Adopted Home Girl Does Good in Essay
Apr. 28th, 2008 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
webfarmerSome years back, author and essayist Meghan Dahm gave up the bright lights of NYC for the good life of a near Lincoln experience. She was able to convert that adventure into an, as I recall, well reviewed book, "The Quality of Life Report", as well as some NPR essays and such. Several of my good friends get near cameo parts in the book. Ultimately the siren calls (and added cash and career advancement) of an LA Times column pulled her away from these parts.
I signed up for her mailing list the other day and today she sent out an essay on the now (in)famous Yalie student artist, Aliza Shvarts, that's worth a read. I kept thinking that maybe Ms. Shvarts would get busted for human experimentation without the proper university oversight. Maybe someone clever at Yale will pull that one up and give it a try. I'm sure Ms. Shvart's would appreciate even more notoriety. Hey, I'm doing my part for the struggling artist. (No, you can't win.)
It's Period Art - With Aliza Shvart's Work, There's Nothing to See But Lots to Talk About - 26 Apr 08
"Many artists, including photographer Cindy Sherman and multimedia artist Judy Chicago, have incorporated menstrual blood into their work. As for those maybe-miscarriages and their role in performance art, hoax or some combination thereof, Shvarts has nothing on 18th century Englishwoman Mary Toft. In 1726, Toft became a sensation when she managed to convince the public and much of the medical community that she was repeatedly giving birth to rabbits."
"The result is that Shvarts' project has become not about what she may or may not have done to her body, or may or may not be saying about reproduction, but about a subject that never fails to draw rapt attention: fame. Now, excuse me while I take back every condescending thing I ever said about Norman Rockwell."
I signed up for her mailing list the other day and today she sent out an essay on the now (in)famous Yalie student artist, Aliza Shvarts, that's worth a read. I kept thinking that maybe Ms. Shvarts would get busted for human experimentation without the proper university oversight. Maybe someone clever at Yale will pull that one up and give it a try. I'm sure Ms. Shvart's would appreciate even more notoriety. Hey, I'm doing my part for the struggling artist. (No, you can't win.)
It's Period Art - With Aliza Shvart's Work, There's Nothing to See But Lots to Talk About - 26 Apr 08
"Many artists, including photographer Cindy Sherman and multimedia artist Judy Chicago, have incorporated menstrual blood into their work. As for those maybe-miscarriages and their role in performance art, hoax or some combination thereof, Shvarts has nothing on 18th century Englishwoman Mary Toft. In 1726, Toft became a sensation when she managed to convince the public and much of the medical community that she was repeatedly giving birth to rabbits."
"The result is that Shvarts' project has become not about what she may or may not have done to her body, or may or may not be saying about reproduction, but about a subject that never fails to draw rapt attention: fame. Now, excuse me while I take back every condescending thing I ever said about Norman Rockwell."
