
I wake up with the sparrows at 6am, shower and get dressed at maximum speed, check a few emails, gulp a quick espresso, and by 7:15am, I’m ready to drive my son René to kindergarten.
As I turn on the car, ready to conquer the day, I hear him sigh from his booster seat in the back and ask, “What’s the point of all this?”
The previous morning we’d discussed death. I did a poor job explaining why his grandpa (my father) is no longer around and where he might be right now.
At the ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) in Brooklyn, where we have a lovely event for Hyperallergic members, staff greets us with drinks and fortune cookies. I eat four of those cookies because I’m not pleased with any of the fortunes. I stop after one that reads: “Who gives should never remember. Who receives must never forget.”
In the pouring rain, I hide in a Gen Z spot in Bushwick that’s playing an entire Michael Jackson album. A man speaking into a laptop screen is explaining to someone else how the first thing Islam did in the 7th century was abolish slavery in the Arabian Peninsula. Days later, the Milwaukee Art Museum returns two jars to the descendants of Dave the Potter, a Black American artist who was enslaved for most of his life in the 19th century.
On my way to a screening of the Edward Said documentary Between Worlds at the New York Film Festival, a guy on the subway wearing a T-shirt that spells out the word “coexistence” with symbols from all the big religions pisses me off because he’s standing in my way.
During the movie, I cry and cry and cry.
I find a Carl Jung book on the sidewalk, consider taking it for a moment, then toss it away. A man wearing a leather jacket over a bunny costume stares at me like I’m the strange one. I look away and see a sparrow eating from the trash.
Up on Berry Street, I pause in front of the new Hermès store because I see a shiny pair of shoes branded with my initial in the window display.
I stay there for a while, images flashing in my head as I gaze at my reflection in the window. I see Jerusalem, Haifa, and Nazareth. I see New York, and I see René’s face.
—Hakim Bishara, editor-in-chief

Arthur Jafa, King of Pop
His eclectic references and intuitive grasp of memes and virality set him apart as an artist taking assemblage and collage to new heights. | Stephanie Wambugu
News

- Visual artists Christine Sun Kim, Rodney McMillian, Vincent Valdez, and Chip Thomas are among the 20 recipients of this year’s MacArthur Fellowship.
- Unionized staff at the Whitney Museum of American Art are preparing to strike starting Monday, October 5 ahead of the preview week for late Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s retrospective.
- Minnesotan activists unfurl a 24-foot-long “Stolen Neighbors” quilt representing the individuals disappeared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
- Kehinde Wiley has asked to buy back his painting “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960” (2015) after the State Department removed it from the United States Embassy in the Dominican Republic last month.
- The art and activism initiative Fall of Freedom is anchoring its second year with hundreds of events across the United States this weekend.
- Two of Alice Neel’s satirical courtroom drawings, which depict one of the highly publicized trials of the McCarthy era, go to auction.
- Art Movements: Cyra Levenson will lead the Yaddo Artist Residency, Ann Temkins steps down at MoMA, Rose B. Simpson wins the Santa Fe Mayor’s award, Roy Lichtenstein x Alex Da Corte, and more.
From Our Critics

Kenzi Shiokava Did It for the Love of It
He modeled what a life in art can amount to without acclaim, celebrity, money, and all the other trappings we tell artists are required. | Lori Waxman
Teresa Margolles and the Violence We Breathe
Her MoMA PS1 exhibition raises the question: What exactly does formal restraint accomplish in an age of violent excess? | Alex Santana
Paint Isn’t Just Paint at the New York Studio School
This exhibition of painters Brenda Goodman, Steve DiBenedetto, and Bendix Harms pushed me out of my comfort zone. | John Yau
A Broomstick in a Man’s World
In Emily Mae Smith’s surreal paintings, a symbol of women’s work becomes a weapon. | Rebecca Schiffman
A New Exhibition Explores Edmonia Lewis’s Montana Connection
The two-part show at Bozeman’s Tinworks Art is part of a citywide homage to the late Black and Indigenous sculptor and her ties to the area. | Phillip Pyle
Features

Hyperallergic’s Art Tarotscope for the Fall Equinox
What must we embrace as the autumn leaves change color and the nights get a little crisper, a little darker? | AX Mina
How Are Artists Affording Pet Care?
From $1,600 dental bills to $16,000 emergency procedures, artists and culture workers weigh in on the rising cost of caring for their closest companions. | Rhea Nayyar
The Breathtaking Sight of Ancient Rome’s Largest Surviving Wall Mosaic
Beneath the ruins of the Baths of Trajan, a giant mosaic and unusual fresco remind us of the continual discovery of the wondrous: Rome’s ongoing lesson. | Anthony Majanlahti
Art in Odd Places Participants Seek Utopia Under Dark Clouds
The public art festival’s 21st edition unfolded across 14th Street throughout the nor’easter this past weekend. | Rhea Nayyar
Four Artists Exploring Sustainable Alternatives to Synthetic Art Supplies
In “Source Materials: A Bioart Exhibit,” artists share their visions for a future of art-making rooted in local ecosystems, scientific inquiry, and collaboration. | Izzy DeSantis
Jean Shin Creates Her Own Anti-War Camouflage
Highlighting patterns of war and migration, her installation “Tidal Crossing” is the latest artist intervention at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. | Anna Lee
Opinion

The Overlooked Black Architect Who Shaped a Landmark Smithsonian Museum
Max Bond Jr., who lobbied for and co-designed the National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC, deserves a larger place in history. | Brian Goldstein
Community

A View From the Easel: A View From the Easel
“I also have a mini trampoline that I’ve always had in my studio, it’s a reminder to stay playful.”
Remembering Rafael Ferrer, Aracy Amaral, and Liang Shaoji
This week, we honor an arist and musician, one of Brazil’s first women museum directors, and a Chinese conceptualist. | Lisa Yin Zhang
Opportunities This Month

Residencies, fellowships, grants, and open calls from ArtFields, The Image Centre, Millay Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and more in our monthly list of opportunities for artists, writers, and art workers.