Penumbr

Taken for a Rise

[limegum]

Way back in my yo-yo days… this happens to be 1975…I had a MS 35mm and I paid a visit to a pawn shop down on 3rd street where I acquired a slightly beat up (trashed) 400mm lens…to make a short story long, I just had to go out and give it a ‘shot‘…so I ventured to the bay area spot where I just knew there would be photographic subjects in the prime time day light hours… (X)

[mtweiner]

Oakland PD vices don't change much, do they.

[medievalpoc]

Dutch Museum renaming art for cultural sensitivity - CNN.com

Amsterdam's acclaimed Rijksmuseum has started renaming artwork in its vast collection whose titles could be considered inappropriate by a modern audience.

Shifting a white-only perspective

The initiative started six years ago, but took a back seat until Rijksmuseum’s mammoth 10-year renovation project was completed in 2013. Gosselink says that the museum had in the past received complaints that artwork descriptions, some which date as far back as 1910, were written from a purely white perspective.

“We had a text saying that Australia was discovered by a European man, but we all know that obviously Australia had existed for millions of years before any Europeans went there,” says Gosselink.

However, far from erasing all traces of original titles and descriptions, Rijksmuseum will archive them so that the public can still access them if they wanted to.

“It’s not a matter of whitewashing our Dutch history, we do think that old colonial terms are also part of it,” says Gosselink.

The Rijksmuseum, which is one of the world’s leading art institutions, is working with representatives of indigenous groups and civil society organizations to come up with the most appropriate terms to use.  

“We would not want to change anything without their permission,” says Gosselink.

This is something I’ve been pushing for since I began this project, and I’m glad to see that it’s finally starting to catch on with influential institutions like the Rijksmuseum, whose immense online collection and digital archives have helped bring amazing content to MPoC.

The language used in the article leaves a bit to be desired, since titling artworks with racial slurs should never have been a thing in the first place. But I do think that leaving the former titles archived as evidence of institutional racism encourages accountability and helps show a changing narrative, rather than erasing all traces of the changes.

The way artworks are indexed and the terms attached to them in databases heavily influence the way we think about them, and the way we process information and context. Hopefully this will not only be a more accurate way to organize these works, but will also make them easier to find for those who’ve been searching for them.

[knohbodi-deactivated20200512]

Art is suppose to piss people off no matter out insensitive it is. Changing works up like this is some weak sauce.

[medievalpoc]

First of all, I find it very debatable that art is “supposed to piss people off”. Art does a lot more than that, and saying that art’s only value is to cause discomfort is devaluing and oversimplifying to an absurd degree.

Secondly, thousands of works were created without titles, or the original titles were lost.  The Rijksmuseum was founded in 1885. For the overwhelmingly most part, the “original” titles they’re talking about are those given in 1885, by the museum.

And lastly, not only are many of those titles full of racial slurs, they’re inaccurate and do nothing to tell someone what the painting is actually of, where or when it was created, if it’s a portrait or a still life, or really anything about it at all.

Like honestly, how are people pissy that the museum is providing MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ART? Earlier titles and information, all of that is STILL THERE.

Considering how much slur-laden, awful, dehumanizing crap I’ve had to wade through over the last 3 years to find these artworks to share with you all, the fact that literally anyone is finally willing to take another look at how these works are indexed and categories is a blessing.

It’s like people are pissed off that a less-racist OPTION is being added. I mean, I shouldn’t even be surprised at this behavior after all this time, but shame on me I guess for believing in better from people.

[medievalpoc]

I’ve got an update here, if anyone’s curious about how this actually works instead of wringing their hands about somehow not respecting history’s racism enough. Check out this painting at the Rijksmuseum (it’s also currently on view!!):

This is what you see when you click the link

the description text for the painting reads as follows:

Young Woman with a Fan, Simon Maris, c. 1906                

oil on canvas, h 41cm × w 29cm.

Simon Maris painted this woman on various occasions, holding a cigarette or a red fan. Perhaps she was a model, yet this painting could also be an actual portrait. For want of information, in the past it was variously titled as The Negress, Portrait of a Mulatto, East-Indian Type, The Little Negress. These terms are now considered derogatory. Until her name is known, the painting will bear a neutral title.   

UNTIL HER NAME IS KNOWN.

Notice that none of those former titles were given by the artist. All of them were given because of racism and a lack of information, and lack of interest in further research about the subject of this painting. The title “Young Woman with a Fan” tells us more or less exactly what is in the image, and now we know that she was painted by the same artist multiple times. And more than that, the text implies that more information and research is needed to better understand the young woman depicted in this painting, including the need to know her name, and recognize her life, her worth, and her individuality.

[micdotcom]

Watch: Bernie Sanders just delivered what may be the defining speech of his career.

[mymompickedthisurlss-deactivate]

holy shit,

[sarahseeandersen]

See ya!

[mtweiner]

Good morning Goose #oakland #ihellaloveoakland #minimart (at Adams Point, Oakland, California)

[amncollective]

“2 years ago today, Ryan Stokes, an unarmed Black man, was killed by KCPD. Ryan was his mother’s youngest child and only son. One racist act can erase an entire legacy. ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ ‪#‎RyanStokes‬‪#‎WhyWeFight‬For more info, visit RYAN Stokes Speaking Truth to Injustice.” Via One Struggle KC|| https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=54&v=uXAfPO2Is7I

[getawaywithgifs]

(x)

[perrier]

Make Life Extraordinary – Reach for a Perrier

#extraordinaireperrier

[mtweiner]

This shit is just wasteful. #californiaisburning

[handsometruth]

[autohaste]

Anti blackness is global

[brutereason]

We are told frequently that women are more intuitive, more empathetic, more innately willing and able to offer succor and advice. How convenient that this cultural construct gives men an excuse to be emotionally lazy. How convenient that it casts feelings-based work as “an internal need, an aspiration, supposedly coming from the depths of our female character.”

“Where’s My Cut?”: On Unpaid Emotional Labor - The Toast  (via jolinxo)

[fentyfupa]

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook, and I shared it too. But seeing as I have a lot more followers on tumblr than friends on Facebook, I thought I’d bring it here.

Will’s post really talked to my heart, because it’s exactly what it’s like to live in a gentrified neighborhood. Sure, my wall didn’t get painted on, but the feelings of entitlement that are held over you are universal. It’s very frustrating when people have been living in your neighborhood for less than 3 years and they act like you’re the new ones.

And let’s not even get into the comment section of this post! You cannot compare gentrification, which systemically kicks poor people (who are usually poc) out of their neighborhoods to “white flight”.

I’ll probably be reporting the bushwick flea’s Instagram if you need me, but please share his story.

[shiraglassman]

Why do people insist on mistaking a call for diversity as a call for ONLY diversity and a disregard for quality? –raremediumwelldone on Twitter

[sourcedumal]

Because in their minds, diversity taints quality. Quality and the number of non white cis hetero and able bodies has an inverse relationship to them

[fromnanonna]

Hollywood director who cast cis man to play a trans woman says Hollywood has a problem casting transgender actors. … There are no words

[thewriterscaravan]

Trauma victims cannot recover until they become familiar with and befriend the sensations in their bodies. Being frightened means that you live in a body that is always on guard. Angry people live in angry bodies. The bodies of child-abuse victims are tense and defensive until they find a way to relax and feel safe. In order to change, people need to become aware of their sensations and the way that their bodies interact with the world around them. Physical self-awareness is the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past.

Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (via thewriterscaravan)

[micdotcom]

‘Girl Meets World’ star Rowan Blanchard speaks out about the importance of intersectional feminism

A Tumblr user asked the 13-year-old Girl Meets World star about her thoughts on “white feminism” and the notion that the movement may exclude certain marginalized groups, like women of color and non-cis/queer women. Her full response shows she understands intersectional feminism better than most adults.

[virginiaisforhaters]

Every time donald trump comes up in conversation I make damn sure to mention that he’s a violent rapist. I don’t want anyone forgetting that.

[fuckincutie]

IS HE not surprising but I’d never heard that before ??

[virginiaisforhaters]

TW for rape, violent assault:

“After a painful scalp reduction surgery to remove a bald spot, Donald Trump confronted his then-wife, who had previously used the same plastic surgeon.

“Your fucking doctor has ruined me!” Trump cried.

What followed was a “violent assault,” according to Lost Tycoon. Donald held back Ivana’s arms and began to pull out fistfuls of hair from her scalp, as if to mirror the pain he felt from his own operation. He tore off her clothes and unzipped his pants.

“Then he jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than sixteen months. Ivana is terrified… It is a violent assault,” Hurt writes. “According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, ‘he raped me.’”

Following the incident, Ivana ran upstairs, hid behind a locked door, and remained there “crying for the rest of night.” When she returned to the master bedroom in the morning, he was there.

“As she looks in horror at the ripped-out hair scattered all over the bed, he glares at her and asks with menacing casualness: ‘Does it hurt?’”

Trumps lawyer on the incident: “You’re talking about the front-runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as a private individual who never raped anybody. And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse.”

So basically not only did he violently rape her, it was dismissed with the claim that it is impossible for someone to rape their spouse, which we all know is bullshit.

[fuckincutie]

This is horrible thank you for taking the time to find that for me. I am disgusted

[virginiaisforhaters]

He is a terrible human being, racist piece of shit, rapist, and still an overwhelming amount of people want him to be president. Frankly, it’s terrifying. I will move country if he becomes president.

[gobblechopstv]

[kurtiswiebe-deactivated20170725]

This perfectly summarizes why I love the Simpsons and hate Family Guy. 

[wolvensnothere]

Yup.

[lookatallthosereblogs-deactivat]

So this.

I watched that episode with my family and I could just feel how uncomfortable everyone was. Honestly, it was a really jarring, unpleasant episode.

Homer is a terrible dad. So is Peter. But Homer’s saving grace has always been that he tries—he’s bad at it and he fucks it up a lot, but he loves his family and he wants to be better than he is.

One of my favorite Homer moments is in “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife.” Tl;dr Marge writes a steamy romance novel starring herself and Ned, and when Homer finds out, he chases down Ned and, rather than attack him, asks him to teach him how to be a better husband.

There’s some part of his stupid self that wants to do better.

I never got that impression with Peter. Instead, the family has gotten more and more abusive towards Meg. It’s really unsettling for me when I started realizing that’s what happens sometimes in abusive families. Abusers sometimes single out one child to abuse, and quite often the other family members take the abuser’s side. After all, it’s easier to side with an abuser than to run the risk of becoming the target yourself.

There’s never really a point where it seems like Peter cares at all that his shitty behavior impacts his family. It actually seems to have gotten worse over the years. He expects everyone to clean up his messes because that’s always what happens; there’s really no reason for him not to be shitty.

And it’s easy to see how Meg is affected. She doesn’t have much of a character, really, because so much her screen time is devoted to being abused. The bits of character development all seem to hinge on her being this sad, neglected person who’s trying her best but never really gets any help from anyone. Quite the opposite; there have been a lot of episodes where her family sabotages any attempts to be herself.

It can be easy to forget how awful this behavior is when the only context is the show itself (frankly, everyone on Family Guy is kind of terrible). Seeing it played against the Simpsons, who are a flawed and dysfunctional but ultimately loving family, was painful to watch.

[hannahmalcrackers-deactivated20]

Family guy is really shitty and self-righteous while misogynistic and uhh yeah no

[daggers-drawn]

Family Guy is literally a show about a toxic household with an abusive father portrayed as comedy. I have been trying for the longest time to figure out what bothers me about that show so much for so long. Thank you.