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May 10, 2012
Public interest in the campaign against sweatshops hit an all time high in the ‘90s following the news that high-profile brands like Nike and Gap were using sweatshop factories that paid women and children mere pennies to produce their merchandise. The anti-sweatshop movement, along with widespread public pressure, would ultimately force these companies to reevaluate the working conditions in some of their facilities. Although the fight for a sweatshop-free world may have evolved and strengthened over the years, it seldom makes the front-page news—that is until a major brand or celebrity is an offender. “It’s sad, but if you can implicate a name that is known to the public in this messy issue you can get attention,” says Robert Ross, a Clark University Sociology professor whose book, Slaves To Fashion, takes an in-depth look at the death and re-birth of U.S. sweatshops in the 20th century. “Every once and a while, we people who are concerned about these matters break through the crust of apathy and get a little airtime.”
May 4, 2012
“An Exhausted Machine: Outsourcing Bread in Istanbul”
“It is a testament to the economics of neoliberalism that it is cheaper to import the simplest form of the basic food on earth – unleavened bread – than to produce it locally.”*
*Quote from a beautiful piece by Jay Cassano on Mashallah News
Apr 21, 2012
I am often asked about my feelings regarding the war in Iraq. My response, inevitably, is reflective of my own experience growing up in Baghdad. I’m aware that other Iraqis hold different feelings based on their own backgrounds and socio-economical, religious and educational influences. In this series I attempt to convey those various feelings by placing myself in their shoes and walking their path.
I view the portraits as interviews, wherein Baghdad citizens express their feelings about post-occupation Iraq. The portraits are all tightly shot and so close-up that you have no choice but to listen to what they have to tell you. The faces are the same since they are united in nationality and under the same umbrella of circumstance. Yet each is representative of different slices of Baghdad’s social and political system.
The layers of calligraphy that are imposed on the faces express the individual feelings of each person. It is up to you to interpret those feelings.
(via fuckyeahmiddleeast)
Feb 16, 2012
On our Photo Booth blog - for Valentine’s Day - a selection of loving embraces, with thoughts from the curators and photographers: http://nyr.kr/xdVYDu
Above: Robert Mapplethorpe, “Embrace, 1982”/Courtesy Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation/Art + Commerce.Last summer, for an exhibit called “Robert Mapplethorpe: 50 Americans,” Sean Kelly Gallery randomly solicited one person from each state to select which image of Mapplethorpe’s they felt was most important. The Michigan participant picked this image, explaining that “it typifies the mystery, and tragedy of human relationship. I see comfort, hope, and hopelessness all in one. I grew up in the city of Dearborn, Michigan … where there was prejudice against all races, religions and sexual orientations that were different from ‘the norm.’… This image is a poignant reminder of how far we’ve come and yet how far we still have to go.”
(Source: newyorker.com, via bbook)
Jan 30, 2012
Oakland protests on January 28, 2012
Oakland Rise Up && If It’s Vacant, Take It
Solidarity with the occupiers in Oakland
Jan 21, 2012
from Thursday’s march in memory of Hrant Dink and in response to verdict of the trial of his murder.
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