I'm reading "Deana Lawson's photography divides critics and I'm here for it" from the Shade Art Review archives, asking questions about critical freedom, backlash culture, and when we lost the ability to be honest about art.

This one asks: when did bland takes become the safest option? And who does this serve?

Questions I'm still asking about art criticism, fear, and the freedom to feel something.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw's essay "The Many Problems with Deana Lawson's Photographs" (Hyperallergic, May 2021): https://hyperallergic.com/the-many-problems-with-deana-lawsons-photographs/

Tina Campt on Deana Lawson (New York Times, 2021): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/magazine/deana-lawson.html

Tina Campt's book "A Black Gaze" (MIT Press): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Gaze-Artists-Changing-How/dp/0262045877

"What happened to all the anti-racists after Black Lives Matter" (Metro, 2022):https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/13/what-happened-to-all-the-anti-racists-after-black-lives-matter-17172834/

Lou Mensah on star ratings in art criticism (Plaster Magazine, 2025): https://plastermagazine.com/features/star-rating-exhibition-reviews-art-critics/

Read the full piece and more in Shade Art Review: https://shadepodcast.substack.com/

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