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Culture Shift is a weekly newsletter curated by the HuffPost Culture writers and editors.
This week we're talking about self-love, the best fictional journeys around the globe, the "Shady Ladies" of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the portrayal of black men in media, the Martha Graham Dance Company, and sex-positive feminist artists, .
Raw Photo Series Asks People To Take Off Their Clothes And Discuss Self-Love
Photographer Anastasia Kuba believes that although body positivity is important, beauty is much more complex.
Through her photography and conversations with her models, Kuba has learned that beauty is often more complicated than physical attributes or empowered self-love. "What the body looks like has nothing to do with what the person feels like in the body," Kuba explained. "Our self-loathing is usually a consequence of trauma, not having control over the body at some point. You can look however you look and feel however you feel and those things are not linked. Someone can look at you and say 'you're so beautiful' but it doesn't matter. It's about how safe you feel inside yourself." (Read more here)
12 Globe-Trotting Books To Inspire The World Traveler
A shift in perspective, or at least a quick, cool dip into the mind of another person, is the objective of travel, and also of reading great books. So if you're both knowledge-hungry and couch-bound, pick up a road trip saga or family drama set during a listless beach vacation. Here are some options:
1. The Vacationers by Emma Straub
2. French Milk by Lucy Knisley
3. 10:04 by Ben Lerner
4. The Lost Time Accidents by John Wray
5. The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida
6. A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall by Will Chancellor
7. Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabriella Hamilton
8. Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson
9. Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling With D.H. Lawrence by Geoff Dyer
10. Sea and Sardinia by D.H. Lawrence
11. The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
12. Open City by Teju Cole
(Read more here)
These Sex-Positive Feminist Artists Were Way Ahead Of Their Time
Many contemporary feminist artists show a lot of skin. And why shouldn't they? As fourth-wave feminism professes, women are free to express their sexuality as they so desire -- celebrating their bodies, experiencing pleasure, being sexy and girly and smart and serious all at once.
Rewind a couple of feminist waves, however, and the conversation surrounding sex and feminism was different. Decades ago, some mainstream feminists viewed sexuality through the lens of male agency, assuming a sexualized woman would lead to objectification and oppression. Likewise, all pornography and illicit imagery was deemed demeaning to women, as it diminished subjects to the status of sexual objects. That's the story we're told, of a self-policing movement that told women to button up and act respectably -- essentially, like men -- to be treated as such. But, of course, there were many cacophonous voices contributing to the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and many dissenting visions as well.
An ongoing exhibit at Dallas Contemporary titled "Black Sheep Feminism: The Art of Sexual Politics" examines the work of four radical feminist artists whose work is often left out of discussions regarding feminist art for its unabashed NSFW content. Joan Semmel, Anita Steckel, Betty Tompkins and Cosey Fanni Tutti embraced graphic, feminine sexual imagery in their work, encountering backlash from both the mainstream public and orthodox strains of feminism in the process. (Read more here)
Black Men Stage Their Own Portraits In Empowering Photo Series
A few years ago, photographer Kris Graves took a portrait of his friend Maurice, a working artist. But unlike a typical portrait, this image didn't highlight its subject's facial features -- instead, it's a perfectly framed shot of the back of his head, a sweep of dark hair filling the frame. From the man's hair alone, it's difficult to discern much about him; there's no feeling eyes or thoughtful expression to pick out from the scene.
"You would have to guess that the man was black, but that would be an assumption," Graves said in an email with The Huffington Post.
This got him thinking about all of the assumptions we make about black men, on and off camera, and inspired his photo series, "Testament." For the collection, he asked friends, acquaintances and other men he'd met to sit for a portrait -- but left the poses, and the lighting choices, up to them. The result is a series of somber, expressive faces with technicolor overlays. Some men chose to pose in profiles, while others confronted the camera head on. (Read more here)
The 'Shady Ladies' Hiding In The Metropolitan Museum Of Art
Professor Andrew Lear is on a mission to bring these juicy tales of sexuality to the forefront. As the self-proclaimed polar opposite of Sister Wendy, he's launched Shady Ladies as an alternative tour service at the Met, one that embraces the untold tales of courtesans, royal mistresses and otherwise scandalous women whose faces -- and nude bodies -- populate the halls of the museum. (Read more here)
Bonus: How To Do Your Makeup, According To A Trained Ballet Dancer
Martha Graham Dance Company member Lloyd Knight gives fans a glimpse behind the scenes, in honor of the company's 90th anniversary. Spoiler: there's lots of contouring. (Watch the video here)
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