Apogee Journal – Page 107 – A journal of literature and art from the margins.

By Sarah Ladipo Manyika This excerpted essay was originally featured on AGNI Online. My son’s self-portrait, age fifteen. Work in progress. Earlier this year I decided to read Joe Brainard’s cult classic, I Remember. The book had long intrigued me for I had heard that it was widely taught in creative writing courses and was a favorite of many authors, including several well-known authors whose work I admire. I was immediately drawn to Brainard’s style, each line starting with the words “I remember.” As I read it, I found myself jotting down remembrances of my own, complementing Brainard’s memories of America with my memories of Nigeria. I was enjoying this little book, reading it slowly, taking my time to appreciate the beauty and originality of the writing while remembering and reminiscing. It was a soothing and creative project until I came to this: I remember feeling sorry for black people, not because I thought they were persecuted, but because I thought they were ugly. I remember gasping. I remember thinking, So this is what Zora Neale Hurston meant when she wrote, “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” I remember ugly. I remember not wanting...

Visual Art

APOGEE ISSUE 05 PREVIEW: Jason Larkin

Apogee Journal

18 May 2015

Today we’re featuring Jason Larkin’s work. Untitled, Cairo, 2010 Giclee Print 85x85cm JASON LARKIN is a British photographer recognized for his desire to forefront the subjects on the periphery of current affairs. Soon after finishing his studies Larkin worked as a documentary photographer across the Middle East and Africa, with his work published worldwide. His latest body of work Tales From The City Of Gold (Kehrer, 2013) has just been published both as a monograph in Europe and as a bilingual newspaper publication for Africa. Larkin is the recipient of numerous awards including, most recently the PDN Arnold Newman New Portraiture Award and a Renaissance Photography Prize. His freely-distributed publication, Cairo Divided was nominated for both the Deutsche Börse and Prix Pictet photography awards. Recent solo exhibitions include Flowers Gallery, London and Farnsworth Art Museum, USA and exhibited at the Brighton Photo Biennial and Hereford Photography Festival. In 2013 he moved from Johannesburg and is now based in London.

Visual Art

APOGEE ISSUE 05 PREVIEW: Derrick Adams

Apogee Journal

15 May 2015

Today’s feature: Derrick Adams, “Human Structure Shedding Light.” Human Structure Shedding Light. 2013. mixed media collage on paper 50″ x 72″ DERRICK ADAMS is a multidisciplinary New York based artist whose practice is rooted in Deconstructivist philosophies and the formation and perception of ideals attached to objects, colors, textures, symbols and ideologies. Adams’ work focuses on the fragmentation and manipulation of structure and surface, communicating and exploring ideas of self image and forward projection. Adams received his MFA from Columbia University and BFA from Pratt Institute, and is a Skowhegan and Marie Walsh Sharpe alum, as well as a recipient of a 2009 Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, and a 2014 S.J. Weiler Award. Exhibition and performance highlights include: Open House: Working in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum of Art 2004; Greater New York, MoMA/PS1 2005; PERFORMA ‘05 & ‘13; Go Stand Next to the Mountain, The Kitchen NYC 2010; The Bearden Project, Studio Museum in Harlem 2011/12; The Channel, BAM Fisher Theater Brooklyn NY 2012; Becoming One with Your Environment, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris 2013; Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, and The Shadows Took Shape, Studio Museum in Harlem 2013; and Black in the Abstract, Part...

Coming of Age in the Time of the Hoodie

APOGEE ISSUE 05 PREVIEW: Jason Larkin

APOGEE ISSUE 05 PREVIEW: Derrick Adams

Get Apogee in your inbox.

FOLLOW US: @APOGEEJOURNAL

Show Your Support