Hyperallergic

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New York-based artist Joiri Minaya’s “Venus Flytrap” was a site-specific, newly commissioned performance series and installation at Philadelphia’s Bartram’s Garden last summer. Curated by writer and editor Dessane Lopez Cassell and produced by Farrah Rahaman, the series reflected on the intertwined legacies of freedom, extraction, and ecology in North America’s oldest surviving botanical garden. A new film, co-directed by Joiri and filmmaker Xenia Matthews, documents the process of creating and performing this work. It’s streaming exclusively on Hyperallergic — watch it now at https://hyperallergic.com/joiri-minaya-venus-flytrap/ . . . Produced by BlackStar Projects, major support for “Joiri Minaya: Venus Flytrap” was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the William Penn Foundation. #VenusFlytrap #JoiriMinaya #BlackStar #BartramsGarden #PerformanceArt

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The tale of the Voynich Manuscript is likely as old as the 1400s, but it only came to popular prominence in the 20th century, when it was acquired by antiquarian bookseller Wilfrid M. Voynich in 1912. He then fell into what would not be a unique lifelong obsession of building theories and possible meanings for the 234 parchment pages. He was convinced that there was some significance about the natural world, although of the 113 plant illustrations, not one seems to depict earthly flora. There are indications of astrological symbols, and perhaps writing about healing baths, but it’s not clear how all these elements might come together. It’s believed the manuscript was assembled in Central Europe, and carbon dating confirmed it to somewhere from the late 15th to 16 century. Still, there are others who stand by it being a hoax. Read more in the article: https://hyperallergic.com/159228/new-scans-of-the-voynich-manuscript-a-medieval-book-no-one-can-read/ . . . #VoynichManuscript #Medieval #Mystery #MiddleAges

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For over 100 years, W. E. B. Du Bois’s “The Souls of Black Folk” (1903) has reverberated through academic and public discourse for its astute and abiding racial analysis. But prior to the publication of this landmark text, Du Bois visualized his notion of double consciousness in modernist data portraits at the 1900 Paris Exposition. With these infographics, Du Bois colorfully visualized Black America, which he called a “nation within a nation,” depicting the notable progress made by Black Americans in spite of centuries of global anti-Blackness, chattel slavery, and Jim Crow — oppressive, institutionalized structures strengthened by the social Darwinist paradigms that dominated mainstream science of the day and rippled throughout the Paris Exposition’s sociological showcases. To learn more, read the article by Jasmine Weber: https://hyperallergic.com/476334/how-w-e-b-du-bois-meticulously-visualized-20th-century-black-america/ . . . #WEBDuBois #BlackHistory #DataVisualization #ArtHistory