Google+

Arts and Culture

Help fund Anna Badkhen’s latest story

February 6, 2014

Fulani cowboys driving their cattle to water (Photo by Anna Badkhen)

Fulani cowboys driving their cattle to water. (Photo by Anna Badkhen)

 

To say the least, Anna Badkhen is a wanderer.

From the edges of Mexico to the villages of war-torn Afghanistan, the West Philly-based Badkhen has roamed the earth, searching for those societies in extremis—those people living in the farthest reaches. It’s often there, in those outlying regions, where she finds a fuller picture of life: of communities surviving in areas unheeded by the contemporary world.

As a journalist and writer by trade, Badkhen has written four books and countless articles about people in extremis, translating her experiences and their realities into exceptionally woven and affected stories. And now, Badkhen has launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund her latest book, Walking with Abel (Riverhead Books), which will publish next year.

Donations to Badkhen’s campaign, which closes on March 8, will help fund the completion of the Walking with Abel manuscript. The book tells a nomadic Fulani family’s story of “survival, perseverance and adaptation” living in the Sahel region of Mali in Western Africa, where Badkhen spent much of 2013. Ultimately, says her campaign site, the fundraiser will “make truly communal the book that explores the mega-narrative of all of our human migrations, our ancestral restlessness, our shared hejiras.”

When West Philly Local asked Badkhen about what made this trip truly unique, she replied:

“‘Where are you from?’ My hosts in an Afghan village would ask, my hosts on a farm in Western Iraq, in the velvet mountains of Indian Kashmir, in the snakepit dugouts of Azeri refugee camps. I had grown up in a country that no longer existed, in a city that since had changed its name: Leningrad, USSR. I had moved away, and moved again, and again. My point of departure was never the same: Moscow, Massachusetts, Philadelphia. It made for relatively effortless travel. It made for uncomfortable silences, odd hesitations.

The Fulani ‘are regarded everywhere as ‘the other’ or ‘the stranger,’ writes the Dutch anthropologist Mirjam De Bruijn. ‘They are always the people who come from far away.’ They were hereditary outsiders who appropriated all the space their cows required at any given time but never more than that. The Fulani never asked me where my home was.”

Annamarya Scaccia

Comments (6)

4th Annual Friends & Neighbors exhibit opens tonight at AIRSPACE

January 24, 2014

airgallery

AIRSPACE will host the 4th Annual Friends & Neighbors Exhibit. (Photo courtesy of the 40th Street Artist-in-Residence program.)

Don’t miss the chance for a great show opening tonight at AIRSPACE (formerly known as AIR Gallery). The annual exhibit showcases the work of 40th Street resident artists’ friends, neighbors, students and colleagues. Each resident invited two artists to participate in the show. So here’s who’s participating this time:

Barbra Chigounis
Rachel Dobkin
Justin Duerr
Adam Fergurson
Petra Floyd
Lauren Hansen-Flaschen
Najee Haynes-Follins
Terry Johnson
Brooke Lanier
Nicole Myles
Johnny Plastini
Shawn Thornton

To check out the profiles of the participants, who work in a variety of media, visit the 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Program website. The program awards West Philadelphia artists with free studio space for one year. In exchange, the resident artists “give back to the community” by organizing shows and teaching workshops and classes.

The opening reception starts at 6 p.m. (we hear there will also be some great food!) The gallery is located at 4007 Chestnut Street, First Floor. If you don’t make it to the reception you can also see the show on the following Saturdays: Jan. 25, Feb. 1, and Feb. 8 1-4 p.m.) and by appointment (email: 40th.air.app@gmail.com).

Comments (0)

Guitar music from around the world to fill Calvary Center this Sunday

January 18, 2014

GuitarNight

Clockwise from top left: Quique Sinesi, Pino Forastiere, Michael Dawes, and Brian Gore. Photo via Brian Gore’s Facebook page.

A group of guitar virtuosos from four countries is coming this Sunday, Jan. 19 to Crossroads Music at the Calvary Center (48th & Baltimore) to take part in the International Guitar Night, a North America’s premier mobile guitar festival. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are still available. The festival has featured some of the best performing guitar composers from around the world since 1995.

Here’s who’s coming to perform in West Philly: Pino Forastiere (Italy), Mike Dawes (England), Quique Sinesi (Argentina) and Brian Gore (California). Each year Gore, the festival founder, invites a new cast of acoustic guitar players to join him for special evenings of solos, duets and quartets. Participating musicians relish the chance to express reverence for one another, and to collaborate rather than compete with one another. Since the beginning, audiences nationwide have cherished “the friendly informal ambiance” of the performances. So, now you can enjoy it too. More information and tickets are available here.

Also, check out this video of Pino Forastiere:

Comments (0)

Zed’s Last Minute Gift Shop is open for business

January 16, 2014

The Inside of Zed's Last Minute Gift Shop at 4501 Baltimore Avenue. Owner Pam Williams said she cut the space in half and will sublease the empty space to Adja Hair Braiding down the row. (Photo by Annamarya Scaccia / West Philly Local)

The Inside of Zed’s Last Minute Gift Shop at 4501 Baltimore Avenue. Owner Pam Williams said she cut the space in half and will sublease the empty space to Adja Hair Braiding. (Photo by Annamarya Scaccia / West Philly Local)

We’ve all been there. A holiday, a birthday or some special occasion and we’re not only sans a gift, but we can’t seem to find a good place to pick one up at the last minute. And there we’re left, empty-handed.

That’s where Zed’s Last Minute Gift Shop comes in. Opened a few weeks ago, the new gift boutique, which replaced Rebel’s Closet at 4501 Baltimore Avenue, offers an eclectic mix of vintage and modern pieces that run the gauntlet of affordability. From artisan housewares and children’s items to handcrafted jewelry and trinkets, patrons can purchase a pop-top glass water bottle for around $5 or pick up an oversized mirror with a carved wooden frame for $300, depending on your gift-buying needs.

And you can guarantee that what you buy is unique. As part of Zed’s business philosophy, owner Pam Williams said that her shop will never carry the same item twice. According to Williams, once a particular item is sold out, like a cutting board or wine carafe, visitors shouldn’t expect to see that exact design or brand back in stock. Instead, Williams told West Philly Local, she will replace the product with a similar piece from a different company to “avoid repetition.”

Williams is still building inventory, though, and is looking for helpful input from the community she’s lived in for over 25 years. (At the moment, Zed’s only carries national and regional brands, but she’s open to looking at portfolios from local designers with a stationery line.) “We’re going a little slow. We had a soft opening because we want to know what the consumer wants. We don’t want to buy a lot of something that [people didn’t ask for],” said Williams, former owner of Cafe Pier One—what is now Atiya Ola’s Spirit First Foods. “Like our sign says outside, come in and take a look because we want to know what you think.”

She continued: “You don’t necessarily have to buy. Just take a look and tell us what you’re looking for, and if we don’t have it, we’ll see what we can do.”

Zed’s Last Minute Gift Shop is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Annamarya Scaccia

Comments (1)

This weekend in West Philly

January 10, 2014

Here are a few happenings this weekend we wanted to bring your attention to. For more events or to submit an event, go to our Events Calendar. And be careful out there – try to avoid slippery sidewalks!

FreetoLoveseries– Beginning this Friday, International House Philadelphia (37th & Chestnut) presents Free to Love: The Cinema of the Sexual Revolution. This is a groundbreaking series made possible with the support by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. The series will run through February 15. Here’s this weekend’s program (ADULT CONTENT): Friday, Jan. 10, 7 p.m. – I am Curious (Yellow); Sweden, 1967, 121 min. Saturday, Jan. 11, 5 p.m. – Pink Narcissus; US, 1971, 71 min. 7 p.m. – In the Realm of the Senses; Japan, 1976, 109 min. 10 p.m. – Deep Throat; US, 1972, 61 min. For more information and tickets ($9 general admission; free for IHP members) click here.

– Here’s a reminder that the Electronics Recycling Day, which was supposed to take place last Saturday in Clark Park, has been moved to this Saturday, Jan. 11. Bring your old phones, computers and other electronic devices and gadgets to Clark Park at 43rd and Chester from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Electronics recycling is free of charge, with the exception of $20 charge for recycling cathode ray tube (CRT) TVs and monitors.

trufflesBiunity‘s annual chocolate themed bake sale and fundraiser Death Bi Chocolate will take place at the A-Space (4722 Baltimore Ave) on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2-5 p.m. The event supports the only organization for bisexuals in Philadelphia and raises funds for appearances at pride events throughout the year, such as Philly Pride and OutFest. You can donate a chocolate baked good and enjoy the chocolates available at the sale, or just come and play board games with some friendly people.

Comments (0)

Help make Gush Gallery a reality

January 9, 2014

Gush Gallery co-founders Sarah Thielke and Stephanie Slate. (Photo courtesy of Thielke and Slate)

For local photographers Sarah Thielke and Stephanie Slate, art is a stimulus—a rapid stream of influence in their daily lives. After all, the lineage is there: Slate, a native of Florida, is the granddaughter of a professional photographer, and painters thrived in Theilke’s New Jersey-bred family.

“[Art is] just something that’s always been around us and that we are passionate about,” the duo, who met while attending Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, told West Philly Local via email.

It’s a passion that’s amassed to Gush Gallery—a West Philadelphia interactive art gallery, community center and boutique Slate and Thielke hope to open in April with the help of donations through their Indiegogo fundraiser, which ends next month. So far, since its launch, Slate and Thielke have raised $1,315 of their $8,500 goal, which will go towards repair costs and equipment for their space (a lease is not signed at the moment; the pair are considering spots on the 5000 block of Baltimore Avenue and the 4700 block of Spruce Street).

Once opened, Gush will be an epicenter of sorts, serving an eclectic lot of emerging and underground artists from a hodgepodge of disciplines and styles—a call back to the gallery’s moniker, synonymous with “enthusiasm” and “torrents”—ultimately catering to a community rich with creativity but lacking in resources to foster it. At the start, Thielke and Slate will run Gush, curating the exhibitions, designing the annual Gush “yearbook” of shows, and leading the photography-based workshops for members and non-members alike (membership fees are three-tiered and start at $25 per year). Services like printing, scanning, film processing, alternative process printing, and digital workstations are also available through Gush at an hourly rate plus use of materials (discounted for members). And, as Gush evolves, the pair hope to bring on local artists to teach workshops in their respective field (like painting, illustration, or sculpture), bring on interns and possibly a small staff, offer a free monthly critique, and classes for children.

But Gush Gallery’s reality isn’t driven by hard numbers. The Indiegogo campaign the two 27-year-old artists are running is flexible, meaning if Thielke and Slate don’t meet their goal by February 7, they will still receive the funds they did raise. In addition, they’re researching grant opportunities for the arts and small businesses, as well as possibly brainstorming brick-and-mortar fundraiser events to help push Gush from concept to tangible.

Still, they say, “if we don’t make our goal but raise enough to open, we’re going to do just that. We want to open Gush as soon as we can.”

Annamarya Scaccia

Comments (1)