For generations a formal portrait wasn’t a mere document but an assertion of self-hood: I’m here. Remember me.
On Finding My Grandmother’s Portrait
Thoughts on Photography: Walker Evans’ Polaroids
“People ask me what camera I used. It’s not the camera. Its—.” He tapped his temple with his index finger: it’s the eye and the brain.
Mare McClellan: The Form is Revealed in the Process
An interview with Mare McClellan
April Issue, 2026
A collection of all the articles we’ve published over the past month, for those who like to savor their Magpies’ tidings as an issue.
Esther Oladapo: Art, Fashion, Image-Making and the Language of the Body
“She sees herself as a tool for social activism and what she does with this tool is to shape into images of self-affirmation.”
Syria, I Went Back
“And now, one year later, I would walk into an arrivals hall at Damascus airport filled with Syrian families crying and hugging separated sons, now-married daughters, and children that have never seen their homeland. So many tears.”
The Great Unknown and the Unknown Great: Rediscovering artist and political activist Chuzo Tamotsu
His art was “One small way to express my love for peace and hatred for war … is to do what I can for any victims of aggression, wherever they may be.”
The Enduring Power of Minnie Evans
“By making and sharing such an extraordinary body of work, Evans determined that her world would not be lost.”
The Smoking Fish (El pez que fuma, 1977)
“Frequently claimed by critics as the best Venezuelan film ever made, El pez que fuma, (1977) was produced in the midst of the Oil Boom era and has since become a potent metaphor for the decadence at the height of Venezuela’s economic splendor.”
Letter From the Editor, January 2026
Starting 2026 in a rambling sort of way.
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