Holy picket lines, Batman! Marxism and superheroes, part two: the struggle
Sasha Simic looks at how comic book superheroes responded to the Civil Rights movement, strikes and struggle – and to the onset of the Thatcher and Reagan years and 9/11
A critique of the Gotham programme: Marxism and superheroes
Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the X-Men… Comic book superheroes are big business, they’ve been used as wartime propaganda and condemned for their “lurid, unsavoury, gruesome illustrations”, Sasha Simic reveals
Martin Luther King, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Underground Resistance – WTF is going on?
“Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government.”
Pilsen’s street art – when religion, Rivera and rap collide
Pilsen is a predominantly Latino district of Chicago. I spent a day photographing and recording the street murals there. As soon as you get off the train you know you are somewhere special: the platforms and ticket office are awash with murals celebrating the culture of Latin America.
Public Art to Ponder: Chicago
I am currently visiting Chicago, a city that prides itself on its public works of art. Everywhere you go you can see beautiful, thought provoking works of art on public display. The Chicago Public Art Collection includes more than 700 works of art exhibited in over 150 locations around the city.
The beast and the beauty – Street art and the Seven Stars Pub
The Seven Stars Pub in Brick Lane was for as long as I’ve known it, a sad and lonely place. This was a time before the hipsters colonised Brick Lane. The Seven Stars was always empty, just the odd stall holder, pensioner and ‘Wolf Man’.