To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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‘Movement never lies’
Kurdish dancer HUSSEIN SMKO talks to Dana Naomy Mills about how he’s shaping a truthful response to Islamophobia in his new work
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
FROM Donald Trump’s notorious Muslim travel ban, through the recent assault outside the Finsbury Park mosque and acid attacks on Muslims by right-wing terrorists, Islamophobia has been in the news far too often, with a 13 per cent spike in such hate crimes in Britain over the past year.
In this country and the US, those incidents and statistics are galvanising many to rethink the way we understand and fight against Islamophobia and one young Kurdish dancer is setting an intriguing example of ways to raise consciousness through dance.
Hussein Smko, 24, was born in Erbil, Iraq. The story of his life has been one of war and conflict but it’s also been one of a passion for dance, which started when a US soldier showed him dance clips on his iPhone.
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