Week 10 - Cultural Infidel

 Nicholas Mirzoeff Chapter 6 Quotes and Summary

"Even if all emissions were to stop tomorrow, the climate will keep changing for centuries. And yet, we still can't see it, literally and metaphorically."

"Today's hurricanes, droughts, floods, record snowfalls, and escalating temperatures create a different feeling -- a constant unease as unusual weather becomes the new normal."

This chapter explains climate change, the changes in ecosystems, and the constant worry about how the Earth is deteriorating. With the constant pollution around the world that has always been done by us humans around the world, this chapter explains how New York once was flourishing with oyster beds which were the key source of food in the 19th century to why the famous Dodo bird went extinct. Even today, climate change is happening at a rapid pace - so much so the point that it was 75 degrees this February for a couple of days. This is not normal! We barely got to enjoy spring and now every day is 80 degrees and higher in New Jersey. If this is how hot it's going to be in our spring, how hot is this summer going to be?

Amy Sherald on her Breonna Taylor Portrait Quotes

“Taylor is an American girl, she is a sister, a daughter, and a hard worker. Those are the kinds of people that I am drawn towards.”

“I wanted this image to stand as a piece of inspiration to keep fighting for justice for her. When I look at the dress, it kind of reminds me of Lady Justice.”

Amy Sherald Effect Quotes

“The subjects make eye contact with us. They can seem mildly interested in how they are beheld—they wouldn’t have bothered dressing well if they weren’t—but with dispassionate self-possession, attitude-free.”

“As is natural in a time of transition, Sherald, too, is still learning.”

Black Masculinity Quotes

“A Wiley painting is easy to recognize. More often than not, it shows a solitary figure, an attractive man in his 20s, enacting a scene from an old-master painting.”

“Every Wiley painting is a two-punch affair — the masculine figures contrast sharply with the ornately patterned, Skittles-bright backdrops unfurling behind them.”

Cultural Infidel

San Lazaro
The saint who was risen from the dead by Jesus

I wanted to use San Lazaro as the model for my historical selfie this week because he is the patron saint of the poor and sick. He was raised from the dead by Jesus himself just four days after he died, and he became a follower of Jesus, spreading the word and telling everyone to believe in him and how he will change the world someday. I wanted to connect this to both Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley because they all included their culture in their paintings, and I wanted to include mine with this statue. Many Cubans are very devoted to San Lazaro as he is one of the most powerful saints in Santeria. This statue has been in my house for as long as I can remember. It used to belong to my grandmother on my Dad's side. She used to have it in her house in the backyard, and my Dad brought it to our home once she passed away, and we have had it ever since.