The Stunning Astronomical Beadwork of Native Artist Margaret Nazon
Margaret Nazon
has spent the past decade building intricate beadwork depictions of
outer space. The colorful artworks balance representational and
stylized aesthetics set on black fabric backgrounds to depict
galaxies, planets, nebulae, and other astronomical phenomena.
Initially inspired by Hubble space telescope images, Nazon’s celestial renderings are part of a
lifelong interest in beading. In an interview with Glenbow, the artist shared that she began beading at age 10, but found the density of traditional beadwork to be tedious.
The abstract nature of celestial images allows Nazon to be more
interpretive and incorporate different materials like caribou bones and
willow seeds that have location-specific or cultural significance.
Nazon is Tsiigehtchic, part of the Gwich’in
community in what is now the Northwest Territories of Canada. The
artist explained that because she is retired, she is able to
dedicate significant time to beading, and often rises at
4:30am to begin working. Nazon plans to continue experimenting, including
merging her abstract beadwork with her seamstress skills to create
artfully embellished apparel.
Nazon’s artwork was most recently exhibited at Glenbow in a group show, Cosmos, and A Beaded Universe
at Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. You can read more about
her in the Glenbow interview, and explore Nazon’s portfolio on her website.
To say the Panama Papers accomplished nothing is an insult to Daphne Galizia’s memory. Her work, and the work of the hundreds of other journalists who contributed to the Papers, changed the world.
Disinformation like this is designed to discourage you, to make you feel you’re powerless against the monsters of the world. They want you to feel that way, because they are terrified of your power to make change.
Take your power back. Demand better. Keep fighting for a better world, because a better world is possible.
White Mob Attacks Freedom Riders in Anniston, Alabama
In 1961, a group of civil rights activists known as the Freedom Riders began a desegregation campaign. The interracial group rode together on interstate buses headed south from Washington, D.C., and patronized the bus stations along the way, to test the enforcement of Supreme Court decisions that prohibited discrimination in interstate passenger travel. Their efforts were unpopular with white Southerners who supported segregation. The group encountered early violence in South Carolina but continued their trip toward the planned destination of New Orleans.
On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, a Greyhound bus carrying Freedom Riders arrived at the Anniston, Alabama, bus station shortly after 1 pm to find the building locked shut. Led by Ku Klux Klan leader William Chapel, a mob of 50 men armed with pipes, chains, and bats smashed windows, slashed tires, and dented the sides of the Riders’ bus. Though warned hours earlier that a mob had gathered at the station, local police did not arrive until after the assault had begun.
Once the attack subsided, police pretended to escort the damaged bus to safety but instead abandoned it at the Anniston city limits. Soon after the police departed, another armed white mob surrounded the bus and began breaking windows. The Freedom Riders refused to exit the vehicle but received no aid from two watching highway patrolmen. When a member of the mob tossed a firebomb through a broken bus window, others in the mob attempted to trap the passengers inside the burning vehicle by barricading the door. They fled when the fuel tank began to explode. The Riders were able to escape the ensuing flames and smoke through the bus windows and main door, only to be attacked and beaten by the mob outside.
After police finally dispersed their attackers, the Freedom Riders received limited medical care. They were soon evacuated from Anniston in a convoy organized by Birmingham Civil Rights leader the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.
You can see a replica of this bus at the National Civil Rights Museum (https://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/) in Memphis at the Lorraine Hotel and it is 100% worth the trip
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