The Patience of Ordinary Things It is a kind of love, is it not? / How the cup holds the tea, / How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare, /...
The Art of Fin de siècle There are few terms in cultural history that I have found more challenging to understand than “fin de siècle”. It has a strong component...
The Impact of Travel Documentaries on the Creative Imagination Last year, I discovered the YouTube channel TRACKS – Travel Documentaries that covers it all “from the freezing ice caps...
The Aesthetics and purpose of Cities I think it was in 2016 that I first began thinking of “cities”—by then I had lived in and briefly visited multiple, very different...
Cultivating Empathy in Children through Cultural Education Recently, I found myself getting extremely disturbed by two pieces of news related to children and adolescents. Generally, we feel bad...
Contemporary Art from the Caucasus Art from the Caucasus. Descriptions of the Caucasus—the region including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and a bit of Russia—frequently mention the word “crossroads”…of civilisations, of empires....
The Ghosts of Japanese Folklore A close friend of mine, whom I met in Bangkok, has always been too interested in ghosts—their stories, also in mysterious techniques by which contact...
Masculine and Feminine Energies in Self and Society I have spent a lot of time reflecting on “the masculine” and “the feminine”—and several YouTubers have given me valuable insights on...
Medieval European Artistic Objects While swiftly going through Western art history in college, I found that different periods—ancient, medieval, Renaissance, modern and contemporary—made certain immediate and general impressions on...
Last year, I wrote about the importance of decluttering—how it gives you a sense of control over your environment. This January, I found myself taking the practice to another level....
A few years ago, I came across a Haitian art exhibition titled “Kafou: Haiti, Art and Vodou” (from 2012-2013) at Nottingham Contemporary, UK, and was instantly drawn to the strangeness...
Many of us are aware of the Soviet Union’s space programme, and have probably heard the names of Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova and Laika. A richly illustrated book of Soviet...
I stumbled upon the work of Detroit based artist Marcus Glenn last month and was instantly drawn to his paintings of people viewing paintings in art galleries. I liked how...
Too Many Ideas Syndrome” (TMIS) is supposedly a real phenomenon and the subject of many discussions online. (Credit: Pixabay) When I was 13, my mum bought me an amazing thesaurus...
Chaekgeori, the Scholar’s Accoutrements. Late 18th to early 19th-century Korea, The Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea. Some time ago, while searching for Korean art history I...
For more than a year now, I have been regularly watching an unusually prolific Indian YouTuber named Ranveer Allahbadia (@BeerBiceps) and enjoying his conversations with guests who may be...
Recently, I resolved to add “Decluttering” to my daily task list, meaning that every single day I discard something I do not need or organise better something I do need....
When I think of African art in the broadest sense, I immediately imagine masks—belonging to old communities living upon scorched earth or in dense jungles, masks used in rituals...