Top Rank Podcast

On episode 13 of the Top Rank Podcast, “Thick/er Black Lines,” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas spoke with Rianna Jade Parker, Hudda Khaireh, and Aurella Yussuf founding members of the London based curatorial collective Thick/er Black Lines.

Thick/er Black Lines is an interdisciplinary collective that brings together art criticism and, cultural studies, as well as archival, and activist practices to shed light on the creative production of the Black European diaspora. Their ongoing efforts to canonize Black British women and femme artistsun cluding their most recent residency at the Tate Modern— -- emerge from an urgency to highlight the multiplicities and convergences of Black identities across the globe.

On episode 12 of the Top Rank Podcast, co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with Cecilia Palmeiro and Verónica Gago, founding members of Argentinian feminist movement and collective Ni Una Menos.

Ni Una Menos (which translates to Not One Less) combats femicide—the intentional killing of women because they are female—as well as all gender based-violence. They are committed to changing a culture that castes women as objects to control, to consume, and to discard. To do so, Ni Una Menos examines the multiple forms of violence (economic, political, financial, state, social) that limit the autonomy of women and therefore generate the conditions that allow for physical violence, shedding light on the relationship between the most dramatic manifestations of violence against women and their structural roots.

The movement’s affiliates now span numerous Latin American countries and even continents, and their work includes organizing marches, protests, strikes, and discussions to putting forward formal government demands.

Cecilia and Verónica spoke with us about how to define machista violence, the relationship between neoliberalism, capitalism, and gender-based abuse, and making community activism intersectional, collaborative, and transnational.

On episode 12 of the Top Rank Podcast, co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with Cecilia Palmeiro and Verónica Gago, founding members of Argentinian feminist movement and collective Ni Una Menos.

Ni Una Menos (which translates to Not One Less) combats femicide—the intentional killing of women because they are female—as well as all gender based-violence. They are committed to changing a culture that castes women as objects to control, to consume, and to discard. To do so, Ni Una Menos examines the multiple forms of violence (economic, political, financial, state, social) that limit the autonomy of women and therefore generate the conditions that allow for physical violence, shedding light on the relationship between the most dramatic manifestations of violence against women and their structural roots.

The movement’s affiliates now span numerous Latin American countries and even continents, and their work includes organizing marches, protests, strikes, and discussions to putting forward formal government demands.

Cecilia and Verónica spoke with us about how to define machista violence, the relationship between neoliberalism, capitalism, and gender-based abuse, and making community activism intersectional, collaborative, and transnational.

On episode 11 of the Top Rank Podcast, “High Performance Hijabs,” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with Arshiya Kherani, founder and CEO Sukoon Active.

Sukoon is a New York-based apparel company that designs inclusive activewear for women. Kherani, an active runner, launched Sukoon in 2016 after years of going without high-quality workout clothing that aligned with her Muslim faith. Sukoon offers fuller coverage and looser-fitting exercise apparel and high performance hijabs for women across backgrounds, who desire athletic wear that is not tight or revealing.

From Nike to Dolce & Gabbana, global fashion brands have begun targeting the Islamic fashion consumer as their latest marketing opportunity, and some brands have started to offer modest clothing, head coverings, and special occasion wear for Muslim women. Yet, in a social climate that is rife with negative associations surrounding Islamic traditions, the recognition of Muslims as part of the American marketplace is as politically charged as it is practically necessary. Marcel and Isabel speak with Arshiya about her pursuit of inclusive marketing, the ups and downs of start-up entrepreneurship, and her experiences going toe-to-toe with Nike.

You can find the Top Rank Podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes and Know Wave.

A special thank you to Red Bull Arts New York. This episode was produced by Sienna Fekete

On episode 11 of the Top Rank Podcast, “High Performance Hijabs,” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with Arshiya Kherani, founder and CEO Sukoon Active.

Sukoon is a New York-based apparel company that designs inclusive activewear for women. Kherani, an active runner, launched Sukoon in 2016 after years of going without high-quality workout clothing that aligned with her Muslim faith. Sukoon offers fuller coverage and looser-fitting exercise apparel and high performance hijabs for women across backgrounds, who desire athletic wear that is not tight or revealing.

From Nike to Dolce & Gabbana, global fashion brands have begun targeting the Islamic fashion consumer as their latest marketing opportunity, and some brands have started to offer modest clothing, head coverings, and special occasion wear for Muslim women. Yet, in a social climate that is rife with negative associations surrounding Islamic traditions, the recognition of Muslims as part of the American marketplace is as politically charged as it is practically necessary. Marcel and Isabel speak with Arshiya about her pursuit of inclusive marketing, the ups and downs of start-up entrepreneurship, and her experiences going toe-to-toe with Nike.

You can find the Top Rank Podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes and Know Wave.

A special thank you to Red Bull Arts New York. This episode was produced by Sienna Fekete

This summer, an exhibition opened at the Museum of Sex in New York City titled NSFW: Female Gaze. Organized in collaboration with Vice’s Creators platform, and on view through April 2018, this show includes the work of 25 young and/or emerging female artists. The show’s two part title invokes Laura Mulvey’s canonical 1975 feminist film theory about the masculine cinematic perspective, as well as the everyday politics of internet censorship and sexual respectability.

However, this exhibition’s title presents an important and timely question: What is the “female gaze” and what about it is “unsafe”? A “female gaze”—or any gaze for that matter—is cultural and learned, not innate, not universal, but intensely subjective and situated by race, class, and history.

On Episode 10, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower speak with the show’s curators, Marina Garcia-Vasquez (Editor-in-Chief @ Creators) and Lissa Rivera (Associate Curator @ the Museum of Sex), about the complexities of imagining a universal female subject and audience, and the ways in which notions of beauty can be both limiting and perversely powerful.

A special thank you to Red Bull Arts New York. This episode was produced by Sienna Fekete.

This summer, an exhibition opened at the Museum of Sex in New York City titled NSFW: Female Gaze . Organized in collaboration with Vice’s Creators platform, and on view through April 2018, this show includes the work of 25 young and/or emerging female artists. The show’s two part title invokes Laura Mulvey’s canonical 1975 feminist film theory about the masculine cinematic perspective, as well as the everyday politics of internet censorship and sexual respectability.

However, this exhibition’s title presents an important and timely question: What is the “female gaze” and what about it is “unsafe”? A “female gaze”—or any gaze for that matter—is cultural and learned, not innate, not universal, but intensely subjective and situated by race, class, and history.

On Episode 10, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower speak with the show’s curators, Marina Garcia-Vasquez (Editor-in-Chief @ Creators) and Lissa Rivera (Associate Curator @ the Museum of Sex), about the complexities of imagining a universal female subject and audience, and the ways in which notions of beauty can be both limiting and perversely powerful.

A special thank you to Red Bull Arts New York. This episode was produced by Sienna Fekete.

Few would dispute the immense social, cultural, and political significance of creative production in realizing our potential as human beings and in fostering both inventive and nurturing communities. Creative labor is a critical part of our social ecosystem. Yet, artists—especially in the US—are often unable to make a living wage from their physical and/or intellectual labor or its products. The trope of the

“starving artist” still pervades pop cultural notions about the sacrosanct status—and corresponding fiscal value—of artistic labor. This romanticized image of an individual whose isolation, specifically from the market economy, is the very wellspring of their creative genius continues to have vital material implications for those who desire to be professional arts workers. In a culture of unpaid internships and

“paying dues” via free work in exchange for prestige and exposure, carving out a career in the creative industries is immensely precarious.

On Episode 9, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower speak with curator Ali Rosa-Salas about arts labor in New York, selection and subjectivity, and kindness as a curatorial strategy.

A special thank you to Red Bull Arts New York and to Ali Rosa-Salas.

This episode was produced by Sienna Fekete

Follow us @toprankmagazine

Few would dispute the immense social, cultural, and political significance of creative production in realizing our potential as human beings and in fostering both inventive and nurturing communities. Creative labor is a critical part of our social ecosystem. Yet, artists—especially in the US—are often unable to make a living wage from their physical and/or intellectual labor or its products. The trope of the

“starving artist” still pervades pop cultural notions about the sacrosanct status—and corresponding fiscal value—of artistic labor. This romanticized image of an individual whose isolation, specifically from the market economy, is the very wellspring of their creative genius continues to have vital material implications for those who desire to be professional arts workers. In a culture of unpaid internships and

“paying dues” via free work in exchange for prestige and exposure, carving out a career in the creative industries is immensely precarious.

On Episode 9, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower speak with curator Ali Rosa-Salas about arts labor in New York, selection and subjectivity, and kindness as a curatorial strategy.

A special thank you to Red Bull Arts New York and to Ali Rosa-Salas.

This episode was produced by Sienna Fekete

Follow us @toprankmagazine

Over the past decade, abuse of prescription opioids such as Oxycontin and Percocet has come to affect over two million Americans, precipitating a quadrupling in overdose fatalities. The spike in opioid related deaths within White communities in particular has visibly shocked and alarmed the media, the public, and policy makers. The so-called “new epidemic” has been widely and consistently framed as affecting "blameless victims” and "good people"—ostensibly those individuals who, within American public consciousness, are not associated with drug abuse.

Drug epidemics in this country have historically been addressed by using harshly putative legal measures, most notably exemplified by the War on Drugs in low income communities of color. The wake of the opioid spike leads us again to the question: Whose lives matter? And, how are the media narratives and concurrent policy efforts about this issue informed by intersecting race and class biases?

For Episode 8, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower invited Dr. Helena Hansen, professor of medical anthropology and psychiatry at New York University, to speak about her research on the cultural and clinical intersections of addiction and its treatment, pertaining specifically to illicit and pharmaceutical grade opiates. A social scientist, clinical practitioner, and documentary filmmaker, Professor Hansen has published widely about the politics of opioid addiction treatment.

A special thank you to Red Bull Arts New York and to Helena Hansen. This episode was produced by Sienna Fekete.