Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
The Houston-based artist Rick Lowe has spent much of his adult life trying to reconcile his inner artist with his inner activist. Inspired by a student who asked him: ‘If you’re creative, why can’t you create a solution?’, in the 1990s Lowe shifted from painting to social practice art with a focus on community development. The short documentary Mapping the Unknown is centred on Project Row Houses – an initiative Lowe founded in 1993 to transform a series of small, dilapidated houses in Houston’s Third Ward neighbourhood into art galleries and housing for resident artists.
Through Lowe, Rafael Salazar Moreno, a Spanish-born director based in the US, highlights how the artistic pursuit of aesthetic beauty can be harnessed for practical ends. He also highlights the ongoing story of Houston’s Third Ward, which, once partially demolished and abandoned, now sees its longterm residents faced with removal through gentrification. Mapping the Unknown is part of the US National Gallery of Art’s short documentary series West to East, which chronicles ‘contemporary artists and the connections between their work, their communities, and the nation’.
Video by the National Gallery of Art
Director: Rafael Salazar Moreno
Producer: Ava Wiland
Website: Rava Films
video
Wellbeing
Born in China, Zee seeks a gender-affirming life in the American Midwest
11 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle
8 minutes
video
Music
The peculiar beauty of a song caught between composition and improvisation
3 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
3 minutes
video
Politics and government
How it looked to Afghan women to see the Taliban return to power
33 minutes
video
Love and friendship
Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment
11 minutes
video
Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes
video
The ancient world
The six priestesses who kept the flame of ancient Rome alight at risk of death
5 minutes
video
Engineering
A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations
9 minutes