“Ukraine’s glory hasn’t perished, nor her freedom
Upon us, fellow compatriots, fate shall smile once more.
Our enemies will vanish, like dew in the morning sun,
And we too shall rule, brothers, in a free land of our own.
We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.
We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.”
-Ukrainian National Anthem
Ryan Takaba joined us in November from San Antonio, Texas. In November 2020, he opened an exhibition that ran for six months in order to accommodate limited entry at the same time due to the pandemic. Takaba spends a great deal of time in his garden. He and his wife cultivate fruit trees – an apple, a few plums and a pear tree. Following the winter storm that struck Texas in 2020, spring was unusually verdant and the fruit trees produced better than ever. Takaba teaches at a small independent art school that experienced a shutdown before returning in person in the spring of 2021 with smaller class sizes. To hear more about his teaching and his own studio artwork, listen to the complete interview.
Holly Murkerson spoke to us from Chicago. A photographer, she works with traditional analog processes and uses a community darkroom. The pandemic limited her time there significantly. As a partial solution, she purchased a Lomography instant camera. Now able to access the darkroom once more, she combines her traditional photography work with this new-to-her format. Murkerson says she could fit into the category of landscape, though her images don’t reference the horizon line, they are rather more intimate glimpses of spaces. To hear more about her work, listen to the complete interview.
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:
May peace and light prevail.
Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews is here.
Books to Read
What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Praxis user Jennifer Graminga is reading Mr. Brick and the Boys by Paul Hunter. Meanwhile, Praxis user Doreen Connors is reading The Song of Bernadette by Franz Werfel
Deadlines:
The Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School invites visual artists to apply for 2022-2024 Vera List Center Fellowships. There are five two-year non-residential fellowships available to commission and support scholarly and creative work that critically engages with the center’s 2022-2024 theme of Correction. For more information and to apply, visit the website. Deadline for applications is March 13.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis Center for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists and the most recent (2021) is Making it in the Art World.