Cultrface – a blog dedicated to culture and how it enriches our lives.

The mixed media pop art of Rasha Eleyan

/ / /

Rasha Eleyan is a Palestinian pop art artist who currently lives between the UK and Singapore. Born in Dubai to Palestinian parents, Rasha mixes classical styles and realistic work with modern pop art to create her work. For those in the know when it comes to Palestinian art, you may also know her father Nasr Abdelaziz Eleyan, an artist and TV producer, who mentored her throughout her childhood.

Rasha’s style has drawn the attention of many, having worked as a portrait artist for a variety of client around the world. Fun fact: Rasha used to work for Walt Disney Television International in Singapore!

195th Member (Zaghrouta). Acrylic on canvas – 115.0 x 104.0 x 4.5 cm © Rasha Eleyan
Egypt (tea with the lady). Oil and Acrylic on canvas – 100.0 x 150.0 x 4.5 cm © Rasha Eleyan
Jerusalem. Oil and Acrylic on canvas – 200 x 250 x 4.5 cm © Rasha Eleyan
Watermelon (we don’t forget). Acrylic on canvas – 98.0 x 120.0 x 4.5 cm © Rasha Eleyan

I love pop art as a genre but Rasha’s work is especially vibrant and they tell stories beyond the usual motifs found in this genre. The mixed media is *chef’s kiss*

Palestinian art related: Rami Afifi on Palestinian art and pop culture and a guide to Palestinian cinema for newbies (by Hyperallergic)

Yaya Azariah Clarke on 'the state of the creative industry from a Black perspective'

, , , ,
/ / / / /

For It’s Nice That, Yaya Azariah Clarke examined the creative industry’s responses to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, 3 years on. She spoke to a variety of Black creatives, including brothers Akil and Seth Scafe-Smith and Melissa Haniff, who run an interdisciplinary collective called Resolve:

“We haven’t really had the time to stop and think about 2020,” Seth tells us. A difficult time for the trio, with the overwhelming climate full of statements of solidarity, Seth adds that he “found it so very overwhelming, we turned down a lot of opportunities”. Three years later, in what is their biggest institutional feat to date, in April the collective opened an exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London titled them’s the breaks – which proved to be a bold continuation of their communal approach, having featured a library, a stage built with recycled materials and a series of workshops. A month before its scheduled close, people across Instagram, the architecture world, and Black and PoC communities were left to sit with yet another example of the institutional failings for Black creatives, after the collective announced that they’d be pulling the show due to “hostility towards close family and friends; heavy-handed and overly-suspicious treatment when entering our exhibition with a group of other Black and Brown artists […] and anti-Palestinian censorship,” (in a statement published in Fumbalist Magazine).

Shameless plug: I wrote an article from a digital marketing perspective on how Black marketers felt post-2020 and a lot of the people I interviewed felt similar things: lots of overwhelming pledges followed by a disappearance of action and energy—and back to normal with microaggressions and racism.

The creative industry is even broader and therefore Black creatives are exposed to harsher working conditions, both from a physical and emotional perspective. We didn’t ask for any of this and yet we have to bear the brunt of faux-action, reaction, and deathly silence. But I am grateful for everyone who carries on and wish love and guidance to those who need a damn break!

A slideshow of Black British style and joy in the 2000s

, , , , , ,
/ / /
Black women dancing at a UK garage rave. Photo by PYMCA/Universal Images Group/Getty Images.

For Refinery29, L’Oréal Blackett showcased photos from the 2000s depicting Black British culture in all its stylistic splendour:

I know. The early noughties doesn’t feel that long ago, does it? Yet, as the 1990s have been gradually released from pop culture’s nostalgia grip, many have been heralding the early ’00s and its defining style and cultural impact (the best, worst and once forgotten). For Black British millennial women, the 2000s offer a time capsule to when young, Black, British female celebrities — from T4’s June Sarpong to songstress Jamelia — became much more visible, guiding us into early adulthood. 

I was a teenager in the 2000s and I remember that period fondly as a Black child. The summers were amazing, the music was amazing, and everything was cooler. Black joy was a priority (even though I hated high school) and I enjoyed engaging with Black British culture as much as I could. So Solid Crew, Lemar, Miss Dynamite, Jamelia, Misteeq, baby hairs, incredible plaits, getting a fresh cut and hopping into my sister’s Renault Clio on the way home with Lisa Maffia blasting on the stereo. Uh, what a time!

A $2 gourmet burger, according to Joshua Weissman

/ /
The 2 Dollar Gourmet Burger | But Cheaper

$2 for a “gourmet” burger? Count me in! Joshua Weissman went through the steps to make it but on closer inspection, it’s gonna cost more than $2 for many of us (and I’m not talking about exchange rates). The reason I say this is because Joshua makes his own buns and has the kind of equipment that’ll cost a lot of money to get to a level he’s at. Oh, and lots of trial and error unless you’re experienced in making burger buns.

Am I nit-picking? Maybe. The title was likely chosen to get clicks (which it did) and the burger looks delicious so who cares? But it’s best to know what to expect. You could just buy some brioche buns like I have in the past. And smash your burgers with something clean, flat and metallic. Bon appetit!

30 facts about Palestinian culture

, , , , , ,
/

Palestine is vibrant nation with a rich cultural history that is unfortunately known more for conflicts with colonisers than its individual culture. Here are some facts about the Middle Eastern state.

The history of Palestine

  1. The etymology of Palestine is worthy of two Wikipedia pages outside the state’s main one. But its earliest name was Peleset, as displayed at Medinet Habu in as early as 1150 BC. There are suggestions that the term “Palestine” was coined by the Ancient Greeks to describe land occupied by the Philistines, but that’s one claim of many.
  2. Palestine’s name in Arabic is دولة فلسطين‎ (Dawlat Filasṭīn)
  3. The Palestinian flag features three horizontal stripes of black, white, and green with a red triangle on the left side pointing right. These three colours are the Pan-Arab colors and represent the State of Palestine and the Palestinian people, as first adopted in 1964 by the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
  4. Palestine doesn’t have an official motto but its popular political slogan is “From the river to the sea”.

Admin stuff

  1. Palestine is officially a “non-member observer state” and is “recognised” by 139 of the 193 UN members.
  2. If you combined the areas claimed by the State of Palestine into a single country, it would make Palestine the world’s 163rd largest country by land area.
  3. The capital of Palestine is Gaza City.
  4. The national language of Palestine is Arabic but it does not have an official language (although English is classed as de facto)
  5. Palestine has an estimated population of about 5,483,450 million people (as of 2023)
  6. Palestine uses three forms of currency: the Egyptian pound, the Israeli new shekel, and the Jordanian dinar.
  7. The average life expectancy in Palestine is about 74.40 years (as of 2020, according to World Bank)
  8. The Palestinian economy is the world’s 121st-largest by total nominal terms, and the 138th-largest by PPP.
  9. Palestinians drive on the right-hand side.

Food and drink

  1. Palestine is the fifth-largest exporter of wine in world, sending at least 800 million litres a year across the globe (source)
  2. Palestinian cuisine has a rich past, incorporating many dishes from around the Middle East. The national dish is musakhan (مسخّن), made of roasted chicken baked with onions, sumac, allspice, saffron, and fried pine nuts served over taboon bread
  3. Coffee and tea are the traditional beverages of choice for adults at gatherings and refreshing homemade fruit juices for children. The coffee is normally spiced with cardamom and unsweetened while the tea is black and incorporates sage or other herbs.
  4. There isn’t a definitive age on when you can drink or buy alcohol. Wikipedia’s source claims 16, while other sites say 18 (which is especially true for any Israeli-occupied areas).

The arts

  1. Palestine has been home to many famous writers, including Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008), Mourid Barghouti, (1944–2021), Hala Alyan, Ghassan Kanafani, (1936–1972), Susan Abulhawa, and Selma Dabbagh amongst others.
  2. GQ wrote a piece on five Palestinian artists you need to know about in 2021, including Malak Mattar and Sarah Bahbah. You should also check out Rami Afifi and Rasha Eleyan who we’ve featured on Cultrface!
  3. The literacy rate in Palestine is 97.51% (source)

Sport

  1. Soccer is said to be Palestine’s national sport, with the men’s national team having ranked as high as 73rd in the FIFA World Rankings in 2018.
  2. While they have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, they have qualifed twice for the AFC Asian Cup and won the AFC Challenge Cup in 2014
  3. Palestine first competed at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta 1996 and at Tokyo 2020, they sent 5 athletes to the Games: 1 in the athletics, 1 in judo, 2 in swimming, and 1 in weightlifting
  4. The Palestine Marathon is an annual road running event, held in Bethlehem, Palestine. It was held ever year since 2013 but it hasn’t taken place since 2019, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing conflicts with Israel.

Nature and geography

  1. The highest mountain of all the Palestinian territories is Mount Nabi Yunis (1,030m/3,380ft).
  2. Palestine is home to 551 species of bird, 130 species of mammal, 97 species of reptile, and over 13,000 invertebrates (source)
  3. The gazelle is Palestine’s national animal
  4. The national flower of Palestine is the Faqqua iris.
  5. Although alive elsewhere, a variety of animals are locally extinct in Palestinian territories including the cheetahs, roe deer, lions, leopards, and brown bears.
  6. Palestine is extremely vulnerable to climate change due to air pollution from harmful chemical substances released into the air through emissions and the warfare byproducts, and a climatic zone that is characterized by a hot, arid, and water-scarce region that has experienced an increase in temperatures over the past fifty years.

Bonus fact: Palestine should be free!

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day

,
/ /

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the US. The celebration occurs every second Monday of October to honour cultures and histories of not only Native Americans in the US but also those in the Caribbean and the Americas, such as Taíno and Arawak people. By honouring and acknowledging those cultures and histories, we can also reflect on the historic and systemic mistreatment of Indigenous people and aim to give their descendants a better present and future.

Resources

Fancy a Big Mac taco?

/ / /
When I’m Craving a Big Mac I make Big Mac Smash Tacos 50/10 🤤 IDENTICAL TO BIG MAC #tacos #shorts

The Modern Nonna made this awesome “Big Mac taco” and you can too with her recipe. And for non-meat eaters, I’m sure you could substitute the beef for a meat alternative of your choice. I don’t know how it’d affect the cooking but if you try, leave a comment!

Burger related: How to make a smashburger (by J. Kenji López-Alt) and Jim and his handcrafted US Burgers

Shout out to Sir William Arthur Lewis

, ,
/ / / /
Biography of Sir William Arthur Lewis

Today is the first day of Black History Month in the UK so to commemorate that, I wanted to give shout outs to various Black British people. The first is Sir William Arthur Lewis.

Sir William Arthur Lewis was a Saint Lucian economist who was the first (and, as of 2023, only) Black person to win a Nobel Prize in Economics. He studied at the London School of Economics, receiving a scholarship to read for a PhD in industrial economics, and then become the first black faculty member at LSE.

He served as an economic advisor to African and Caribbean governments including Nigeria, Ghana, Jamaica, and Barbados, and received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979, for their pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries.

Amongst Lewis’s key works include the Lewis model, also known as the dual sector model. This is a theory that explains how economies develop over time, suggesting that in developing countries, there are two sectors: the traditional agricultural sector and the modern industrial sector. Farmers in the agricultural sector have traditionally low productivity and earn little income, while workers in the modern industrial sector have higher productivity and better wages. The Lewis model suggests that, as an economy develops, surplus labor from agriculture moves to the urban sector for better job opportunities and higher pay and this migration helps increase production in industries and improve living standards for people in these countries.

In 2020, Google made a Google Doodle of Sir Arthur Lewis in commemoration of his Nobel Prize win, 41 years to the day.

The tale of a boring grey boat called the Jones Act Enforcer

/ / / /
This boring gray boat is actually super weird

A tl;dr intro to the above video:

  • The Jones Act is a US federal law that regulates the nation’s maritime commerce. It requires that vessels transporting goods between U.S. ports are built, owned, and operated by United States citizens or permanent residents.
  • The Jones Act Enforcer is a boat that sails US waters, trying to catch people out who violate the Jones Act.
  • The above video explains how all of these things came to be and offers views on both sides. Ultimately, though, marginalised people end up suffering. Quelle surprise!

Americans are so weird.

A 1930s bar billiards table restoration video

,
Bar billiards restoration 1933s - Pool table Restore Mercier le Champagne

I love restoration videos and this was very therapeutic to watch. MW Restoration took a bar billiards table from 1933 and made it brand new. But it wasn’t easy:

One of the biggest challenges was the playing surface, which was severely warped. But I didn’t let that discourage me and decided to completely replace it. You’ll be amazed at how it looks in the end! The cues were also in poor shape, but after thorough sanding and treating them with high-quality oil, they now look brand new. To give them the final touch, I mounted custom-made aluminum end caps on the cues. These end caps were personally crafted by me using a lathe machine, and I’m truly proud of the result. But that’s not all! The metal digits that display the scores were entirely missing. To replace them, I created a mold using a 3D printer. A piece of sheet metal was placed inside the mold, and then I used a hammer to shape the metal. The result? Perfectly formed metal digits that completed the table. The wooden frame of the billiard table was also heavily worn, but after hours of work, sanding, and staining, it now shines like new. A finish with high-quality oil ensures it will remain in top condition for many years to come.

via video description

Related: A video of careful craftsmanship