Serpentine Gallery, LondonFrom military operations to the death of André Breton, the Parisian artist loved to paint seismic events. But it’s odd and themeless, proving nothing dates more badly than pop artYou can’t accuse the Serpentine of relentlessly…
A microcosm of segregated America: Michael von Graffenried’s best photograph
‘The people of New Bern liked the fact my ancestor founded their town. But the atmosphere changed when they realised I was there to show reality, not promote a touristy vision’The guy on the left is Frank Palombo, the former chief of police of New Bern…
‘We want dignity’: the vanishing craft of Kashmir’s papier-mache artists
Award-winning artist Maqbool Jan is one of a handful still practising the ancient artform, but without government help he fears it could be lostKashmir’s ancient papier-mache artworks are famous throughout the world. The art form is a staple of the lux…
‘I sculpt the air’ – does scent artist Anicka Yi plan to make Tate’s Turbine Hall smell like vaginas?
She has made art out of smells, ants, bacteria, spit and vaginal swabs. So what is the US artist about to unveil for her Turbine Hall commission? Yi, who was once a vagabond in London, takes us on an olfactory odysseyAnicka Yi offers me some beetroot c…
‘Some of art’s most luxurious orgies’ – Poussin and the Dance review
National Gallery, LondonSo sombre Poussin was actually a hedonist? What a surprise! By dwelling on his decade in Rome, then a city revelling in raw sensuality, this show casts him as Caravaggio’s lewder cousin Nicolas Poussin intimidates me. This 17th-…
Female in Focus photography awards 2021 – in pictures
The Female in Focus award from 1854 Media and the British Journal of Photography addresses the gender imbalance in photography. Globally, 70-80% of photography students are women, yet they account for only 13-15% of professional photographers. This sel…
Brixton’s Barrier Block: ‘When it went up everyone hated it’
Fifty years on, architect Magda Borowiecka explains why she had limited scope in designing Southwyck HouseMore than 50 years after it was designed, Southwyck House still looms over Brixton in south London, drawing fascination and dislike in equal measu…
Cop a load of this: on the beat with the NYPD – in pictures
Between 1978 and 1981, Jill Freedman tagged along with the NYPD as they arrested burglars, picked up stray kids and kicked down doors Continue reading…
For ‘unrecognised black women’: statue of Henrietta Lacks unveiled in Bristol
Lacks, whose cells were used in multiple medical advances, is honoured by the city’s universityThere were tears of joy and pride as the first statue of a black woman created by a black woman for a public space in the UK was unveiled in a sunlit garden …
‘People arrived for work and got vaporised’: how Kikuji Kawada captured the trauma of Hiroshima
The holy grail of Japanese photobooks, Kawada’s Chizu was five years in the making and changes hands for £25,000 a copy. Now a new edition revisits his personal archeology of a nation’s painKikuji Kawada was 25 when he visited Hiroshima for the first t…