The week in art of resistance

Happy Friday!

This newsletter is all about making art as resistance, providing inspiration, ideas, and more.

In this issue: I'm back from a needed break, and I've got tons of good stuff!

Daisy Chain shows how it's done

Being an old, I didn't know much Olivia Rodrigo beyond her SNL appearance. But I'm now a massive fan. Because she took on Republican hate, music misogny, and the entire concert industry in one day of magic.

The Daisy Chain festival made a Lilith Fair for today, bringing together the Gen X punk and indie bands I loved along with today's badasses, and raised $20 million for women's rights organizations. That's fucking resistance, all from a 23-year-old.

More than 45,000 music fans traveled to Irvine, Calif., for the first-ever Daisy Chain Fields music festival, organized and headlined by Olivia Rodrigo, where 100 percent of the proceeds went to organizations supporting women and girls. An all-women lineup—including sets from Mitski, Doechii, Garbage, Chappell Roan, Bikini Kill, The Breeders, and others (all of whom performed for free)—fundraised for 10 nonprofits, including Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Center for Reproductive Rights, Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Planned Parenthood. (From Ms. Magazine)

Here's some joyful dispatches from Ms. Magazine, The Cut, and Rolling Stone. And look on IG and elsewhere for rapturous reviews from girls who were there, experiencing bands like Bikini Kill for the first time and feeling seen.

Random Acts of Artistic Resistance

The news is a shitshow. But regular people are out here doing the work, using art, play, ridicule, and even costumes to fight back. Like:

Spiderman punching Nazis 💥💥💥

100-Year-Old Rebel Artist Ken Turner Crushes a Tesla With a Tank

João Daniel Pereira Captures the Raw Emotion of Global Protests Through Stunning Photography

A giant golden trophy mocking Trump is going on tour

'Art tells the truth': New coffee table book becomes an archive of ICE protest art

The art of protest is alive and well in Kansas. It is the color of democracy.

Over at Everything is Liminal, Jenna Park is reminding us that perfection is the enemy of making art.

We tend to share our best work, but what if we shared the bad ones too? What if we shared our messy mistakes, the ones that don’t land as we envision them in our heads, the ones that reveal our creative struggle? I don’t want to be afraid to show that I’m human, to show that artists aren’t machines who can churn out ready-to-show artwork while there are countless imperfect and messy drawings hidden away in our sketchbooks for every piece that we share.

I'd say this especially applies to making art as resistance. Do the thing, and let perfection go.

Linkapalooza

I'm reading: Not much grabs me lately. Anything good you've found?

I'm watching: Grave Conversations. If you haven't seen David Dastmalchain's show featuring celebrities lying in coffins asking deep questions, you must.

I'm listening to: A mixtape of big band and swing for a jaunty day.

I'm sharing: