ART WORDS

💗 How “Art” thou?! Hopefully creative! It’s Art Week in Miami, and Basel has transformed the city into a visual charcuterie board of inspiration. Expression in all its varied tastes mixes with the local color of the region for the next several days. https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/news/shows-to-see-2023-art-basel-miami-beach-1234688276/making-miami-in-design-district/ I’ve already checked out some of the new. “The Chronicles of Miami” is a huge mural in the Design District. The collage of portraits is by an artist known as JR. He went around the city’s five most legendary neighborhoods and took shots of more than a thousand locals. Each got to shape their own image after a quick interview. You can use an AR app to actually hear their voices through the collage!

💢 Art wields power. Two jailed Cuban artists are still reshaping a communist narrative from behind bars. The Cuban government imprisoned the Grammy winners behind the song, “Patria y Vida,” in April of 2021. Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and Maykel Castillo infused liberating purpose behind their lyrics. Their rap song went viral and inspired the largest peaceful protest against the Cuban government in the island’s history. Last month U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she’s joined Amnesty International in pushing for the artists’ release. Alcantara says, “There arises within me a rebellious spirit, that does not allow me to resign myself.” https://hyperallergic.com/855055/cuban-artist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-message-of-defiance-from-prison/

💥 Hidden messages within art play into the plot of “SolHuBod.” That’s my dystopian fiction releasing in 2024. A “pentiment” is a reappearance of a layer an artist painted over or disguised in a work. A spy group in “SolHuBod” uses deliberate pentiment to communicate. It’s an analog way of stealthily avoiding AI surveillance. The cover of the novel is painted by my daughter Jordan. It’s textured, multi-layered, and imperfect in its intent to showcase completely human art.

💖 The beauty of humans is that they can turn anything into an art. Sister Zeph does that with teaching. Her mantra? “Love is the language everybody can understand.” The Pakistani educator dropped out of school at age 13, only to start her own! Sister Zeph says teachers bullied and discriminated against her. She wanted to be the opposite. She funded a home school with her embroidering. She now runs a womens’ vocational school that just got a huge boost! A million dollars! Check out the article! https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/11/17/1213239433/varkey-foundation-teacher-prize-pakistan-sister-zeph?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20231201&utm_term=9119173&utm_campaign=goats-and-soda&utm_id=59360349&orgid=&utm_att1=

💨 Remember, “you” are God’s art! Keep your creative embers alive, look for fuel all around you, and dare to defy the status quo! I’m for you! Thanks for always inspiring me! 💖