Do you want to be seen – or are you trying to be admired?

Art is a process of making things visible. The thing we most often end up making visible is ourselves. In my earlier days as an artist, I wanted so strongly for the piece to be viewed as separate from me. Ideally, I wanted to disappear, and have people only see the work. I didn’t realise …

Alanis Morissette’s ‘Such Pretty Forks in the Road’ is a masterpiece (plus: a mini-manifesto on artistic criticism)

This album has been the soundtrack of my pandemic life. It first came to my attention when my mom sent me this video, which was making the rounds on social media: This song is called ‘Ablaze’, and it is a manifesto about a mother’s love for her children – declaring ‘my mission is to keep …