Tag Archives: mixed media

The Artist Behind the "Hope" Poster Is Mad At Obama

Mother Jones

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Shepard Fairey’s hopes are dashed.

Fairey, the artist who created the iconic “Hope” poster during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, says in a new interview that he is disappointed by Obama’s performance as president.

While discussing his new web series “Rebel Music” with Esquire, Fairey was asked if Obama had lived up to the poster’s expectations. He answered, “Not even close.” Fairey explained:

Obama has had a really tough time, but there have been a lot of things that he’s compromised on that I never would have expected. I mean, drones and domestic spying are the last things I would have thought he’d support. I’ve met Obama a few times, and I think Obama’s a quality human being, but I think that he finds himself in a position where your actions are largely dictated by things out of your control.

Don’t expect him to look to copyrighted Associated Press photos to create an image for Hillary, either. A jaded Fairey says that while he agrees with her on most issues, the “campaign finance structure makes him very angry.”

And with this, the street artist may have provided the Republicans with the perfect tagline come 2016: Democrats, a hope deferred!

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The Artist Behind the "Hope" Poster Is Mad At Obama

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Remembering Powerhouse Photographer Mary Ellen Mark

Mother Jones

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I found out about the death of photographer Mary Ellen Mark the way we learn about the passing of anyone these days—Facebook. My feed is currently flooded with condolences, remembrances, and laminations for Mark, who died yesterday at age 75.

Mark was a powerhouse photographer, a true legend. Her early ’80s project on homeless youth, Streetwise, remains a canon of documentary photography. In the late ’80s and ’90s, Mark’s work graced the pages of Mother Jones numerous times. Art Director Kerry Tremain made great use of her, both picking up archival images and making assignments such as portraits of journalist I.F. Stone and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

Mark’s work was also featured early in the Mother Jones Fine Prints and Portfolios program, which led to the creation of the Mother Jones Documentary Photo Fund. Her print was part of the New York Portfolio I, alongside other heavy hitters like Nan Goldin, Duane Michaels, Ralph Gibson, and Inge Morath. (Sorry, we no longer have any of the print portfolios.)

No doubt there will be many eulogies and recollections of Mark and the impact she made on photography, particularly on social documentary photography, the kind of photography that’s been our bread and butter here.

Though it’s a just a shallow slice of her deep legacy, here’s a collection of some of Mark’s work for Mother Jones.

I.F. Stone, September 1989

Russell Simmons, November 2003

Mother Jones 15th anniversary issue, 1991

Story on Ms. magazine, November 1990

Story on Ms. magazine, November 1990

Jessica Mitford and Maya Angelou, November 1992

“Hollywood’s Washington” cover, January 1991

And here’s a short piece that Leica produced on Mark:

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Remembering Powerhouse Photographer Mary Ellen Mark

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Columbia Student Who Turned Her Alleged Sexual Assault Into Performance Art Graduates

Mother Jones

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Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student who protested her alleged sexual assault by carrying a mattress everyday to campus last year, graduated today. The mattress, the defining symbol of her assault and her senior arts thesis titled Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight), was also present at Tuesday’s ceremony, despite the school administration urging students not to bring large items that could potentially “create discomfort to others.”

Sulkowicz was seen hauling her mattress to the ceremony with the help of friends and fellow graduating students. According to Columbia Spectator editor Teo Armus, when Sulkowicz went on stage to collect her diploma, she pointedly did not shake university president Lee Bollinger’s hand.

In September, Sulkowicz became a national figure and an unofficial spokesperson for sexual assault activists after she went public with her rape. She vowed to carry the mattress to class for as long as the student who she says assaulted her was not prosecuted or expelled. In April, her alleged rapist, Paul Nungesser, filed a lawsuit against the university claiming administrators exhibited bias and failed to protect him from the accusations. He says their alleged failure “destroyed” his college experience and reputation.

Nungesser also graduated and was present at Tuesday’s ceremony.

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Columbia Student Who Turned Her Alleged Sexual Assault Into Performance Art Graduates

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For Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, a Strong Round 2

Mother Jones

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
The Traveling Kind
Nonesuch

If only Hollywood sequels were this good. Following Old Yellow Moon, their captivating 2013 collaboration, rootsy stalwarts Emmylou and Rodney have recombined for another go-round, which may be even more entertaining than its predecessor. The two first crossed paths professionally 40 (!) years ago, when Crowell joined Harris’ band. Their recent work together has underscored the virtues of experience and, yes, age. No longer needing to prove anything, both seem as loose and confident as they’ve ever been, delivering heartrending tunes like “You Can’t Say We Didn’t Try” with the simple, sure-handed eloquence that marked the Everly Brothers’ best, and rockin’ out in fine style on the rollicking “Bring It on Home to Memphis.” Harris’ still-beautiful voice has acquired a darker, slightly rougher texture that adds authority, while the weathered grace of Crowell’s singing makes him a perfect match. A fine job by all concerned, including the stellar players.

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For Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, a Strong Round 2

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This Is What Classic Pieces of Art Would Look Like if the Prudes at Fox Had Their Way

Mother Jones

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On Monday, a Picasso painting titled Women of Algiers (Version O) fetched a record-setting $179.4 million at a Christie’s auction, beating out Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which just two years prior had sold for $142 million, as the most expensive piece of artwork ever sold.

The sale price for the Women of Algiers (Version O) marked the latest entry into a world so mind-numbingly wealthy and closed off to the general public. It’s the perfect illustration of privilege consolidating into the hands of so few, for no one else to appreciate.

New York‘s senior art critic Jerry Saltz has tackled this issue at large on numerous occasions. But this time around, Saltz identified something perhaps even more outrageous than the $179.4 million price tag:

This is pathetic. In anticipation of a piece inevitably shattering another sale record and this Fox affiliate being right there to cover it—both journalistically and visually—here are a few examples of how that coverage might look like:

Henri Matisse, Dance (1)

Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), Paul Cézanne

Katsushika Hokusai’s The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife

Michelangelo’s David

An abominable peek into the dark arts.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said it was Fox News that had blurred the Picasso painting. This has since been corrected to say it was a Fox affiliate in New York.

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This Is What Classic Pieces of Art Would Look Like if the Prudes at Fox Had Their Way

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Bad News for Simpsons Fans

Mother Jones

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Harry Shearer, the iconic voice of countless “Simpsons” characters including Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders, sent out a pair of ominous tweets last night signaling he may be exiting the show due to what appears to be a contract dispute with executive producer James L. Brooks:

Fox recently renewed the show for another two seasons to last till 2017, but Shearer was reportedly still trying to work out his contract. Judging by the tweets sent out last night, it looks an agreement couldn’t be reached. We’re still hoping for the best, but for now, we leave you with this clip:

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Bad News for Simpsons Fans

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This Is the Perfect Response to Fox’s Racist Theory About Michelle Obama’s Time at Princeton

Mother Jones

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Over the weekend, Michelle Obama delivered a passionate, candid commencement speech to the graduating class at Tuskegee University, Alabama, in which she addressed the daily slights of racism she has endured throughout her life. From Saturday’s ceremony:

We’ve both felt the sting of those daily slights throughout our entire lives. The folks who crossed the street in fear of their safety, the clerks who kept a close eye on us in all those department stores. The people at formal events who assumed we were the help. And those who have questioned our intelligence, our honesty, even our love of this country, and I know that these little indignities are obviously nothing compared to what folks across the country are dealing with every single day.

It was a powerful speech, and naturally, the folks at Fox News were not happy. Fox News contributor Angela McGlowan on Tuesday suggested the speech was yet another example of the White House dividing the country on issues of race, asking, “Why didn’t the first lady share the reason why she got into Princeton was probably because of Affirmative Action?”

“The reason why she became an associate at a law firm was probably because of diversity, they needed a woman—not saying that she wasn’t qualified—but they needed a woman, and a woman of color,” she said.

Comedy Central’s Larry Wilmore was not having it. In a segment on the Nightly Show, he fired back: “When a coke-snorting, alcohol-guzzling son of a CIA director DUI’s his way into Yale and ultimately into the Oval Office because his daddy’s was in both places, that’s affirmative action.”

George W., we hope you’re watching.

Watch the full segment below:

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This Is the Perfect Response to Fox’s Racist Theory About Michelle Obama’s Time at Princeton

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More Americans Ditching Organized Religion

Mother Jones

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According to a new study published by the Pew Research Center today, the largest shift in religious demographics over the past seven years is in the number of Americans who don’t affiliate with any religion at all. The study, which started in 2007 and surveyed more than 35,000 people, saw this group jump from 16.1 to 22.8 percentage points—with young, college-educated Americans being the most religiously unaffiliated:

While many U.S. religious groups are aging, the unaffiliated are comparatively young – and getting younger, on average, over time. As a rising cohort of highly unaffiliated Millennials reaches adulthood, the median age of unaffiliated adults has dropped to 36, down from 38 in 2007 and far lower than the general (adult) population’s median age of 46.4 By contrast, the median age of mainline Protestant adults in the new survey is 52 (up from 50 in 2007), and the median age of Catholic adults is 49 (up from 45 seven years earlier).

The findings had some disappointing news for Christians. While the number of people who identify with the religion has been waning for decades, the drop in the Christian population has been the sharpest of all in recent years with fewer Americans than ever before identifying themselves as Christians.

Pew

Other interesting details include: Religious intermarriage is up. Christians are getting more diverse. And Muslims and Hindus are seeing significant increases in their numbers. For more, head over to the Pew Research Center here.

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More Americans Ditching Organized Religion

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You’re Really Going to Hate James Franco’s Offensive Nostalgia Trip to McDonald’s

Mother Jones

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In the midst of plummeting sales, pressure to bump wages, and an apparent gastronomic identity crisis, McDonald’s needs all the help it can get right now to reclaim its status as a global fast-food powerhouse. Today, the company found a friend in actor James Franco.

The aspiring Renaissance man and actor, who once worked as a McDonald’s employee for a total of three months, has penned a bizarre op-ed in the Washington Post to defend the company from its growing chorus of detractors. The piece, titled “McDonald’s Was There for Me When No One Else Was,” describes his decision to quit UCLA as an undergrad in 1996 in order to pursue an acting career. While studying at a “hole-in-the-wall” acting school, Franco worked a part-time job at a Los Angeles McDonald’s:

When I was hungry for work, they fed the need. I still love the simplicity of the McDonald’s hamburger and its salty fries. After reading “Fast Food Nation,” it’s hard for me to trust the grade of the meat. But maybe once a year, while on a road trip or out in the middle of nowhere for a movie, I’ll stop by a McDonald’s and get a simple cheeseburger: light, and airy, and satisfying.

Franco, who seems to forget that being a drop-out from an elite university set him apart from most hourly workers at McDonald’s, goes onto reminisce about his rosy experience: Mixing it up with co-workers and even practicing funny accents. “I refrained from reading on the job, but soon started putting on fake accents with the customers to practice for my scenes in acting class,” he recalls. Franco even encountered a homeless family. “They lived out of their car and did crossword puzzles all day,” Franco writes. “Sometimes they would order McDonald’s food, but other times they would bring in Chinese or groceries.”

Franco also had the thrill of getting hit on by a man who actually cooked those “light, airy, and satisfying” burgers.

He wanted to hook up in the bathroom, but he didn’t speak English, so he had someone translate for him.

To everyone out there fighting for a living wage, this experience could offer some hope. After all, with the right attitude, McDonald’s can be a stepping stone on your path to Hollywood stardom, just as it was for James Franco.

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You’re Really Going to Hate James Franco’s Offensive Nostalgia Trip to McDonald’s

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Let John Oliver Explain How Standardized Testing Makes Kids Anxious and Vomit Under Pressure

Mother Jones

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Every year, students around the country are subjected to an insane amount of mandatory, standardized testing. So much so, the average number of tests a student completes by the time they graduate high school is a staggering 113, according to the latest “Last Week Tonight.” As host John Oliver noted on Sunday, all the stressful bubble-filling is taking an inevitable toll—with teachers reporting their students throwing up under the pressure so often, official testing guidelines specifically outline how to deal with kids vomiting on their test booklets.

“Something is wrong with our system when we just assume a certain number of students will vomit,” Oliver said. “Standardized tests are supposed to be an assessment of skills, not a rap battle on ‘8 Mile’ Road.”

Watch below as Oliver explains how our education system arrived at this extreme point:

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Let John Oliver Explain How Standardized Testing Makes Kids Anxious and Vomit Under Pressure

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