Rec. #833: Trust No Aunty

What: Artist Maria Qamar, of the popular Instagram account @Hatecopy, has created a tongue-in-cheek survival guide for desi girls in the diaspora. Includes some rad pop art!

How to get it: In addition to the book and her Instagram account (both of which are to be found in the expected places), also check out Qamar's website (https://hatecopy.com/). Very cool merch, including this seasonally appropriate print.

Rec. #821: Art on theMART

Chicago Series

What: Art on theMART is a new public art installation along the river in downtown Chicago. A rotating selection of digital art (no branding!) is projected onto Merchandise Mart for two hours every night May-September. It's glorious, and also much more dynamic than I was anticipating.

How to get it: Grab some food and walk along the river as the sun sets to grab your spot. Projections start about half an hour after sunset.

Rec. #816: The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago Series

What: The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the largest museums in the United States, and one of the best art museums in the world. The collection includes iconic works from Seurat and Hopper, but perhaps you know the museum best from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

And let's not forget the gorgeous and huge Modern Wing, which is celebrating its ten anniversary this year, or the visitor-favorite Thorne Miniature Rooms, which Wes Anderson praised during an interview with Terry Gross (very on-brand for all parties involved).

How to get it: Be sure to see if you qualify for free admission. If you can't get there in person, you can also explore the collection via Google Arts & Culture.

Rec. #805: From Pulp to Pulp Fiction -- Musical Book Jackets

What: Enjoy dozens of songs reimagined as vintage book covers. Despite the title of The Guardian's gallery, not all of the covers are "pulp fiction" style.

Other styles include comic book ...

And romance ...

And Penguin Classics ...

How to get it: The Guardian had curated a selection of these images. They're also available on the creator's Instagram.

Rec. #658: The Victorian Bat-Lady

What: The Victorian Bat-Lady is one of the very few superheroes I have any interest in at all. The canon for the character is pleasingly graspable, as this print is her only appearance.

I own it and display it proudly.

Representative text:
"BLAGGARDS TROUNCED"

Connections to previous Wreckage: The Victorian Bat-Lady is the invention of John Allison, whose other work includes Bad Machinery (Rec. #138) [including Bad Machinery merch (Gift Idea #8)] and Giant Days (Rec. #524). Allison himself was also featured way back in List #10: 4 Internet Crushes.

How to get it: You can buy this print from Topatoco.

Rec. #529: Uncomfortable Art Tours

What: Alice Proctor runs gallery tours (in the UK) that highlight the silent, problematic framework propping up a great deal of the art. Her "Uncomfortable Art Tours" focus on colonialism and the ongoing influence of genocide and empire on how museums handle collections.

Seems like very necessary context to have.

How to get it: If you're not in the UK, you can still check out Proctor's website, follow her on Twitter, and read a Guardian feature about the tours.

Rec. #483: DearCatCallers

What: Noa Jansma created the Instagram account @dearcatcallers to document one month of street harassment by taking selfies with the men who catcall her and quoting what they say. It's a simple, powerful step to highlight that there are actual humans at both ends of this kind of verbal assault (although, depressingly, these men mainly seem delighted about it).

Can I nominate Jansma for an award? It feels like she's earned some sort of award for doing this.

How to get it: Find the @dearcatcallers account on Instagram and read more about the backstory in this article from The Mary Sue. 

Rec. #482: Octopus Sculpture from a Dead Redwood Tree

 

What: Well, it's a simple process, really --- Take a redwood tree trunk. Carve with chainsaw. Admire the resulting cephalopod.

How to get it: I don't recommend acquiring this actual piece for your home, but you can read about it and its creation on My Modern Met. 

Rec. #467: Holi 2018 - Before and After, in Pictures

What: During this year's Holi festival, photographer Chandan Khanna documented some of the widows living in Vrindavan, a holy city in India.

How to get it: In this Guardian piece, use the sliders above the photographs to see the women before and after the color-bombing celebration.

Rec. #445: Math -- An Illustrated Guide

What: In fewer than 50 illustrated equations, Megan Amram and Liana Finck explain math --- and the world --- to you.

Connections to previous Wreckage: See further Megan Amram cleverness in Rec. #401 and Rec. #427

Rec. #440: Paintings by Andrea Kowch

What: Andrea Kowch's work is often full of a teetering frontier near-apocalypse (pre or post) that seems absolutely appropriate right now.

[Oh, hey, and she's from Michigan! *waves to Michigan*]

How to get it: Kowch's main website is a bit out of date, but it has loads of her work. She's also on Twitter.

Rec. #419: Museum Doppelgängers

What: There is something immensely satisfying about this reminder that people are people are people, even looking back hundreds of years.

It's the same feeling I sometimes get when reading, say, George Eliot: "Oh. Yeah. I know that guy."

[Generally much more satisfying than that Google app, by the way.]

Where to get it: I'm sure there are collections like this all over, but here's one from My Modern Met, which overlaps a bit with this Imgur gallery.