Can an Exhibition Memorialize the 1947 Partition of the Indian Subcontinent?
Arundhati Kalyan reviews ‘Proposals for a Memorial to Partition’ at Dubai’s Jameel Arts Centre, probing the question of whether art, curation, and current conceptions of memorialization can do justice to a tragic historical event of this scale
Butt Waxing: A Cheeky Ass Experience
"Yes – it was my ass. An ass that needed grooming. " In this comedic essay – nearly a standup skit – Gaurav Dewani recounts his first butt-waxing experience
Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, Black Fathers, and White Women
EIC Zoe Patterson weaves together an analysis of Kendrick Lamar's new album with grief over her relationship with an absent parent
Spectacular Faults
TW: physical and sexual abuse
An excerpt from Sondra R. Brooks’ unpublished memoir, this personal essay paints a childhood haunted by the damaging spectre of hypermasculine, alpha father figures
Flee
In this rich personal essay, Augusté Nomekaité feels the weight of history on her Lithuanian identity, family, dating life, and her grappling with the horrors of the present: the Russian invasion of Ukraine
Ladies and Gentleman, Your In-Flight Entertainment for this Evening: Late Capitalistic Nausea
Benjamin Kirby’s humorous essay takes us through the absurdity of a six-and-a-half hour Emirates flight
Soliloquies
Swiveling between memories in Sharjah, Dubai and Cairo, Noor Tannir’s vulnerable personal essay grapples with themes of anxiety, grief, and family illness
Itthon (At Home)
In a series of personal vignettes, Rose Gove traces their evolving relationship with the country of Hungary
Two Auditions
In this memoir piece, Ernestine Whitman looks back on her journey as a young girl to becoming a professional flutist
A Brief History of Tea
“Daddy used to write in my birthday cards, ‘I love you more than all the tea in China.’ That’s a lot of tea and a lot of love.” — new in arts & culture by HLR
Karak Chai
Ghina Athirah Furqan’s recipe-memoir is a soft retelling of family
> on my iPhone
A memoir of family, New York streets, grocery items, crushes, and more, made entirely out of iPhone notes.
The Pandemic Radically Altered My Relationship with India. I Don’t Know If I Can Ever Go Back
A personal essay explores navigating the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the surrounding political turmoil, and their effects on identity and belonging
An Archive of Absences
In this personal essay, Susanne Niemann considers her family history and roots in Germany, and the need to document memory
Down and Out in the UAE Badlands
Film camera in tow, Benjamin Kirby heads to Al Dhaid in Dubai, where he meets an enigmatic TikTok-famous travel agent and muses on the urban landscape in this new essay
A Knotty Problem: Politics of My Hair
When cutting your hair is a radical act – Lubnah Ansari unpacks the social paradigms surrounding the politics of female hair in the South Asian context
A Conversation with Emirati Artist Nujoom Alghanem
One of the pioneering figures of UAE art history, Nujoom Alghanem speaks to our Visual Arts Editor about her evolution, practice, and new solo show in Sharjah
Accent Politics
In this personal essay, Zambian-born Mbiko Mayaka explores her relationship to language, touching on code switching and the manifestation of social hierarchy and inequalities on the tongue
On Artists and Institutional Stigma
What do artists and institutions truly want from each other? How can this relationship tread the tightrope between exploitation and care? Artist and creative practitioner Mays Albaik opens up the conversation in this essay
Forbidden to See Us Scream in Tehran: A Poignant Reflection on Women’s Voices in Iran
New in our b-roll column, Bangalore-based writer Neetha Kurup reviews Iranian director Farbod Ardebili’s new short film, which comments on the heavy metal scene, feminism, voicelessness, and disability within Tehran