Pyxis

September 30, 2023

Queer Phenomenology

“Even when things are within reach, we still have to reach for those things for them to be reached,” Sarah Ahmed wrote in this incredible investigation of what it means to be situated. Part conceptual analysis and part personal digression, Ahmed describes in three chapters that consciousness is intentional, embodied, sensitive, and situated. That our bodies are directed in some...

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July 21, 2023

Autoportrait au Roitelet

Most of Emily Dickinson’s friendships were based entirely upon correspondence and we have here all the letters to the Norcross Sisters and all the letters to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, followed by ‘Fame Is a Bee’ (a selection of poems). Themes concern flowers, self-inquiry, mind and spirit as tangible, visitable places. Between two verses she fills the world (poems) with wonder....

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July 15, 2023

The King

A magnetic hero’s journey, addressing good governance, mentorship, selfhood, male hegemony. The very slow build of character development is particularly enjoyable. We follow young Prince Hal, reluctantly adulting into kingship, in 15th century England. Co-written by David Michôd & Joel Edgerton, the script is loosely based on Shakepeare’s ‘Henriad’. Choices of emphasis in all the right places are heightened by a...

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July 8, 2023

Yourself In The World

This book of selected writings and interviews was published on the occasion of Glenn Ligon’s mid-career retrospective at the Whitney in 2011. I did not see the show but came upon the book at Camden Arts Center, in London, in 2012. Ten essays by the artist: on canonical artists, American history, Art history, contemporary culture. Ligon engages with archs that...

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May 21, 2023

L’Usage du vide

Too strong a desire to achieve may sap the desired effect simply by virtue of the outcome being pursued. But then, how might one stop acting against one’s best interests? Graziani’s approach puts forward a school of thoughts procreant of fostering optimal states of consciousness. Sinologist and philosopher, he delves into the mechanisms of the will, unlocking breaches towards flow states....

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May 20, 2023

Je verrai toujours vos visages

Jeanne Herry’s commitment to theatricality makes for a production setting upright the triumph of dialogue, where speech is action, and gives story its full depth. At stake in the very adroitly narrated script are interviews, sensibly staged by way of wise acting, curious of fragility, sensitivity and virility, and delivered with a commendable unguarded execution. Two protagonists will never meet...

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May 17, 2023

Queen Charlotte

Writer Shonda Rhimes delves into the necessities of self-efficacy in a spin-off miniseries complementary to the original programme, revolving around the character of Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom, a play off of the historical canon. Extremely clever, emotionally honest, the six-episode prequel captures the imagination with fearless narrative driven ideas. Through language, and the constant use of euphemism in Georgian...

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