Art & Style

View From a Pandemic: Observed in Nashville, No. 5

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY DAWN MAJORS, BILL STEBER, JOON POWELL, AND JOHN PARTIPILO

Illustrating their divergent perspectives and practices, four photographers from Nashville, Tennessee, USA, each with a solid foundation in newspapers, have prepared a pandemic-era exhibit that is slated to be presented in 2021 at the Scarritt Bennett Center and at Vanderbilt University, both in Nashville. In the months leading up to the exhibit we’re featuring their work in an ongoing Anthrow Circus series, a project that is as much a study of photographic styles as a record of the pandemic.

Anniversary Letter From the Editor

BY KAMI L. RICE

If you follow us on social media (if not, find us on Facebook and Instagram!), you should already know we’ve spent the past week celebrating our one-year anniversary of publishing as Anthrow Circus!
We’re awfully proud of all we’ve accomplished during this hard year. While travel has been curtailed around the world, our amazing writers and photographers have brought so many corners of our grand globe to a screen near us: from Togo to Georgia (the country), from Nigeria to Mexico, from Australia to Jordan, from the United States to France, to name just a few.
We’re building something solid under our big tent!

View From a Pandemic: Observed in Nashville, No. 4

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JOON POWELL, JOHN PARTIPILLO, DAWN MAJORS, AND BILL STEBER

View From a Pandemic: Observed in Nashville, No. 3

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JOON POWELL, JOHN PARTIPILLO, DAWN MAJORS, AND BILL STEBER

Jordanian Costumes: The Embroidered History of Palestinian and Jordanian Thobes, Part 3

ARABIC ARTICLE, ENGLISH TRANSLATION, & PHOTOS BY BATOOL AL-DULIGAN

The embroidery style in Jordan, called al-roqma, differs from that of Palestine. The stitches resemble the numbers seven and eight in the Arabic language. Most thobes in Jordan were black, and the embroidery colors were the only difference between them. For instance, people in northern governorates traditionally preferred blue, red, yellow, and white embroidery together in the same dress. Additionally, some regions in Jordan, such as the southern governorates, use beads in their embroidery instead of thread.

Palestinian Costumes: The Embroidered History of Palestinian and Jordanian Thobes, Part 2

ARABIC ARTICLE, ENGLISH TRANSLATION, & PHOTOS BY BATOOL AL-DULIGAN

These regional costumes are distinctive and unique because of the varied raw materials used, the shape of their embroidery, and their particular fabric and thread colors. As a result, every region in Palestine has its unique thobe and embroidery that describe its citizens and their identities.

The Embroidered History of Palestinian and Jordanian Thobes, Part 1

ARABIC ARTICLE, ENGLISH TRANSLATION, & PHOTOS BY BATOOL AL-DULIGAN

Traditional clothing in the Arab world is tied to traditions, heritage, and identity. Every Arab country has costumes that make it unique and distinct from other countries. Traditional embroidery patterns, for example, distinguish one nation’s clothing from another, acting like regional stamps or signatures.

View From a Pandemic: A Journal Entry, Quarantine Day 12

WORDS BY JANE POTTHAST
PHOTOS BY MANUELA THAMES

This happens when I have been alone too long—the words start to leak out of everything and they will not stop. I cannot look around, I cannot take a single step, without it becoming prose, and it is not welcome. It thrusts me into a place where language imposes this acute separation between me and everything else—leaks its ink out of the bark, the pavement, the sky, flowing directly from itself to me in the form of a stream of words, and it will not let me rest.

View From a Pandemic: Going Baroque in Southern France

STORY BY ELEANOR MARTINDALE

It’s hard to state just how catastrophic 2020 was for the performing arts, and it’s hard to imagine the shape of the post-pandemic world. Nobody knows when theatres will reopen, or under what conditions; nobody knows when rehearsals will be able to take place or when audiences will be able to gather. In short, nobody knows what, or when, the new normal will be.

View From a Pandemic: Observed in Nashville, No. 2

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY JOON POWELL, JOHN PARTIPILLO, DAWN MAJORS, AND BILL STEBER

Illustrating their divergent perspectives and practices, four photographers from Nashville, Tennessee, USA, each with a solid foundation in newspapers, have prepared a pandemic-era exhibit that is slated to be presented next year at Vanderbilt University and the Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville. In the months leading up to the exhibit we’ll feature their work in an ongoing Anthrow Circus series.