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Negro Digest offices, State Street
Ebony magazine, 1992
Ebony magazine, 1992
 Amsterdam News Building, facing north. Business Insider The Amsterdam News Building at 2340 Frederick Douglass in New York has been adorned with some funky new murals as part of the #NotaCrime campaign - a multinational public arts project which draws attention to human rights abuses in Iran. The focus of the campaign are the restrictions placed one free speech by the Iranian government - particularly in terms of education and journalism. Hundreds of reporters, bloggers and 'citizen journalists' are met with routine harassment, surveillance and censorship, and many end up in prison. Since the start of the Green Movement, which arose in protest to the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejah in 2009, Iran has become notorious for its harsh treatment of the press and its limitations on freedom of information. Part of this project is the powerful JOURNALISM IS NOT A CRIME site, which lists biographies of all journalists known to have been jailed in Iran since 1905. Harlem has become site for the next phase of the #NotACrime campaign, through the development of an extensive street art project which stretches across the city. The projected is currently being curated by Street Art Anarchy, a New York based start up project which collaborates with prominent street artists. As part of the project, two new murals were painted on the north and south facing sides of the Amsterdam News building. The first was created by Brazilian muralist Alexandre Keto, who uses heavily stylized, Afrofuturist mural to highlight contemporary social issues and race and class inequality. Here's a mural Keto created in Queens as part of the project, demonstrating his recognisable visual style  Queens mural. Business Insider Keto's work is born out of the Hip Hop movement which continues to be centred around Sao Paulo's large Afro-Brazilian community, and he has become increasingly influenced by African art and its impact on Brazilian culture. Despite still being in his twenties he has racked up an impressive body of work - over 1,000 murals in North and South America, Europe and Africa. For more information on Keto's work and activism head to his website, or check out this interesting feature by NBC News from August last year.  Close-up of Keto's Amsterdam News mural, facing north. Instagram The second Amsterdam News mural was also created by a South American artist - Marina Zumi. An Argentinian drawn to Brazil by its vibrant street art scene, Zumi work generally focused on nature and animal imagery, with the deer a recurrent feature in many of her murals. Her piece is titled "No Truth, No Light", in support of freedom of education for the Baha'is in Iran. For more of Zumi's work check out her instagram  "No Truth No Light." Instagram  820 South Michigan Avenue, circa 1973. John H. White Its been several years now since Johnson Publishing Company's iconic headquarters at 820 South Michigan Avenue was sold to Columbia College Chicago, but it appears that the College is still unsure of what to do with the building.
For a while it was rumored that the Johnson building would provide a home for Columbia's new student center. However, the College has recently announced that its new student center - scheduled for completion in 2018 - will now be developed on another site - High renovation costs for the Johnson building proved prohibitive. It is unclear what this announcement means for the College's future usage of 820 South Michigan Avenue. Back when the building was acquired the Maynard Institute reported that Columbia intended to use the site as its new library, although these plans were quickly scuppered by the realisation that such application would be structurally impossible. Current plans appear to point towards the establishment of the John H. and Eunice W. Johnson Center, which will house elements of the institution's fashion, journalism and marketing programs. The specifics of the Center and its usage remain fuzzy, with apparently the only thing agreed on is keeping the iconic EBONY/JET sign atop the building's roof. Click here to read more |