT event. For the opening event, Eva collaborated with SmartMedia to produce a special limited edition (1000) NFT from her Gematria series called Gematria 596. She proudly describes this piece as a symbol of purity. Eva’s art is celebrated for the messages it conveys, she has previously used art to address gender equality and societal injustices. This event serves as a reminder of the powerful woman Eva Lanska is and how her art will leave a lasting impression on the world.

Gematria by EVA LANSKA via 360 MAGAZINE.

The Existential Choice by Eva Lanska via 360 MAGAZINE.

A Letter to My White Friends – Steven S. Rogers

What You Can Do Right Now to Help the Black Community

From the life, professional experiences, and research of former Harvard Business School professor Steven S. Rogers comes his boldly stated, A Letter to My White Friends and Colleagues. This informative epistle investigates the causes of racial wealth disparity in the United States and provides solutions for addressing it. Through extensive data and historical research, anecdotes, teaching, and case studies, it presents practical ways White people can work with and help the Black community. It teaches readers that eliminating the $153,000 wealth gap between Black and White people is the solution to over 75% of our problems and offers solutions to help improve Black-White racial relations in the United States.

In straightforward language, filled with facts, stories, advice, and sometimes even humor, A Letter to My White Friends and Colleagues encourages every White person to share his/her wealth with the Black community—plain and simple. This book recommends that you spend a portion of your annual household budget with Black-owned companies. If more money is spent on Black-owned businesses, those companies can grow and create more jobs for Black people. Rogers also proposes White people make large savings deposits into Black-owned banks. These are the financial institutions that are the backbone of the Black community that provides loans to the Black community for businesses, education, automobiles, and home mortgages.

And finally, he resolutely encourages White people to support government reparations to Black Americans who are descendants of Black men and women, who were enslaved from 1619 to 1865.

During our introspective conversation, Rogers educates our audience on the following:

Disrupt the societal norms that have been so pervasive and implement simple changes to close the racial wealth divide.
Understand the root causes of racial disparities in America
Discover how they can personally contribute to reducing the inequality between Black and White people in the United States today
Understand why it is important to redirect their spending to Black-owned institutions to help decrease the racial wealth gap
Understand the politics of financial apartheid by sharing real-world examples of why simple things are made unnecessarily difficult because of skin color
Why many in the black community are feeling racial fatigue and how to help turn this around

“Steven Rogers is a brilliant and courageous thinker who makes us unsettled in order to get us to be real forces for good!”
—Cornel West

“Steven Rogers brings a unique perspective to America’s long-standing challenge over the issues of race. Educated at Williams and Harvard Business School, he has leveraged his education, his intellect, and his ambition to achieve great success in both business and academia. From his professional perches, Rogers offers highly valuable advice to help diminish, if not erase, racial bias in our society. We can and need to do better, and Rogers’s prescriptions for the privileged among us is a solid roadmap to do just that.”
—John A. Byrne, former Executive Editor of Businessweek magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company magazine, currently CEO and Editor-in-Chief of C-Change Media

“This book is a comprehensive accounting of the ongoing effects of racism. Rogers brings his finance and business expertise to explain the legacy of systemic exclusions on the current gaps in wealth. Not only does he cover the facts and the history with meticulous care, but he also proposes solutions for businesses, individuals, and governments focused on tangible remedies. This book is a must-read not just for Rogers’s white colleagues, but for anyone interested in being a part of the solution.”
—Mehrsa Baradaran, author of The Color of Money and Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law

“Steven S. Rogers established the act without hesitation in plain language. Not surprisingly, I and many of our marginalized advocates will take action, calling for the well-deserved reparations to be made. It is time for our ancestors to receive justice for all the financial burdens that systemic racism in America has created. I am literally in contact with Congressman Ritchie Torres as my thumbs firmly press on the smartphone glass.” —Vaughn Lowery, President of 360 MAGAZINE, an NGLCC certified LGBT business enterprise.

Listen to Steven S. Rogers and Vaughn Lowery digest the plight of Black America on 360 MAG Spotify/Apple podcast HERE.

Seven celebrities that are changing the world through charity

Knowing where to look for help with the various issues you’re facing is one thing, but having access to actual resources that are available to you is another. Awareness tells you where to look, but it’s charity that ensures there’s something of benefit to you when you get there.

To inspire you to make a difference in your own personal way, we’ve put together a quick list of seven celebrities who are doing more than their fair share to help make the world a better place, each one using their time and energy to make a difference.

Bono founded ONE

Deciding you want to be the driving force behind a global project to eradicate extreme poverty and preventable disease is great, but setting a deadline of 2030 to do it is really stepping up to the plate. Bono has done exactly that with his foundation and is continuing to raise awareness as one of the world’s best known philanthropists. It’s not just about the amount of money he donates personally — he’s someone who has lent his voice to so many good causes over the years that the world cannot help but sit up and take notice whenever he speaks. A true inspiration for anyone looking to make a real difference in the world.

Miley Cyrus heads to Haiti

The poorest country in the western hemisphere has never recovered or managed to rebuild after a devastating earthquake that rocked it to its very core. The fact it lies so close to the world’s richest country, and yet seems to be living in a completely different world, is a sad indictment of the state that humanity finds itself in right now. With pop superstars like Miley Cyrus lending their fame and fortune to raise awareness of the plight of an entire nation, we can have a little renewed hope that things will not remain this way forever.

Oprah Winfrey is empowering South African women

Oprah is known for her generosity with time and money, helping with things as diverse as giving away new cars and raising awareness of responsible gambling. But nowhere is her generosity more acutely felt than in South Africa. This is a country still very much coming to terms with the economic reality of moving beyond apartheid, and it’s a country where whole sections of society are still being left behind in their droves. By empowering the next generation of black women, Oprah hopes to massively improve literacy rates, reduce teenage pregnancy, and show women that they can be anything, and anyone, they want to be.

John Cena is the king of the Make-A-Wish Foundation

The superstar wrestler and Hollywood movie star is a busy man, not least because he’s long held the record for the most wishes granted by the incredible Make-A-Wish Foundation. His work schedule never gets in the way of his time reaching out to children who deserve something to smile about and a memory they can hold onto. His down-to-earth demeanor and flexibility have already been written about widely, and we’re definitely in agreement with those who spoke about him before us.

George Clooney co-founded ‘Not On Our Watch’

Sudan may not be the place you’d expect to find this Hollywood icon in, and yet he’s been making regular visits for years. Clooney’s humanitarian work often flies under the radar, with many not even realizing he’s actually a co-founder of Not On Our Watch. This charitable organization is passionately committed to ending the suffering and misery of an entire nation, one step at a time. Civil unrest, natural disasters and widespread famine have all contributed to one of the lowest life expectancies anywhere in the world. The sooner that changes, the better.

Taylor Swift reads to sick children

Something as simple as using your voice to tell a story is sometimes all it takes to change someone’s day, which is exactly what Taylor Swift does. By spending time reading, she’s not only helping provide motivation and strength to children in need, but she’s also using her profile to raise awareness of the importance of these types of community outreach projects.

Katy Perry raises awareness for Vietnamese children

Last but not least, this pop queen and media personality can often be found helping raise money and awareness for the plight of the children of Vietnam. This is a country still recovering from a war with the U.S. more than 50 years ago, and it’s a country in which young people can only dream of having the types of opportunities in life that so many of us take for granted.

Thanks for reading this far. We hope this list inspires you to do your bit on helping others. Whether it’s as simple as raising awareness on social media or raising money with an in-person sponsorship activity, you really can make a difference.

KING COMBS × DOLCE&GABBANA

KING COMBS WALKS IN DOLCE&GABBANA ALTA SARTORIO/ALTA SARTORIA PRESENTATION DURING MIAMI ART WEEK

RECENTLY TOPPED THE MAINSTREAM HIP HOP/R&B CHART WITH “CAN’T STOP WON’T STOP”

This week, rising rapper, actor, entrepreneur, and burgeoning fashion powerhouse Christian “King” Combs walked in the Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda presentation during Miami’s Art Week. He took the runway in a dapper, sequenced checkered suit. The “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” rapper, whose single recently hit number one on the mainstream Hip Hop/R&B Chart, first teamed up with D&G when he served as the face of their Spring/Summer 2018 campaign. In attendance, cheering Combs on, were brother Quincy and recording artist Maluma.

WHEN:

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

WHERE:

Surf Club | 9011 Collins Ave

Diddy's son King Combs in Dolce&Gabbana at Art Basel via 360 MAGAZINE. — Diddy’s son King Combs in Dolce&Gabbana at Art Basel via 360 MAGAZINE.

NAMOR JOINS T’CHALLA

NAMOR JOINS T’CHALLA’S BRUTAL FIGHT AGAINST THE AVENGERS IN BLACK PANTHER #13!

Check out Miguel Mercado’s newly revealed BLACK PANTHER #13 SPOILER VARIANT COVER, on sale January 11

The King of Wakanda and the King of Atlantis will cross paths again in January’s BLACK PANTHER #13, but this time, they may actually fight side-by-side!

Writer John Ridley’s run on the title has found T’Challa removed from the Avengers, exiled from Wakanda, and on his own against a threat with deep ties to his past. BLACK PANTHER #13 will depict a heated battle between T’Challa and the Avengers, and just when all seems lost, an unexpected ally arrives at the fray to stand at T’Challa’s side! ENTER NAMOR! The most bitter rivalry in Marvel Comics reaches a surprising turning point but will T’Challa accept Namor’s help or make him pay for the pain he’s inflicted on Wakanda in the past?

Check out the cover now and find out if Namor is truly Wakanda’s savior in BLACK PANTHER #13 on January 11! For more information, visit Marvel.com.

FRANK WATSON’S HOMEGOING

Frank Watson, a popular NYC LGBTQIA+ party promoter and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. member, will always be remembered.

NYC legendary promoter Frank Watson, William Allen, B-Hen via 360 MAGAZINE. — NYC legendary promoter Frank Watson, William Allen, DJ BRIAN HENRY via 360 MAGAZINE.

“I first met Frank Watson in Harlem in the early days of the 2010s, I can’t recall exactly the year, but I do recall his and others like him, an ambition trending group that would change how thousands would see themselves and attempt to define a new world, even for me. It was the breaking days of the New Harlem — young energy and freedom rushed in like a tsunami.

Frank had ideas about parties and asked me a lot of questions on how to do it in Harlem and NYCwide. I had spent a few years serving as a development advisor to an emerging magazine that expressed fashion freedom and black gay pride as well as help to create the first major black comedy club in the 1990s, located in Harlem, that created substantial new opportunities that formerly was only open to a few blacks at a time. More of my story later in another article.

In the pic above, it was at one of a handful of people at Frank’s first party venture that happened to take place in Harlem, the DJ Brian Henry, on my right, a mentee who had invited me, was a recent college graduate working at Verizon and living in Harlem. Brian is now the famous B-Hen, hosting amazing block parties all across the nation and performing abroad. Back to Frank. I’ll never forget that conversation that night and the countless others, his humility, charm, and drive to make other people enjoy their lives was evident. He had a soul that couldn’t be broken and was a strong architect of much needed ventures and events that made pride beyond one day, month, or a season. He gave life to a new generation that chose to be dominant in popular culture and not in the shadows. May God grant him peace. He was a king.” — William Allen

360 MAGAZINE remembers No.1 NYC Promoter Frank Watson. — No.1 NYC LGBT party promoter, Frank Watson, memorialized via 360 MAGAZINE.

FRANK’S HOMEGOING

Date: Saturday, December 3, 2022, at noon.

Location: Monticello Middle School, 180 Clyde Ross Drive
Monticello, AR 71655

Important details to note:

If you’re coming from Little Rock on the day of, please begin your drive by 9AM in order to arrive around 11AM.

If you drive through Pine Bluff and Star City, which is via Highway 425, you will have cell reception the entire trip.

If you choose to drive there via Highway 530 South, you will NOT have cell reception for at least an hour of the drive.

Other related news:

ΑΦΑ Kappa Kappa Chapter Memorial HERE.

The Ashe Report (podcast)

Inside The Village Voice.

RIP JP Ramirez

RIP Julio Ramirez

Vandalism in Hell’s Kitchen

Michael Clinton × Hearst

Michael Clinton and Hearst announced the formation of a new venture, ROAR forward, a business-to-business intelligence insights and content platform and consumer membership community focused on the new market of “Re-Imagineers.” This new demographic segment of individuals aged 50 and over is redefining the second half of life in their careers, passions and lifestyles. Clinton founded the entity with Hearst as partner and investor; the terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

ROAR forward will provide business insights and intelligence to brands and companies through the ROAR Report with proprietary data and research, as well as with bulletins, seminars, workshops, original content and events to shed light on the dynamically changing market demographic of individuals aged 50-plus.

ROAR forward will also host a Re-Imagineer community through a membership platform that will provide content, learning modules, events and more.

“Today’s 50-plus-year-olds represent 35% of the population,” Clinton said. “As longevity increases, this group is completely redefining their futures, rejecting old patterns of work and lifestyle. That includes working longer, becoming entrepreneurs, developing new fitness and wellness regimens and more. Government, business, media and entertainment need to understand how this group is changing all of the cultural patterns.”

“Re-Imagineers are driving the ‘New Longevity’ economy,” Clinton continued. “This market controls almost 70% of all of the wealth in the U.S. and accounts for 50% of consumer spending power. They have ambition and new attitudes and behaviors unrivaled by any previous demographic group. ROAR forward’s goal is to help businesses and our membership community connect in better ways with this new reality.”

“Michael is one of the most creative thinkers and marketers I’ve ever known,” said Ken Bronfin, senior managing director of Hearst Ventures. “He has identified a unique market and developed a strategy with huge growth potential. Our investment strategy is focused on businesses that are adjacent to Hearst’s diversified portfolio, and ROAR forward connects the dots between brands, a vast group of consumers and important business intelligence.”

ROAR forward is an outgrowth of Clinton’s best-selling book, ROAR into the second half of life, now in its third printing. He is a speaker and writer on the subject of the New Longevity for Esquire, Men’s Health and Oprah Daily. In late 2022, DailyOM, in partnership with Everyday Health, will launch a seven-lesson ROAR course curriculum.

ABOUT MICHAEL CLINTON

Michael Clinton was named senior media advisor to the CEO of Hearst in May 2019 after 21 years at the company. He had been president of marketing and publishing director of Hearst Magazines since June 2010 and was a member of the board of directors of Hearst Corporation.

Clinton joined Hearst in October 1997 and was elevated to executive vice president, chief marketing officer and publishing director of Hearst Magazines in 2001. Prior to that, Clinton was executive vice president of Condé Nast Publications, where he oversaw sales and marketing for the company’s 15 national titles, including Vogue, Vanity Fair and Architectural Digest. Before that, he was Condé Nast’s senior vice president of group sales and marketing and spent 10 years at GQ magazine, including six years as publisher. He began his career in media at Fairchild Publications.

Clinton is the founder and president of the nonprofit organization Circle of Generosity. He has served as chairman of the board of the Volunteers of America, as well as on the boards of the Starlight Children’s Foundation and Lifetime Television Network. He also serves as a trustee for the International Center of Photography. In addition, he is the former chairman of the Association of Magazine Media (MPA). Clinton is an avid traveler and photographer and the author of 11 books.

A magna cum laude graduate from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science, Clinton also earned a master’s degree from Pace University’s Lubin Graduate School of Business and a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Columbia University. He holds an honorary doctorate from Pace University.

ABOUT HEARST

Hearst is a leading global, diversified information, services and media company with operations in 40 countries. Its major interests include global financial services leader Fitch Group; Hearst Health, a group of medical information and services businesses; Hearst Transportation, which includes CAMP Systems International, a major provider of software-as-a-service solutions for managing maintenance of jets and helicopters; ownership in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime and ESPN; 33 television stations; 24 daily and 52 weekly newspapers; digital services businesses; and nearly 260 magazines around the world. Follow us on Twitter @Hearst. To learn more about Hearst, visit hearst.com.

QUEER|ART AWARDS

QUEER|ART AWARDS THIRD ANNUAL ILLUMINATIONS GRANT FOR BLACK TRANS WOMEN VISUAL ARTISTS

UTĒ PETIT HONORED AS WINNER; FOUR FINALISTS RECOGNIZED

Queer|Art, New York City’s home for the creative and professional development of LGBTQ+ artists, is pleased to announce the winner of the third annual Illuminations Grant for Black Trans Women Visual Artists, Utē Petit. The New Orleans-based visual artist will receive a $10,000 cash grant, professional development support, and individual studio visits with members of the judges panel to support her practice.

2022 Illuminations Grant Judge and visual artist, Jonathan Lyndon Chase writes: “Utē’s work is multi-layered, sensory touching on physical and metaphysical energies. Hungry and visually generous in the different modes of expression that are generously inviting the viewer to enter an ever growing world. The attention to poetic detail in the drawings are filled with vigor and show subjects I can relate to. Honest and Raw unapologetic gestures. The colors are very striking and bold throughout the 2d works’ sculptural moments and space vibrant spiritual landscapes and nature installations.”

2022 Illuminations Grant Judge and legendary performer and fashion icon, Connie (Girl) Fleming continues: “Petit’s work spoke to me with a deeply connective scoop, rooted in our connection to mother earth, & our responsibility as her steward. Illustrating our symbiotic existence that we so often forget at our very peril.”

Interdisciplinary artist and farmer, Utē Petit narrates Black-Indigenous land traditions across visual and embodied mediums. Petit’s visual language convenes figurative drawing, woven and quilted textile practices, and installation to render Afro-Indigenous sovereignty across the Americas. Across her layered work, Petit pulls from inherited familial textile traditions to chronicle legacies of interdependence and sovereignty among Black-Indigenous peoples: the artist learned quilting from her maternal grandmothers who were quilters in Misi-Ziibi. For Petit, cooking and gardening are somatic vehicles for historicizing and imagining speculative futures. Her current body of work builds off these familial legacies, worldbuilding practices, and aesthetic traditions to imagine a new nation called Ailanthaland—“nation of heavenly beings.” Petit’s Ailanthaland strives “to be an ecological paradise tenable to all beings, following the stewardship of Afro-Indigenous peoples of the Americas.”

As the third annual winner of the Illuminations Grant for Black Trans Women Visual Artists, Utē Petit was selected from a pool of 66 applicants. The judges, who were chosen by Queer|Art to review applications for the national grant include visual artists, performers, and curators from around the country: Connie (Girl) Fleming, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, and Kimberly Drew. Developed and named in partnership with Mariette Pathy Allen, Aaryn Lang, and Serena Jara, this annual grant draws attention to an existing body of work, sheds light on the under-recognized contributions of Black trans women visual artists, and provides critical support to their continuing work.

About Utē Petit, Winner

Utē Petit works as a visual artist, and farmer. Her current work aspires toward a new nation called Ailanthaland: nation of heavenly beings. Ailantha aspires to be an ecological paradise tenable to all beings, following the stewardship of Afro-Indigenous peoples of the Americas. She also loves to cook, and is a big transit nerd. She is often found daydreaming about persimmons, airplanes, and hugging cypress trees.

On receiving the 2022 Illuminations Grant, Utē Petit writes: “This award has brought the possibility of having a professional studio into reality for me. I plan to find a new space to create larger work, while also making time to further devote to my practice. This is a blessing that will allow me to consider personal and career moves that were previously beyond my means.”

In addition to Utē Petit, four other visual artists were acknowledged as finalists for this year—Courtney Washington, Tia Jackson, Av Tuitt, and z tye.

About Courtney Washington, Finalist

A legend within the ballroom community and founder of the Kiki House of Juicy Couture, leader of The House of Balenciaga, Black trans femme Creative Director of Masterz at Work Dance Family Courtney ToPanga Washington creates visual work fusing street dance, street jazz, ballroom, and hip-hop. Informed by her own experience being teased as a queer teenage person who found refuge in dance, her visual conveys how her gender transition spurred transformative emotional, creative, and physical liberation. The dances she creates are a representation of resiliency, and through company outreach foster community and family in under-resourced areas of Brooklyn.

About Tia Jackson, Finalist

Tia Blake Jackson aka Miss He, born in Athens, GA and currently thriving in Atlanta, GA, is a full-time drag performer who explores ideas of black femininity through fashion aesthetics of the 80’s and 90’s while also focusing on social justice in the communities she occupies. Miss He existed before Tia did as exploring the world of drag was the catalyst of her transition. Before Miss He, the idea of being trans was considered by her as an intrusive thought because of her religious upbringing. Finding drag was her saving grace. She is one of the newest cast members of the awarded Atlanta drag show, The Other Show as well as the host of her own show with a cast of all black trans performers called Chapel Beauty. She also co-hosts her own podcast, Bird Behavior. When you see a Miss He show, expect a good ass time!

About Ava Tuitt, Finalist

Born and raised in New York City, Ava Tuitt is a visual artist and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate from Purchase College with her B.F.A in Painting + Drawing her work focuses on the intersections of race, gender, religion and pop culture. Constructing what she calls “gender creation stories” her practice inserts and asserts the black trans body as a perpetual entity and explores the formation of both personal and collective identity.

About z tye, Finalist

z tye is a Brooklyn-based artist who explores concepts through ancestral praise. She is intrigued with somatic relations and how they associate with emotional connectivity. These works are intended to serve as queer offerings to LGBTQIA+/POC communities. z continues to research the kinesthetic body with instinctual energy to fulfill their curiosity. She has been included in exhibitions with Bronx Museum of Arts, Volta/Armory Art Fair, The Living Gallery, Long Gallery Harlem, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Postmasters Gallery, Fridman Gallery, Art in Buildings, and Participant INC. Choreographic work has been commissioned by The Shed, BMW, BOFFO, Jack, Gibney, Movement Research, and Dance Canvas ATL.

About Mariette Pathy Allen

Mariette Pathy Allen is a photographer of transgender, genderfluid, and intersex communities. Moving from painting, a solitary activity, to photography, Allen has been documenting the transgender community for over four decades. In 1978, on the last day of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Allen met Vicky West, a trans woman she befriended and through whom she was first invited to Fantasia Fair, a transgender conference where she would serve as official photographer. She went on to author several books that have brought visibility to transgender communities across the world including Transformations: Cross-dressers and Those Who Love Them (1989), Masked Culture: The Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (1994), The Gender Frontier (2004), TransCuba (2014), and Transcendents: Spirit Mediums in Burma and Thailand (2017). Mariette’s photographs have been exhibited internationally and are in private and public collections. She is represented by Clamp gallery in New York City.

Learn more about Mariette Pathy Allen and the creation of the Illuminations Grant here.

About Aaryn Lang

Aaryn Lang is a Black, Ohio-born consultant, writer, public speaker, and media personality. Miss Lang’s primary focus is in championing the social, economic, and political well being of the transgender community, specifically the needs of Black transgender women.

About Serena Jara

Serena Jara is an artist making work about the effects of family dysfunction and the process of rebuilding herself as an adult. Through photography and painting, Jara focuses on how apathy and love can become intertwined in the long-term. After receiving love during childhood in the form of mixed messages, she looks at herself and her family in relation to this narrative, exploring home as a contradiction of comfort and emptiness that follows her regardless of physical location. She depicts similar tensions between love and neglect in her paintings, using the medium to process childhood memories and find new ways to care for and accept herself. The artist shows her struggle with seeking love as external validation, and the realization that she has to foster this from within to move on from the past.

About the 2022 Judges

Connie (Girl) Fleming is a performer, model, stylist, fashion illustrator, and undeniable New York City legend. As a renowned stage performer, she has graced iconic nightlife venues like the Palladium, the Tunnel, and the Pyramid; performed in various videos for George Michael, Chic, and Jody Watley; and appeared in the opening montages for Saturday Night Live and MTV News. Connie’s status as a fashion icon and cultural muse has led her to model for Thierry Mugler, Vivienne Westwood, and Andre Walker across New York and Paris. A charter member of the House of Field and a Mistress of Ceremonies at Jackie 60, Connie began her reign as one of New York’s most sought-after gate-keepers when she worked the door at Eric Conrad’s Poop at the Supper Club. Her inimitable fashion drawings have been used to illustrate costumes for Beyoncé, Anastasia, Swarovski, and “The Devil Wears Prada,” among others. Today, Connie splits her time between various artistic endeavors, and works as a runway coach, producer, and casting director for several fashion brands in New York and abroad.

Jonathan Lyndon Chase is an interdisciplinary artist who works in painting, video, sound and sculpture to depict queer black love and community amidst the back drop of urban and domestic spaces. Chase’s figures hang in various forms of articulation – intertwined with domestic markers of a kitchen or a bedroom, they are then tethered by pop and street signage to blend emotional and physical, internal and external states of being. Rendered through layers of bright, visceral paint, make- up, foam and glitter these compositions challenge and subvert canonical misrepresentation and exclusion of the black body. Recent exhibitions include WHAT DO YOU SEE, YOU PEOPLE, GAZING AT ME at Sadie Coles HQ, London. Chase’s work has been previously featured in Art Basel, Switzerland; Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pond Society (solo), Shanghai; Company Gallery, New York; LSU Museum of Art (solo), Baton Rouge; the Rubell Foundation, Miami; Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke; California African American Museum, Los Angeles; Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia; The Bunker, Collection of Beth Rudin De-Woody, Palm Beach and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art, Philadelphia. Their work is included in numerous private and public collections such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, Walker Art Center, ICA Miami, High Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Bronx Museum, Rubell Family Collection, Buxton Contemporary Art Museum, The Wedge Collection, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and Woodmere Museum of Art. Chase was born in 1989 in Philadelphia, PA where they currently live and work.

Kimberly Drew is a writer, curator, and activist. Drew received her B.A. from Smith College in Art History and African-American Studies. She first experienced the art world as an intern in the Director’s Office of The Studio Museum in Harlem. Her time at the Studio Museum inspired her to start the Tumblr blog Black Contemporary Art, sparking her interest in social media. Drew’s writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue, Glamour, Playboy, and Teen Vogue and she has executed Instagram takeovers for Prada, The White House, and Instagram. Drew served as the Social Media Manager at The Met. She is the co-editor of Black Futures which she published in 2020 with Jenna Wortham. Drew recently joined Pace Gallery as Associate Director. You can follow her at @museummammy on Instagram and Twitter.

About Queer|Art

Queer|Art was born out of the recognition of a generation of artists and audiences lost to the ongoing AIDS Crisis, and in a profound understanding that one of the many repercussions of that loss has been a lack of mentors and role models for a new generation of LGBTQ+ artists. Founded in 2009 by filmmaker Ira Sachs, Queer|Art serves as a ballast against this loss and seeks to highlight and address a continuing fundamental lack of both economic and institutional support for LGBTQ+ artists. Our mission is to provide individuals within our community with the tools, resources, and guidance they need to achieve success and visibility for their work at the highest levels of their field.

A list of the intergenerational community of artists supported and brought together by Queer|Art includes: Silas Howard, Jennie Livingston, Matt Wolf, Hilton Als, Sarah Schulman, Pamela Sneed, Justin Vivian Bond, Jibz Cameron, Trajal Harrell, John Kelly, Geoffrey Chadsey, Everett Quinton, Geo Wyeth, Angela Dufresne, Nicole Eisenman, Avram Finkelstein, Chitra Ganesh, Pati Hertling, Jonathan Katz, Tourmaline & Sasha Wortzel, Jess Barbagallo, Morgan Bassichis, Monstah Black, Yve Laris Cohen, Troy Michie, Tommy Pico, Justin Sayre, Colin Self, Jacolby Satterwhite, Rick Herron, and Hugh Ryan, among many others.

Website: www.queer-art.org
Twitter: @queerartnyc
Instagram: @queerart
Facebook: @queerartnyc

Artwork: Marshland Restoration Program, Utē Petit

UNITED WE ARE DREAMING

NEW DOCUMENTARY MAKES CASE FOR DREAMERS Defacto

Americans Remain in Legal Limbo United We Are Dreaming (USA/2022) is a 52-minute documentary that looks at the life circumstances of five Dreamers, adults now 22 to 40 years of age, who were brought to the US as small children by undocumented parents. They have grown up in the US, attended K-12 schools and have now progressed to college, military service, and, or employment.

The term Dreamer derives from the Dream Act, bipartisan legislation originally introduced in 2001 which if passed would have provided a special pathway to citizenship for these young undocumented residents, estimated at times to be up to a million in number.

The legislation has yet to pass. In 2012, President Obama created by Executive Order, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA provides temporary protection from deportation, and the ability to legally work, among other privileges.

As 2023 approaches, DACA recipients are dispersed in communities throughout the US where they are building careers, raising their American born children and are otherwise immersed in their communities. Many were essential workers during the COVID pandemic. But some 600,000 Dreamers (part of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrant residents in the U.S.) remain in legal limbo, susceptible to the political inclinations of lawmakers who have yet to seriously address a dysfunctional U.S. immigration system.

Dreamer Miguel Tapia Colin speaks for the others when he says, “I think in every sense, in every sense except on paper, I think I’m an American. You know, this is the only country I know, this is the country I grew up in. This is the country that I went to school in, standing up every morning, pledging allegiance to the flag, learning the history. Obviously, on paper I’m not, but I don’t think I’m less American than anybody else.”

Laura Collins, Director of the George W. Bush Institute Economic Growth Initiative offers, “I think the question we all need to ask ourselves is who gets to be American? And in my opinion, that is really looking forward to saying, how do we continue to live up to that ideal as that beacon of freedom and opportunity for people around the world? And that’s not just people fleeing violence and persecution, but people who truly believe in American ideals, even if they weren’t born here.”

Production of United We Are Dreaming began in 2020 at the start of the pandemic. The
documentary features important pieces of the stories of five Dreamers with connections to Delaware. During production, two graduated from college, another had a child, and the others transitioned to graduate programs and careers. In an unanticipated event, the mother of a participating Dreamer becomes a naturalized American citizen after decades of residency and petitioning.

Collectively, these segments offer a clear and compelling picture of the impact that
a long-fractured immigration system is having on the lives of DACA recipients and their
families…and the tenacity of human spirit that allows them to persist.

United We Are Dreaming is a Hearts and Minds Film, produced by the Delaware-based production company www.TELEDUCTION.com. The award-winning TELEDUCTION team specializes in the production of human-focused stories that have appeared on American Public Television, The History Channel, and others, and in prestigious Film Festivals that include Heartland and NYC Film and Television.

Watch Trailer HERE.

Scheduled community screenings in Delaware include:

November 16 at 7:00 P.M. – Delaware State University, Dover Campus
November 29 at 7:00 P.M. – Delaware Technical and Community College, Owens Campus in Georgetown
November 30 at 7:00 P.M. – Penn Cinema on the Riverfront, Wilmington

SAM SMITH – GLORIA

Multi-Platinum, GRAMMY®, BRIT, Golden Globe and Oscar winning artist/songwriter Sam Smith will release Gloria, their fourth studio album, on January 27, 2023 via Capitol Records. Made with longtime collaborators Jimmy Napes, Stargate and Max Martin stablemate ILYA, Gloria is not only a creative revelation but something of a personal revolution for the celebrated artist. Lyrically, the subjects dive deep and wide, into contemporary narratives around sex, lies, passion, self-expression and imperfection.

Sam Smith says, “It feels like emotional, sexual and spiritual liberation. It was beautiful, with this album, to sing freely again. Oddly, it feels like my first-ever record. And it feels like a coming of age.”

Recorded in Jamaica, Los Angeles and London, Gloria is the dazzling, sumptuous, sophisticated, unexpected and at times thrilling, edgy sound of Sam’s creative heart today. The sound of constricting shackles crashing to the floor, of boundaries joyfully breached, of a still-searching talent discovering what it means to be truly free.

The album is now available for pre-order HERE. Fans who pre-order the digital edition of Gloria will instantly receive the chart-topping lead single, “Unholy” ft. Kim Petras plus “Love Me More.”

Since its release last month, “Unholy” has become a global smash, amassing over 300 million combined global streams. The single has already captured the No. 1 spot on three Billboard charts – Global 200, Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales – and topped the U.S. Shazam chart. “Unholy” has spent three consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the UK Official Singles Chart, marking Sam’s eighth song to top the tally. The track also hit No. 1 worldwide on Apple Music and Spotify. Within the first 24 hours of release, the song ranked among the Top 10 Spotify debuts of all time. “Unholy” gave Universal Music Group its biggest streaming debut of 2022. TikTok creations are averaging 100,000 daily.

The official video for “Unholy” follows a john who ducks out on his wife and sneaks off to his favorite sex club cabaret, only to find his guilty pleasures revealed in a very public manner. It was directed by Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways film, David Bowie, Christina Aguilera) and choreographed by French dance collective (LA)HORDE. Look for cameos by Gottmik and Violet Chachki from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and porn star Paddy O’Brian. Watch “Unholy” HERE.

Billboard observed, “‘Unholy’…not only unites two of the most prominent artists in the past decade of queer pop music, but does so without sonic reservation…a grinding, amorous new single.” Rolling Stone said, “Girls, gays, theys: this one is for you.” V Magazine praised the track as “blazing, wild, feral.” NYLON noted, “Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ hedonistic club banger is finally here – and it is criminally catchy.”

Gloria builds on the 35 million adjusted album sales, 250 million single sales and the 45 billion career streams Sam has amassed with the global success of their previous three studio albums, In the Lonely Hour, The Thrill of It All and Love Goes.

A four-time GRAMMY® winner, Sam also holds two Guinness World Records – for the most consecutive weeks in the U.K .Top 10 Album Chart (for their 2014 debut, In The Lonely Hour) and for having the first James Bond Theme to reach No.1 on the U.K. charts (for the Oscar and Golden Globe winning “Writing’s on the Wall”). With the release of Gloria in January and an exciting live plot in motion, it’s going to be an undeniable 2023 for Sam.

FOLLOW SAM SMITH

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / TikTok

Photo: Michael Bailey Gates