Photo Book Pick of the Day: Events of the Social, Portraiture and Collective Agency

Events of the Social:
Portraiture and Collective Agency

African Photography from The Walther Collection

This delightful photo-essay catalog focuses on themes of gender, race, class and social change across three generations of African photography.

Events of the Social is a comprehensive investigation into photographic works by artists from the African continent and its diaspora. Taking the politics of the “colonial gaze” as its starting point, the book looks at the diverse complexity of the nineteenth-century archive through a selection of vintage portraits, cartes de visite, postcards and album pages.

Grace Ndiritu, “Lying Down Textiles,” from the series Still Life , 2005-2007

Three generations of African artists from the 1940s till now then chart the changing features of African societies through portraiture, exploring notions of the self, gender, sexuality, race, social status and politics. The book also examines landscape and the built environment, showing how architecture and spatial planning convey social order and ideology while reflecting experiences of migration, colonialism, war and industrialization.

Dawit L. Petros, “Untitled (Prologue II),” from the series The Stranger’s Notebook , 201. © The artist.

Another group of artists, born after the mid-1970s, explores issues of social identity, lineage, questions of belonging and personal experiences. Artists featured include Sammy Baloji, Jodi Bieber, Mimi Cherono Ng’ok, Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin, David Goldblatt, Seydou Keïta, Zanele Muholi, Malick Sidibé and Mikhael Subotzky.

Co-published with The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm / New York

(Reviewer’s note: contains some nude images)

Seydou Keïta, “Untitled,” 1952-1955.

Events of the Social: Portraiture and Collective Agency African Photography from The Walther Collection

  • Edited with text by Elvira Dyangani Ose
  • Book Design: Gabrielle Guy
  • 200 pages, 232 images
  • 6.75 x 9 in. / 17 x 23 cm
  • Softcover
  • US$ 45.00 / € 30.00
  • ISBN 978-3-96999-087-2

GIFT GUIDE: 5 Easy-to-Make Premixed Dishes for the Food Lover

Zavor’s Noir Cookware Collection bring Design and Function to the Kitchen

Zavor recently announced new pieces for their first line of cast aluminum cookware – The Noir Cookware Collection. It gives even more design opportunities for the home kitchen, or as a great gift for the passionate cook.

The Noir line’s pieces are made of cast aluminum, one of the best and most popular materials for cookware. The cast aluminum provides excellent heat conductivity that is better than that of stainless steel and has a lighter weight than cast iron. Zavor’s Noir Cookware Collection sports a black finish with a Whitford Fusion Ti nonstick ceramic coating, and is designed to be both durable and to retain heat while looking quite nice on display or in use.

Despite the name “Noir“, the collection also includes color options. These consist of customizable color selections for the removable and replaceable black pan & skillet handles and silicone pot grips. They can be swapped out for others in colors like red, butternut squash orange, royal blue, purple, sky blue, and mint green.

Says a Zavor spokeperson, “Since one of the more unique features of the cookware is the removable handles, we thought it would add another aesthetic element to offer the handles in colors. It gives user’s an opportunity to match their kitchens, their cooking, the season, or even use them to identify allergy or diet-specific cookware.”

The removable handles allow skillets and pans to be placed in the dishwasher much more comfortably and provide a more compact storage solution. Another benefit is that when the handles are removed, the skillets, pots and pans in this collection are oven safe up to 535°F. From a performance standpoint, the pieces in the collection have interiors coated with a smooth ceramic layer, which helps to make them easy to clean, and a smooth 430 stainless steel base that is compatible with all cooktops ranging from gas to induction.

 

The Noir Cast Aluminum Cookware Collection includes

  • 8” skillet
  • 10” skillet
  • 12” skillet
  • 11” grill pan
  • 4.5 qt sauté pan
  • 6 qt sauté pan
  • 5 qt Dutch oven
  • 7 qt Dutch oven
  • a skillet set with 8” and 10” skillets
  • a skillet set with 10” and 12” skillets
  • a 7 piece cookware set ($229.95) including a 12” skillet, 4.5 qt sauté pan, 5 qt Dutch oven, and 1.5 qt saucepan.

For more about the Zavor Noir Cookware Collection visit: www.zavoramerica.com.

 

Working from Home Gets more Stylish and Comfortable with the WorkRobe

Working from home is here to stay for many professions and careers. Along with it, work from home attire is now a permanent yet new wardrobe issue. You can’t lounge around in sweatpants and sweatshirts every single day, especially when you spend most of the day still communicating online with colleagues via Zoom or WebEx. Plus, it’s hard to be motivated all of the time when hanging out in a Justin Bieber, Coldplay or Doja Cat t-shirt. As they say, “Dress for Success.”

With that in mind, you need something that you can slip on at a moment’s notice that will look totally professional and appropriate, yet if you happen to wear it all day will be casual and comfortable. It needs to not be wrinklable when you are working, and able to be worn while you’re not working and not feel constricted. One answer now on the market is the new WorkRobe.

The WorkRobe is an innovative collection of Webex and Zoom-appropriate robes that are specifically designed for women working from home. The top part — the part seen on a remote call or meeting — is chic and professional. The rest of the robe is as comfortable as it sounds… it’s a robe. For personal and professional use it is as versatile as you can imagine.

The brand WorkRobe appears to be a clever solution to the idea that you need a “Work at Home Wardrobe,” hence “WorkRobe.”  (We wish we had thought of that)

The Comfort Suite “C-Suite” collection of WorkRobe™ includes two different styles:

  1. The Button Down Robe, a cozy oversized stretch poplin tunic with fleece lining, gives a polished look on the outside and pure comfort on the inside;
  2. The Blouse Robe, a stylish, incredibly soft, flattering french terry wrap that can be worn anywhere in complete comfort with a sophisticated sash closure. Both are available in black and white color options.

The entire WardRobe collection is now available online at http://www.MyWorkRobe.com.

 

Apple’s iPadOS 15 Finally Delivers an Exciting New Feature for Instagram and TikTok Users

Apple’s iPadOS 15 has a number of fantastic new features. It has been redesigned and amped up to make it even more useful as a laptop replacement for both business and personal use. 

However, one of the most exciting features is one that is way down the list, you won’t even find it if you don’t look hard for it. That is the new option that allows Instagram app users to be able to view the Instagram window in Landscape mode.

Previously on iPads an Instagram user would see the app image in only in vertical portrait mode, they could not turn it sideways while using a keyboard, and there was a lot of extra unused space. Chatting or commenting was almost impossible. It looked like the app was broken or fake, and not at all as attractive as on a phone or desktop. In sum, it was not a good user experience, very awkward.

Why didn’t Instagram make a version that fixed that? That has been the $100,000,000 question.

Fortunately now iPad owners with iPadOS 15 can view Instagram in landscape mode, aka horizontally, which means that they can see it as if it is on a laptop, or on a desktop. Plus, if they are using a keyboard add-on then they can type and post to Instagram without flipping the iPad between vertical and horizontal views every five seconds. The same is true for other popular social media apps like TikTok.

Exciting, no? Definitely time saving!

www.Apple.com