A cross between a Disneyland castle and a chilling concrete block, the Humboldt Forum is set to teach visitors about Germany’s colonial era. But is the past being examined – or exalted?A museum gift shop has never been such an ideological battleground….
Intimate portraits of inspiring creative women – in pictures
The Mexican artist Hugo Huerta Marin spent seven years photographing and interviewing creative women who span disciplines, nationalities and generations. These candid portraits and insights into the work of women as diverse as Tracey Emin, FKA twigs an…
Drag queens to cloud surfers: highlights from Photo London 2021 – in pictures
Featuring Malcolm X, Ronald McDonald and a turtleneck-wearing demon, Photo London returns in style with 88 galleries from 15 countries Continue reading…
Muse and model or painter-poet? Elizabeth Siddal given fresh portrait
RashDash’s new theatre production honours the pre-Raphaelite by focusing on her own art and poetry – and shifting from tragedy into comedyWan, pale, tragic. Elizabeth “Lizzie” Siddal is remembered for how she was portrayed by the 19th-century men who s…
Inner visions: a dreamlike trip through New Mexico – in pictures
Shirin Neshat has been crowned a Photo London Master of Photography thanks to her black and white portraits of people from the American south-west Continue reading…
Two pints of lager and a view of St Paul’s: the secret life of London’s most thrilling boozers
What makes a pub special? From the perfect place to flog atomic secrets to the official strictly protected viewpoint for St Paul’s, a new book tells the amazing stories behind the city’s greatest barsWhen you stumble out of the medieval warren of Ye Ol…
Rich, red and rare: Hogarth’s lady back home after 100 years
The artist’s portrait of the Georgian era’s richest woman is part of a new London showAn independent aristocrat, Mary Edwards of Kensington was a leading figure in 18th-century London. She was also thought to be the richest woman in the world.If her na…
Self-portraits captured in total darkness – in pictures
Photographer Melanie Issaka made her series Locating the Personal in total darkness in her bedroom. Her self-portraits are photograms, a camera-less way of making images. She lay on sensitised photographic paper and struck poses, recording moments away…
On my radar: Alexis Taylor’s cultural highlights
The Hot Chip frontman on a Factory Records exhibition, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and his favourite vegan ramenBorn in 1980, Alexis Taylor is the lead vocalist and keyboardist/guitarist of synthpop band Hot Chip. He formed the group with Joe Goddard while at s…
Original Observer Photography
Michael Rosen, Paloma Faith, St Etienne and ‘champing’ holidays – the best photography commissioned by the Observer in August 2021 Continue reading…