j.ward1

New York Teens Still Feeling the Bern

August 10, 2016 by j.ward1 Leave a Comment

The presidential election has seen a lot of attention from those the media likes to call “millennials.”

Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders grasped the attention of young people across the States with his free college propaganda and attention towards under- represented groups have faced such as, unmarried women, Native Americans and other minority groups, and middle class and poor citizens.

Local mainstream media and studies, have missed out on the educated opinion of 2 million young people under the age of 18, who took attention to the future president of this country.

Harvard’s Institute of Politics conducted a poll with people in the age group of 18 to 29 years old, discovering that 47% of young people believe that today’s politics are unable to meet the country’s challenges, like police brutality, wage gaps, terrorism and immigration.

Favorability polls indicate that 54% of people find Bernie Sanders favorable, leading the polls.

After interviewing New York teens under the age of 18, their opinions seem to correspond to the Harvard IOP results.

Troy, 17, first heard of Bernie Sanders in a meme of him running for a train. Some of the scenario’s show some of Bernie’s campaign angles, here’s an example:

For many of the teens interviewed, the campaign came to attention at school. Melissa, 16, recalls her friends beginning to discuss their outrage of this campaign during Fall 2015. “ My friends dislike Tump… they were more upset for the fact that people actually support his racist rhetoric.”

In an under the radar interview Bernie Sanders announced to MSNBC that he’d be voting for Clinton, ultimately meaning that he supports her and is no longer in the race. Students like Hui Qi,16, revealed their disappointment and had to admit the gaps in Bernie’s policies, like free college. “Free college would be an awesome thing to have, but to make college free for everyone would mean compromise in other areas of society.”

The belief of why Bernie is so popular is because he is so radical, he is not even included in the Democratic party. The next radical choice would be Donald Trump, but he isn’t well supported by this group of teens.

“Hillary is the only safe choice… a lot of Bernie supporters are only voting for her because we just cannot vote for Trump… it is sad but it is reality.”

When asked if the knew that there are third party candidates, they automatically said “They can’t win.” Only Troy could name both, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.

Matthew,17, expressed that only if one of them dropped out and their voters combined, would the third party candidate be noticed, because Gary has 10% of the vote, whereas Jill only has 5%, and they would need 15% to be included in debates with Trump and Hillary. “That would be in a perfect world.”

At this point many feel that this presidential election will either make or break America. A popular belief is that Hillary Clinton is the status quo vote and Donald Trump is a ‘racist bigot’.

It is safe to say that young people do not tolerate insolence. Kids like Troy will still be sporting their Bernie merch, from pens and stickers to t-shirts and ball caps.

Social Media: Art & Culture

August 10, 2016 by j.ward1 Leave a Comment

Processed with MOLDIV — Artist: Taira Rice

Inside the African American community we face a disconnect with each other. In our community, loving art is unconventional, or is seen as trying to be white.

We often disparage each other for trying to escape the social norms established by white supremacy, and executed by ourselves.

In a recent interview with Taira, a 17 year-old artist from Harlem expressed the feeling of what it is like to be an artist and an African American woman.

She goes through the motions of her career, starting with why she started to take art seriously.

“I was going to be judged on what my hands could produce.” She came to this realization around the time for applying to high schools. Her choice was LaGuardia but LaGuardia did not choose her… twice.

She humbly discredited the quality of her portfolio, but did not fail to call out the students whose art is less desirable but still made the cut.

“People always say the school is racist”

In a report from inside schools, their comment on “what’s special” about the school is that it has “a nice racial mix,’” yet 44% of students identify as white.

She added some of the struggles she personally faces as an African American woman. “We’re always seen as second class people and don’t get the recognition we deserve sometimes. For me personally there’s pressure to be this extravagant person, so that I can get noticed by people.”

And as for the people in our own community, she would get remarks saying that she talks and acts white, a remark every black girl who admires the abstract people like Marilyn Manson, Erykah Badu, and does not have extreme parental issues (a stereotype) has heard.

Media outlets like Instagram offer a space for the ‘undesirables’ to express the qualities that they’d been previously bashed for. Tying that together with the difficulty of getting noticed in the art world is perfect. Two instances where being accepted and rejection based on historic perception of class and racial image.

It may seem surprising to people in other business fields, but art galleries take a whopping 50 percent of profits from their artists. Photo sharing apps and other applications like Twitter and Facebook offer young people to share their passion without the fear of rejection or maltreatment.

A recent publication on Vice by Brad Phillips titled “How Instagram Is Changing the Art World” explains how millennials are in less need of pouring their hard work into art galleries or establishments for the fact that picture sharing platforms, like Instagram are giving publicity to these young artist. He explains that “more and more, collectors don’t care about validation, or a proven track record. They care about names that they hear repeated at cocktail parties and art fairs. In this way, having a prominent presence online contributes to your name being circulated, cutting out the need (a false one anyway) to be vouched for by a gallery.”

Taira, showcasing her art on social media landed her drawings on the online Rookie magazine and the upcoming exhibit LIFEFORCE opening July 26 at Untitled Space NYC.

Rookie magazine is a big deal for teenaged social media based artist because of what it stands for. A statement can be found on its website, which captivates that it is “an independently run online magazine and book series” which caters to teenaged artists, writers, photographers and their “cohorts of any age.”

Taira’s advice to others is patience. “I don’t have much patience myself but I’ve learned to appreciate what comes my way and realize that as long as I absolutely love what I do and keep working at it, I will get noticed and it will have all been for something amazing.”

Here are some links… click them:

Taira: Instagram- @swegonamilly

http://www.rookiemag.com/2016/03/friday-playlist-adorable/

Brad Phillips:

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/how-instagram-is-changing-the-art-world

LIFEFORCE Takes Tribeca

August 8, 2016 by j.ward1 Leave a Comment

TriBeCa, New York City’s new exhibit, LIFEFORCE invades the city with feminist style art and moscato.

Photographers, journalists, hipsters, artists, family and friends from around the city came to see the premier of the new exhibit- LIFEFORCE at the minimalist art gallery, untitled-space NYC.

LIFEFORCE was assembled by 24 young female artist and curated by the Bennet sisters, Kelsey and Rèmy.

All of the pieces present feature exclusive to the female body like lactating breasts, estrogen and progesterone and perfect imperfections.

From the murmurs of the crowd you could hear the divide between hipster chicks and classic art enthusiasts.

“This is what we call art now?!” one said.

“She basically said ‘free the nipple’ with watercolor, sans the words.” another connected.

Some found it hard to believe what classifies as art or were amazed by the simplicity and manipulation of realistic depictions of the body used to rebuke misogynistic ideas embedded into pop culture.

Attendees Julia Bowen, 15 and Sharlana Ahmed,16, escaped the densely packed studio, as they realized that they disturbed the art pieces. The chairs and the hand sanitizer were not for use.

Deception at its finest.

If you did not pay attention to the captions, you too would’ve sat in sweat, tears, urine and synthetic female hormones or missed the connection between hands and sanitation with the UV lit and dead skin infused sanitizer.

There were many other intriguing displays, captivating personal struggle with religion, pregnancy, and self acceptance, along with vivid photographs and dioramas.

Official statements and descriptions of all of the pieces from the artists are at untitled-space.com.

LIFEFORCE is open to the public, free and with art available for purchase, between the dates 7/26- 8/6.
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