This poem or ode or arts journalism work of mine was inspired by the fun and funny fact that, for many years, whenever I -- who was born and raised in Iran -- heard the American national anthem, thought it started with, José. Not, O say. Not so funny after all...
“Plan for 24 hours unplugged. No electronics. No radio, TV or phones. Pretend you are Adam and Eve, basically.” My initial reaction was ‘basically, WHAT?!’ &nbs...
An inflated Statue of Liberty stands tall, green and mannequin-faced, outside the Oceanside Museum of Art in San Diego, where a Colonia Libertad Consulate offic...
Cobalt, turquoise and aqua-colored inflatable lifesavers of various sizes, strapped together with plastic ties, dominate the entrance of the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach. Upon close inspection, the tubes are marked by JFK airport luggage tags with a smudged image of a seemingly armless Statue of Liberty next to the bar codes....
The Caribbean islands are environmentally vulnerable territories where the history of colonialism is a living legacy. A recently opened exhibition at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach confronts these issues in the works of 80 contemporary artists from 13 countries in the Caribbean and its diasporas....
Nazli Ghassemi is a San Diego-based freelance writer. Her writing collaborations with artists have appeared in publications such as Artforum, Carnegie International Magazine, Elephant, Modern Painters, Reorientmag, and Hyperallergic. She has lived and travelled extensively in America, Europe, and the Middle East, and is the author of Desert Mojito, a novel.
