Issue 44 | www.fokus.org
Atiba T. Edwards
Founder & Chief Curator Atiba is an engineer focused on making and connecting creative people, nodes, networks and moments.
Shani Cohen Curator
Shani is a Brooklyn based writer who believes in uniting our diverse communities through art and the power of words.
JoLillian ”Jozi"Zwerdling Curator
Jozi finds inspiration in those who understand timelessness and travel in alternate dimensions.
INSIGHT Magazine showcases and archives emerging contemporary artists from all art disciplines. FOKUS produces this magazine to provide insight into people who are creating art, traditional and non-traditional, in their own way.
Fracture Contributors
Tom Acevedo • Taylor Allen • Adele Ambrose • Francesca Aspromonte • Henry Burgos • Atiba T. Edwards • Chloe Henderson • Jordan Kifer • Keith Landrum • The Brooklyn Native • Toby Penney • Christine Stoddard • Jacqui War • Jozi Zwerdling
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Questions, comments and contributions can be sent to insightsubmit@gmail.com. To view older issues of INSIGHT, visit www.fokus.org/insight. Copyright © 2015. INSIGHT (ISSN 2164-7771) is a publication of FOKUS, Inc. All rights reserved on entire contents. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
INSIGHT magazine Fracture: Contents 4 Atiba T. Edwards Your Time is Yours 6 The Brooklyn Native MY City Is No Longer 10 Jacqui War Healing from Fractured Moments 14 Francesca Aspromonte The Lost One 16 Tom Acevedo Untitled Series 19 Christine Stoddard Mermaid Dream in Mourning #3 20 Jordan Kifer Bedstuy Vibe 21 Keith Landrum Series 24 Jozi Zwerdling For The Moon: A Triptych 26 Henry Burgos Raptures of an Unsettled Conscious
Mind 30 Chloe Henderson The Fear: Suffocating 31 Toby Penney Fracture Series 36 Adele Ambrose Scenes from Paris 38 Taylor Allen Astronomy
Photography
Visual Art
Creative Writing
Articles
INSIGHT magazine: Fracture
Your Time is Yours By Atiba T. Edwards
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I took this photo of “Le Manifeste” was taken while riding a bike through the streets of Montreal, Canada. “Il y aura une place pour chacune des libertés que vous voudrez bien vous accorder” or “A time will come when you can express yourself freely.” Designed by Paprika.
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MY city is no longer By The Brooklyn Native
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Sugar Sphinx white sugar disease my city is no longer our babies melted www.fokus.org |
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Close Up Sugar Baby
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Broken Sugar Baby
The Brooklyn Native is a visual artist and poet. Born and raised in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, her calling is to capture the authentic beauty and fleeting preservation of her beloved borough, a place now almost unrecognizable to the Brooklyn native. www.thebrooklynnative.com www.fokus.org |
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Healing from Fractured Moments by Jacqui War
Broken. Arcylic on Canvas, 18 x 24 in. “Broken” is a piece that allowed me to see the beauty of heartbreak when you lose love. It was a piece that allowed for a productive reflection of what those emotions really mean. It’s growth. It’s closure with that part of yourself. The scars are real though. 12 | www.fokus.org
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The Beast. Arcylic on Canvas, 18 x 24 in. Then there are fractures in your life that will remain deep. “The Beast” was a piece dedicated to my brothers and sisters in Central America crossing the U.S/ Mexico Border every day. Leaving their families, their lives, and their roots, to be in a country that often dehumanizes them. My parents are some of those people. The split between a parent and a child is something I can’t even begin to fathom, but it is a reality for those seeking to find a golden dream. www.fokus.org |
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Pour Me Another. Arcylic on Canvas, 18 x 24 in. “Pour Me Another” was painted in response to all the protests regarding gay marriage, police brutality, equality and other urgent issues that stem from living under capitalism. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if there was a true riot without organization, just passionate people wanting to see change. Would that alleviate this broken system? Would that create a new world? What causes a true riot? Is passionate chaos the answer we are scared to practice? Jacqui Martinez is a Honduran Lenca Artist raised in California and now based in New York. She has been creating since she came out of her mother’s womb. She has lived in adventure because of her art and has traveled to places like Mexico, Africa, Honduras and some U.S. states, making her work more alive and intentional. She is currently attending NYU to receive her masters in Art Education in hopes of implementing new artistic pedagogy for our youth. www.jacquimartinez.carbonmade.com 14 | www.fokus.org
The Lone Ones
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by Francesca Aspromonte We fly away on a plane-or sneak on dimly lit bus stops While watching passengers, with shifty eyes and untapped potential Knowing nowhere is home Dedicated to melodramatic goodbyes or written letters that will never get sent for lack of real planning Skewed view of ourselves, we part Or run, depending on who is telling the story But morning came, and so did endless days Days spent in silent obsession and more unplanned delays Didn’t think that I would find you again, so sure that this time I had missed the boat Or more fittingly capsized mid thrust But now I know that there are things that can never be apart All along we were both holding pieces of the same fractured heart
Born and raised in New York, Francesca has always loved to write. After graduating from Binghamton University (SUNY) with a B.A. in English, she relocated to California. www.fokus.org |
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Untitled Series By Tom Acevedo
Siren’s Song. Arcylic on Canvas, 18 x 24 in. The following quote is not in my words, but it conveys the principles that I try to carry into each of my works: “one of the basic principals of art is the absence of lying. It means creating greater vision and greater sanity. When basic goodness is not expressed what you do is neurotic and destructive. This means that an artist’s production , manifestation, demonstration and performance should be geared to waking people up from their neurosis.” - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Thomas Acevedo started painting fine art 5 years ago, splitting his time as a decorative painter. His paintings convey a masculine vulnerability. He challenges the public’s underlying misconceptions of the male figure. www.tomacevedoartstudio.com 16 | www.fokus.org
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The Visitor. Arcylic on Canvas, 24 x 30 in.
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Idle Hands. Arcylic on Canvas, 16 x 22in.
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Mermaid Dream in Mourning #3
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By Christine Stoddard
One-third of a mermaid is still a mermaid.
Christine Stoddard lives in her kingdom by the sea where she edits Quail Bell Magazine and attempts magic. Her experiments have appeared in Cosmo, The New York City Poetry Festival, The Brooklyn Quarterly, and beyond. www.christinestoddard.com www.fokus.org |
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Bedstuy Vibe by Jordan Kifer
Jordan is a creative storyteller in NYC, constantly seeking out new ways to share the stories of others through various digital channels. A Michigan native, Jordan currently resides in Brooklyn. www.instagram.com/jordanvkifer 20 | www.fokus.org
Series
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by Keith Landrum
Heart
Keith Landrum paints, writes, draws, works, and drinks in Chattanooga, TN. His work can be found in various print, small press and online publications. www.fokus.org |
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Nothing to Hide
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Suffer
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For The Moon: A Triptych by Jozi Zwerdling
1. The blood is a calling, skimmed off my knuckle, milk, to pool underneath my pillow at night, repository of iron clanging against the roof of my mouth. When I spit on the sidewalk it is a half promise— there may or may not be something growing rough & alive the next day from the same location. The man threw a plastic bottle at the curb. It is litterAlso a vessel for the seeds bloody hands left pulsing between my teeth. The tide pulled them crunch & aching from my tongue, Children I may never see or know, carrying my cells as gift, offering, birth right. Submarine lowing beneath my reflection on the water. The blood moon might hold all of this: Relief in the cooling, what it is to take shape/careful in the dark. A re-turning. An emergence. Horrifying. Beautiful. Frontal. Glaring. Raw & drip. Anything else is already dead. 2. Dress in All Black. Pants, jacket, hoodie. Indigo top. Brown sneakers with the red laces. -Almost AllNothing is absolute. Not even me in New York. Eat dinner of medjool dates & almonds; Spread, leftover salad, The fragrant oil Tyi made me on Wrists, Throat Nape. The juts of bone below the ears. 24 | www.fokus.org
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Inhale pungent smoke Line my eyes in black. This much girl might never leave me, though it arrived late. I only liked the cotton dresses for the comfort, the stiff ones for the attention. I rubbed dusty holes in my tights, opening windowslike Springbut it is Fall in New York. The moon; a sickle. crisp, clear, sharp slicing. 3. The Dark Lamppost is a Reference Point: Let go or let gone. The sun moves swiftly behind the trees. My skin abruptly sunned, then cooled, like stone, Hard grey & groundridden. The brain is different than economics. The heart is not logical. These are truths, yes, though no, Paul, I am not a secular humanist. I, magic. I, God Factor. We are so smug to think we can know anything. Experiments— crumbs, cookies for rats, left in a secret garden to stumble & dance down the crocheted, uneven path.
Jozi Zwerdling hails from the DMV but lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Her passions are working with youth to achieve social justice through education and the arts, collageing and loving as an act of freedom. www.fokus.org |
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Raptures of an Unsettled Conscious Mind by Lost Daimon
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This was my very first sculpture. It portrays cracks, or ruptures, in the areas where we most heavily feel pressure and pain while attempting to comprehend or carry out advice from others. It also portrays the effort to consciously rationalize and cope with the issue and torment brewing in one’s mind before and after the advice. There are cracks in the chest over the heart area(affect on our heart and health), by the nose (affect on our breathing), by the mouth(affect on what we speak and how we say it), on the scalp (affect on our peace of mind), and at one of the ears (where the outside advice initially begins, through hearing). Bits and pieces of the remains of the now absent ear lie on the shoulder of the figure as though it deteriorated there, representing the weight on our shoulders (although not too heavy, still present) we feel when in situations that make us feel unsettled or out of balance. www.fokus.org |
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Muerte Marigolds by Christine Stoddard
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Henry’s work reflects mind, body, soul and the search to find balance between the three. He frequently creates paintings/ sculptures that appear rather surreal. However, they are tied to present societal abuses and the lack of consideration for people and the natural world around us today and throughout history. www.fokus.org |
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The Fear: Suffocating by Chloe Henderson
This is a self-portrait that represents my struggle with anxiety and fear. I feel as though my mind has been fractured, and this presents visually as a suffocating tightening. You can’t see the breaking points of a mental illness, but you can see rope wrapping around in a killing hold and cracking into the skin. To me, this is what anxiety feels like.
Chloe Henderson is an odd, artsy person from Edinburgh. She creates visual and wearable artwork inspired by stories, fantasies, and mythologies. In her spare time she tames unicorns and swims with mermaids. www.chloehenderson.co.uk 30 | www.fokus.org
Fracture Series
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by Toby Penney
Shaman www.fokus.org |
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The Offering
From early on in my art practices I have been drawn to subjects that are often taken for granted by those around me. Abandoned bridges, industrial sites & mines occupied my work a decade ago. Later this interest manifested through the inclusion of many recycled & reclaimed materials into my 2d & 3d works. Today, similarly, I am interested in exploring fleeting time with a common place tool. I create the digital photo collages on my handheld device as I live & work through my day, caring for my little one, painting, exploring, and maintaining a home and family. 32 | www.fokus.org
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Marks of the Past I document every day moments with snapshots and later collect them into representations of that day. I use collaging, layering, double exposure, & photo editing techniques via different applications on my phone to create these images, images that are in a sense a daily log of life. Since adolesence, I have documented my daily activities with both my camera & paint. This is the natural marriage of two practices.
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Blurred Memory
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Duplicity www.tobypenney.com www.fokus.org |
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Scenes from Paris by Adele Ambrose
Paris past / Paris future...
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le rêve américain/parisien: liberty / equality / fraternity/ freedom? Scenes from Paris passé is a series documenting parisian contemporary street art and culture through the eyes of an expat seeking a deeper connection to humanity. Adele Ambrose is a Canadian photographer based in New York. She enjoys exploring the world; meeting new people and documenting the places that channel creativity and inspire mirth. www.tumblr.com/blog/aascenes www.fokus.org |
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Astronomy
by Taylor Allen
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“Astronomy� is an ongoing personal project exploring the human form and the organic nature of deep space formations.
Taylor Allen is a photographer and digital artist from New Jersey, currently residing in Toronto. www.taylorallen.co | www. instagram.com/taylor www.fokus.org |
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Thank You for reading INSIGHT: Fracture We hope you enjoyed the work shared with you. The theme for the next issue is: CRAFTSMANSHIP Read more issues @ www.fokus.org/insight