Art, books, and an event next week

Art, books, and an event next week

I, like many others, acutely feel the suffering in the world. I don’t know much, but as an American, I know that rising hate against Muslims and Jews in the United States is a dangerous trend, and hurts all of us.

This week, I visited the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC and saw a stunning exhibit featuring Simone Leigh’s work. Leigh is an American artist whom the Hirshhorn describes as follows:

Leigh has embraced a polyphonic artistic vocabulary that elaborates on Black feminist thought … Informed by a rigorous attention to a wide swath of historical periods, geographies, and artistic traditions of Africa and the African diaspora, Leigh often combines the female body with domestic vessels or architectural elements to point to unacknowledged acts of labor and care, particularly among and for Black women. 

Leigh’s work is powerful and often gigantic. She creates figures pared down to their essence to transmit her vision of the African diaspora. I’m grateful to live in Washington, where I can hop on the metro and visit with art as breathtaking and evocative as that of Simone Leigh.

Simone Leigh’s Cupboard, 2022

Simone Leigh’s Brooch #2, 2008/2023

I discovered Israeli writer Yoel Hoffman in a recently translated work (Peter Cole, translator) called MOODS. I’m never quite sure where I hear about the books that end up in my library pile, but I’m glad this one did. It’s a haunting look at Hoffman’s long life composed in short fragments. It is poetry, but it is also a slice of one person’s experience—albeit a very perceptive person—with commentary ranging from life in his apartment block to world events.

Here’s a book I read a bunch of years ago about the Arab experience in America, A COUNTRY CALLED AMREEKA: Arab Roots, American Stories by Alia Malek. Malek is an American journalist and lawyer with Syrian roots. She traces Arab immigration to the US back centuries in an eye-opening and expansive rendering of her subject.

Here’s my review for Lilith Magazine on Elaine Schattner’s FROM WHISPERS TO SHOUTS: The Ways We Talk About Cancer. A doctor and journalist, Schattner provides a thorough, thoughtful consideration of our public conversations about cancer.

An event next week: Please join me for a PEN/Faulkner sponsored [virtual] deep dive into Laura Warrell’s wonderful debut novel SWEET, SOFT, PLENTY RHYTHM on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 7-8 PM Eastern time. Tickets are available here.

That’s what I got for today. Wishing you and yours well,

Martha

PS ICYMI, here is my most recent newsletter: Thomas Jefferson, world ballet day, and yes, we are hurting