ASIA

Prison Paintings by Gülsün Karamustafa

"Prison Paintings is a series of fifteen paintings in acrylic on paper made by the Turkish artist Gülsün Karamustafa between 1972 and 1978. The works present an emotive sequence of images showing women of all ages in prison settings. They are painted in bright bold colours in a quasi-naïve style. The sombre subject matter draws on the artist’s personal experience of being incarcerated in Turkey in the early 1970s. The Prison Paintings were painted from memory, after the artist had been released from an institution intended for female prisoners serving life sentences. The paintings depict intimate and private moments in the lives of the women prisoners and reflect Karamustafa’s personal observations of daily life in prison. With scenes of inmates sleeping, playing cards or cooking, and portraits of others behind bars or shown in head shots with their prison numbers writ large across their chests, Prison Paintings can be seen as a response to the climate of political repression in Turkey during the 1970s." [Tate]

Context

Watercolour depicting a man reading, watercolour and ink on paper

"I assume, my mother thought / that my study is now for real / she doesn’t know yet / that I already have a relationship / with a beautiful maiden."

1840s

unknown artist from Manila, Philippines

Deer-Crocodile Composite Creature (Astrological Sign of Capricorn)

c. 1810-20

Made in India (Kangra, Himachal Pradesh)

Opaque watercolor on paper

On display at Philadelphia Museum of Art 2010-1/6-1

“This Indian composite creature, which combines the head and front legs of a blackbuck (also known as the Indian ante-lope) with the torso and back legs of a crocodile and the tail of a fish, represents Capricorn, the tenth sign of the zodiac corresponding to December-January.

Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran Ep 7: I Buzzed with Electricity

Forest Hush

“She was a 10th-century writer who composed poetry in Persian and Arabic. She is the first known female poet to write in Persian. A non-mystic poet, her imagery was later transformed into that of a mystic poet by authors such as Attar of Nishapur (died 1221) and Jami (died 1492). She became a semi-legendary figure, famous for her love story with the slave Bektash.”

“She was a Chinese architect, writer, and poet. She is known to be the first female architect in modern China. Her husband was Liang Sicheng, named as the "father of modern Chinese architecture". After the liberation, Lin Huiyin made contributions to the design of the emblem of the People's Republic of China, the design of the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the innovation of cloisonné craftsmanship, and authored "Poetry Collection of Lin Huiyin" and "Essays of Lin Huiyin". After 1949, as professors in Tsinghua University in Beijing, Liang and Lin began restoration work on cultural heritage sites of China in the post-imperial Republican Era of China, a passion which she would pursue to the end of her life.”

A bookseller in Shanghai posing along some posters supporting the communist cause plastered on his windows, possibly shortly after the PLA's entrance into the city, ca. 1949.