FACT's online journal on art and justice now live

Can art make academic research more accessible? Dr. Bruce Martin’s collaboration with TRU Fine Arts alum Fae Lyn explores how creativity can spark curiosity and share research in new ways. Learn more about their project here - https://ow.ly/j8lY50XfTXy #TRUGaglardi #myTRU

Research paper | 'Visual metaphors of self-worth and resilience among Caribbean youth community art therapy' ➡️ The study found that community art therapy enabled participants to externalise complex emotions and create narratives of self-worth. 🔗 Free to read for the first 50 clicks! https://lnkd.in/eiAh8HpR #Research #ArtTherapy #ArtTherapyResearch #Community

From objects to systems...Rethinking conceptual and digital art in the art market: Ashley Lee Wong's research bridges theory and practice to explore ways of thinking and engaging in contemporary cultural economies for artists and practitioners working at the intersections of art and technology.

📣 Last call for submissions! The Getty Research Journal invites submissions for a special issue of the Getty Research Journal titled “Artistic Exchanges between the Eastern Bloc and Northern Africa during the Global Cold War,” guest edited by Katarzyna Falęcka (Newcastle University, UK) and Przemysław Strożek (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw). The issue will explore how transregional artistic exchanges between countries of the former Eastern Bloc and Northern Africa shaped modern art during the global Cold War. By adopting a transregional focus, it seeks to examine the impact of artists’ mobility on their practices of making, displaying, and teaching art, emphasizing cross-cultural influences in processes of cultural decolonization and the formation of global Cold War cultural landscapes. Prospective authors are encouraged to submit by October 30, 2025. For more information: https://lnkd.in/gGvcrmkj

I've been at Internet Identity Workshop this week to learn about the latest in identity - but there's more on Friday with Andor Kesselman putting on the Agentic Internet Workday at the Computer History Museum.

Identity in art isn’t a side note—it’s often the main text. Reading about Barnett Newman’s Jewish identity being reframed as the lens through which to understand his mysterious art, I found myself reconsidering how artists’ worldviews, shaped by heritage, often get stripped away in institutional narratives. Amy Newman's new biography, Barnett Newman: Here, as reported by ARTnews, signals a vital rebalancing: to see abstraction not as neutral form, but as filled with culture, spirituality, and self-definition. Newman’s exchanges with critics who dismissed his paintings or linked them crudely to Jewish rituals weren’t just about aesthetics. They were about recognition. His insistence that attacking his work was akin to attacking his Jewish identity reveals how deeply intertwined belief and creativity were for him. That tension feels urgent now, when museums often present universalism as impartiality. For artists negotiating multiple histories, visibility is not a footnote—it’s the frame itself. - When interpreting abstraction, ask what cultural context may have been edited out. - Revisit how Jewish identity, and other faith-based narratives, inform the history of modern art. - Ensure that exhibition texts acknowledge heritage as part of artistic language. - View documentation as an ethical act: completeness over neutrality. - Recognize that legacy often depends on who controls the story’s tone. If an artist’s identity is erased for the sake of universality, what truths about their work are we losing? (source: ARTnews)

🎨 What can art and creativity bring to your students’ lives? Margaret Lazzari painter, writer and Professor Emerita of Art at USC Roski School of Art and Design, hopes to welcome students on an artistic journey through her and co-author Dona Schlesier’s new edition of “Exploring Art: A Global Thematic Approach” 📘— publishing in early 2026 📅. 🖌️ In her blog article, Margaret explains how this latest edition: “…aims to enrich students’ lives by inspiring meaningful reflection on the joys and challenges we all face. Whether they become artists or more art-aware citizens, they’ll carry these insights with them.” 💡🌍 👉 Swipe or click through to explore the guiding principles behind this edition. 🔗 Read Margaret’s full blog article here: https://bit.ly/4744Chn #CengageHigherEducation #Art #Humanities #ExploringArt #CengageBlog

What happens when someone looks at art? 🎭 Psychologist Ralf Cox (Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences - University of Groningen) researches how people not only experience art mentally, but with their bodies and emotions. His goal is to try and understand how art affects us by using methods measuring even the slightest bodily changes. According to Cox and his team the experience of art is both complex and personal. By studying this experience with a multilayered approach, he creates insight into the power of art and how this differs between people and situations. Cox wants to give something back to artists and the public, transcending limitations of academic publications. By measuring the experience of the spectator and sharing these results with artists, the scientific and artistic aspects blend together. Click the link below to read more about Ralf Cox’s research on the experience of art. 👇 https://lnkd.in/eBCZk9w9 #art #experience #spectator #universityofgroningen #rijksuniversiteitgroningen Photo: Henk Veenstra / thanks to Kunstpunt Groningen

Art can challenge assumptions, reveal untold stories and inspire action. The We Draw The Lines workshop brought this to life, guided by Martín Vargas and Duane Montney, two artists featured in Beyond Survival: Works on Paper by Artists Incarcerated in Michigan. Participants explored hands-on exercises and storytelling, experiencing how creative expression conveys resilience, perspective, and vision beyond incarceration. Hosted by Michigan Justice Fund in partnership with the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), the workshop is part of a multi-year effort to uplift incarcerated artists and connect their work to broader conversations about justice, creativity, and community. It demonstrates how art can build understanding, spark reflection and bridge communities. Read the full story to see how art becomes a bridge for understanding and engagement: https://bit.ly/46Am4IN

👏 Introducing our 2025-26 Brotherton Fellows    Two postdoctoral researchers have been selected to work with specific collections in Cultural Collections and Galleries at University of Leeds over the next few months.     Lyman Gamberton’s project entitled ‘Shining Heaven, Dark Earth: Magic, Medicine, and Embodiment in Early Modern Jewish Italy’ will draw upon a curated selection of books and manuscripts from the Cecil Roth Judaica Archives to explore concepts of magic, medicine, and wellbeing through early modern Jewish practices of the body. Explore the archive here: https://lnkd.in/eaktM4zP   Claire Watt will be working with the Leeds Animation Workshop (LAW) Archive and ‘The Southbank Show’ (SBS) Production Archive throughout her project, ‘Social Activism in British 1970s and 1980s Filmmaking and Broadcasting: The Cases of Leeds Animation Workshop and The Southbank Show’. She will explore how the accessibility of LAW and SBS in the late 1970s and 1980s can be understood as a form of social activism. Explore the archives here: https://lnkd.in/eNJYgqim https://lnkd.in/ewxbb5ha   LAHRI is delighted to collaborate with Cultural Collections and Galleries on these fellowships.