A#22
A Magazine Curated By Grace Wales Bonner
BARAKA, A. FUNDI. (1970) In Our Terribleness. Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., New York.
In a series of Afro-Atlantic narratives, Grace Wales Bonner weaves together archival portfolios and historical ephemera to anoint the themes of her issue, subtitled Rhapsody in the Street, and commission new works within it.
A Magazine Curated By Grace Wales Bonner is a continuation of the research that the designer dedicates to her craft, diving deep into the literary and visual traditions documenting Blackness in fleeting pockets of history or as a part of a larger interconnected history. Rather than the monolith often portrayed by Eurocentric narratives, the designer muses on the complexities and nuances of the Black Atlantic expressed throughout various disciplines, from essays and poems to paintings and portraits. Between the collection of Black poetry and photography books, Bonner draws a continuous line starting from In Our Terribleness through the Sweet Flypaper of Life to the Sweet Breath of Life. Discover these references in dialogue with one another, informing a new generation of artists and culminating into A Magazine Curated By Grace Wales Bonner.
In Memory of Greg Tate, whose profound thoughts examining contemporary culture in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) continue to inspire the artists featured in this edition and beyond.
Figures in Black by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The British Isles by Jamie Hawkesworth
Ming Smith: An Aperture Monograph by Ming Smith
ALS, H. (2017) James Baldwin/Jim Brown and the Children. Online: The Arts Institute.
BARAKA, A. FUNDI. (1970) In Our Terribleness. Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., New York.
BALDWIN, J. (1956) Giovanni’s Room. Dial Press. New York.
CAMPT. T. (2017) Listening to Images. Duke University Press. Durham, North Carolina.
DECARAVA, R. (1955) The Sweet Flypaper of Life. Simon & Schuster. New York.
FOSSO, S. (2020) Autoportrait. Steidl. Göttingen, Germany.
GATES, H.L. (1987) Figures in Black. Oxford University Press, New York.
HAWKESWORTH, J. (2021) The British Isles. Mack. London.
HEMPHILL, E. (1989) Looking for Langston [Film excerpt]. British Film Insititute. London.
HEMPHILL, E. (1991) Brother To Brother. Alyson Publications. Boston.
HUGHES, L. (1926) The Weary Blues. Knopf Publishing Group. New York.
JOHNSON ARTUR, L. (2016) Liz Johnson Artur. Bierke Publishing. Berlin.
OKRI, B. (1999) Mental Fight. Phoenix House. London.
REED, I. (1972) Mumbo Jumbo. Doubleday. Garden City, N.Y.
REED, I. (1971) Catechism of d neoamerican hoodoo church. P. Breman. London.
SASSEN.V. (2012) Parasomnia. Prestel Publishing. London.
SEPUYA, P.M. (2012) Studio Work. Familiar. New York.
SEPUYA, P.M. (2020) Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Aperture. New York.
SHANGE. N. (2004) The Sweet Breath of Life. Simon & Schuster. London.
SIDIBÉ, M. (1998) Mali Twist. Xavier Barral. Paris.
SMITH, M. (2020) Ming Smith: An Aperture Monograph. Aperture. New York
SORY, S. (2017) Volta Photo. Reel Art Press/Morton Hill. London.
SORY, S. (2019) Peuple de la nuit. Stanley/Barker. London.
STREULI, B. (2019) Fabric of Reality. Lars Müller Publishers. Zurich.
In a small office in the Tokyo neighbourhood Harajuku, Kenta Orimi welcomed me into the studio for his eponymous brand, Orimi. After high school he was drawn to the area, working in various stores and boutiques, and in 2018 he opened The Elephant, a select shop where you’ll find pieces from Stefan Cooke, Vaquera, ERL, Martine Rose, carefully selected vintage pieces, as well as Orimi, of course.
For her first show outside New York, Hillary Taymour brought Collina Strada to Copenhagen for Spring Summer 2027, a season that also marked Copenhagen Fashion Week’s 20th anniversary. Collina Strada was the first brand invited to take part in its new International Guest Slot, supported by The Climate Pledge.
There is something about Paolina Russo that makes you want to be part of the gang. Canadian-born, half Filipina and half Italian, Russo grew up in Markham, Ontario, while her French co-founder Lucile Guilmard was raised in Fouras, a small seaside town on France’s Atlantic coast. Their London-based label draws on the things they grew up with far away from fashion capitals: arts and crafts, local sports, video games, music and the particular kind of imagination that comes from having to make your own fun.
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