CURATED ARTICLES
Curated Articles remixes the archive by drawing connections between seemingly unrelated articles. This feature will change periodically as guest curators are invited to create new selections.
Curator’s Statement
This collection of five posts from the archive celebrate restorative appropriations. Weapons of Art presents a literalist transformation of bad into good—taking lethal weapons and re-imagining them as constituent parts of objects of beauty or utility. Hot Criminal can help us understand how people are differentially reintegrated into society after incarceration. Is the Hot Criminal hot because he is a criminal? And why does he get a lucrative career when most ex-cons are lucky to get a job at Home Depot? Feminism Meets the Absurd introduces us to the work of Martha Wilson, who ‘takes back the body’ of an aging woman. Period Party! describes the work of jewelry designer Lili Murphy-Johnson, who celebrates the vividness and anxiety of menstruation. Finally, The Fuck Shit Stack that Rap has Become revels in Reggie Watts’ skewering of tough-guy rap. These posts remind us that appropriation can be emancipatory when done intelligently.
-Paul Kaplan, Professor of Criminal Justice, San Diego State University