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reeraw.bsky.social
rea mcnamara
@reeraw.bsky.social
400 followers 150 following 26 posts
tkaronto/toronto writer, curator, baddie muva | art, culture, fandom | latest curatorial project: i came to ruin you: the collecting practices of k-pop fandoms (march 2025, special projects gallery)
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Reposted by rea mcnamara
sharonk.bsky.social
korean reporting is nightmarish on the conditions Korean workers were contained in
Their waists and hands were tied together, forcing them to bend down and lick water to drink. The unscreened bathrooms contained only a single sheet to cover their lower bodies. Sunlight barely penetrated through a fist-sized hole, and they were only allowed access to the small yard for two hours. Detained by US immigration authorities for eight days, the workers and their families expressed shock, describing human rights violations and absurdities they could not have imagined as ordinary Koreans living in 2025.
September 14, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by rea mcnamara
sarahjeong.bsky.social
idk if you've seen this south korean editorial that ran a few days ago. google translate version scorched my eyebrows www.hani.co.kr/arti/opinion...
Maga is fundamentally a populist white racism. The slogan "Make America Great Again" is more accurately described as "Make White America Greater." The fact that the tariff policy insisted on a 50% tariff only on steel and aluminum stems from the concentration of these groups in the Rust Belt. The massive crackdown on illegal immigrants at the Hyundai-LG Energy Solutions joint venture plant in Georgia must be understood in this context. The scenes of our workers being chained and escorted away were reminiscent of the dragging of African slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Department of Homeland Security boasted of "the largest single-site raid in history," and Immigration and Customs Enforcement even brazenly released footage of the raid, which was highly violating human rights, as if to boast of their "achievement." Far-right whites may have secretly rejoiced. Even politicians like the Georgia governor and local lawmakers, who had been active in attracting factories, have shifted their stance and sympathized with their grievances. This is likely because it's difficult to ignore the anti-immigrant sentiment of native Americans. Like the McCarthyism that swept through American society in the 1950s, irrational madness dominates American society. The recent visa issue, which could have been resolved diplomatically with advance notice from an ally, is difficult to explain beyond political maneuvering. The fact that they mobilized helicopters and armored vehicles for show, as if they had been caught, is difficult to explain.
September 14, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Reposted by rea mcnamara
hyperallergic.com
“As a very small child, my first love was textiles. There’s a language to textiles and fashion that is more decipherable to people than the language of machinima or computation.” — Skawennati, multidisciplinary artist
Skawennati’s Cyberpunk Future Is Now
The artist’s mid-career survey features Indigenous sci-fi retellings of Hotinonshón:ni cosmology and histories, expressed through her avatars.
hyperallergic.com
August 27, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by rea mcnamara
hyperallergic.com
While the contested notion of “paradise” is a well-trodden trope in Caribbean art curation, a new show at Remai Modern is savvy in its nuanced approach to the region’s aesthetic practices, particularly in how this extends into its diaspora.
Caribbean Artists Take on the Myth of Tropical Escapism
The art in Land. Sea. Sugar. Salt. reflects on the vastness and precarity of the Caribbean landscape, the ebb and flow of its rising sea levels, and coastline erosion.
hyperallergic.com
August 15, 2025 at 6:19 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
for @hyperallergic.com, i reviewed @remaimodern.bsky.social's current "land. sea. sugar. salt." show featuring artists with familial + lived ties to the region. i found it particularly moving, especially amidst dei crackdowns and "difficult" budgetary contexts hyperallergic.com/1033734/cari...
Caribbean Artists Take on the Myth of Tropical Escapism
The art in Land. Sea. Sugar. Salt. reflects on the vastness and precarity of the Caribbean landscape, the ebb and flow of its rising sea levels, and coastline erosion.
hyperallergic.com
August 13, 2025 at 9:00 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
key terms: fan-curator, fanworks, the k-pop shelf, art about fandom, shipping, jikookisreal 😅
fansplaining.bsky.social Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · May 29
In our latest piece, co-curators @reeraw.bsky.social and Bo Shin bring us to their exhibition "I Came to Ruin You: The Collecting Practices of K-Pop Fandoms." Fan collections are fanworks, "transforming what might otherwise be considered ephemeral or niche into meaningful cultural expressions."
I Came to Ruin You: The Collecting Practices of K-Pop Fandoms — Fansplaining
From photo cards to video art installations, a tour through a recent exhibition showcasing K-pop fans’ communal creativity and cross-cultural exchanges.
www.fansplaining.com
May 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
big ty to @fansplaining.bsky.social for the chance to revisit the curatorial essay for 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘒-𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘴, and deepen our exploration of fandom as an expanded curatorial methodology. (also, if it's tl;dr, you can listen to bo and i read the text) 🔊🔊🔊
fansplaining.bsky.social Fansplaining @fansplaining.bsky.social · May 28
🎉 Our May piece is live! 🎉 And it's an exciting one—rather than our usual fandom reporting, we've got a virtual tour of a recent fannish art exhibit, "I came to ruin you: The Collecting Practices of K-pop Fandoms," with expanded text from co-curators (and K-pop fans) @reeraw.bsky.social and Bo Shin:
I Came to Ruin You: The Collecting Practices of K-Pop Fandoms — Fansplaining
From photo cards to video art installations, a tour through a recent exhibition showcasing K-pop fans’ communal creativity and cross-cultural exchanges.
www.fansplaining.com
May 28, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Reposted by rea mcnamara
hyperallergic.com
True to its fierce title, “Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend an Inch” at the Brooklyn Museum illustrates the resilience and ingenuity of a trailblazing Afro-Indigenous woman sculptor.
Nancy Elizabeth Prophet Never Backed Down to the Art World
The trailblazing Afro-Indigenous sculptor’s life and everlasting impact are the subject of a long-overdue retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum.
hyperallergic.com
May 5, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by rea mcnamara
ilhanmn.bsky.social
No food, aid, or fuel have entered Gaza since March 2.

Community kitchens have closed. Children are sick, thirsty, and starving.

Now Netanyahu’s government wants to occupy Gaza and shut down the existing aid distribution system run by the UN and its humanitarian partners.

Arms embargo now.
May 5, 2025 at 6:48 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
i think my headcanon remains that BRIDGE jimin in like what? five minutes? for "dis-ease"
April 25, 2025 at 6:43 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
praxis: scanning PCs at 600 dpi for 11x17 print
March 27, 2025 at 1:27 AM
reeraw.bsky.social
natalie haddad reviews the second part of basel abbas and ruanne abou-rahme’s "may amnesia never kiss us on the mouth" online project, which has become a poignant archive of found footage from border-zone communities in iraq, palestine, yemen, and syria hyperallergic.com/998353/basel...
Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme Refuse to Forget
As the US government expunges identities through words and names, the artists’ online archive of videos proposes that holding onto these moments is a powerful political act.
hyperallergic.com
March 25, 2025 at 3:27 AM
reeraw.bsky.social
"you are the dreamer and the dream"
March 20, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Reposted by rea mcnamara
kingsbookstore.bsky.social
OK SO, 25% book tariffs are set to go live April 2. this is tricky for a number of reasons but the simplest is that most books are published & warehoused in the US, even those by Canadian authors, so this makes it infinitely more complicated than "Buy Canadian Authors" or slapping on a sticker
March 19, 2025 at 4:25 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
pleased to share that a #toronto show i am co-curating on #kpop fandoms will open 3/31, featuring local collections w/work by jiwon choi + lux pyre. would you believe this is the first irl show i've curated since... 2019? so, you know, do that thing + come thru www.eventbrite.ca/e/i-came-to-...
March 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
i was waiting for someone to write about tariffs and the impact on the cdn art market—many dealers expectedly considering pulling out of us fairs, art toronto shifting its focus on mx dealers and eu artists observer.com/2025/03/us-t...
With Trump’s Tariffs, the Canadian Art Market Looks for Opportunities Elsewhere
Canada’s robust network of active institutions and enthusiastic collectors paired with stronger relationships with Mexico and Europe could make engaging with the U.S. art market optional.
observer.com
March 13, 2025 at 3:14 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
"at war for oppa and identity" really has quite the ring to it—nonetheless, interesting read on "competitive performativity" vs toxic fandom in k-pop circa 2018 repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcont...
repository.usfca.edu
March 13, 2025 at 5:28 AM
reeraw.bsky.social
“there’s a long hist of the arts being attacked by conservative forces...what i’m disappointed about w/the OAS is that this is not trump’s action; this is anticipating. this for me is even scarier b/c it feels like we have this closeup view to how fascism unfolds” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘I was in shock’: DC gallery pulls exhibits of Black and LGBTQ+ artists amid Trump DEI crackdown
Art Museum of the Americas’ abrupt cancellation after anti-diversity order is ‘how fascism unfolds’, curator says
www.theguardian.com
March 10, 2025 at 6:23 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
watched on a meta quest 3 fan-made 360 vr experiences of k-pop concerts—yes, it exists. is it good? well...
March 5, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Reposted by rea mcnamara
armineyalnizyan.bsky.social
Once more, with feelings.
cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · Mar 4
In 1890, the Tariff Act came into place in the United States. It placed tariffs on imports of up to 50%.
While touted as a way to build American industry, there was also the hope it would force an annexation of Canada. It backfired.
Let's learn more.

🧵1/10
The image is a black-and-white political cartoon depicting a man in a suit standing behind a counter labeled "Republican Platform." He is holding a bottle labeled "Untaxed Whiskey, 20¢ Gal." in one hand and a piece of cloth labeled "War-Taxed Common Cloth, Tariff 84%" in the other. Above the counter, a sign reads, "If you don’t see what you want, ask for it." The cartoon, signed by W.A. Rogers, appears to satirize the Republican Party's economic policies, highlighting the disparity in taxation between luxury items like whiskey and essential goods like cloth.
March 5, 2025 at 12:24 AM
reeraw.bsky.social
structures of belonging have an exterior. toxic fandom is that shadow of non-belonging—that pressure to try to uncritically uphold this idea of community around an consumer object
February 28, 2025 at 7:52 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
great piece from @drcherylt.bsky.social on how much of the recovery of local black histories often begins with social media postings and online blogs, since many of these stories aren't taught in schools. as big tech capitulates to dictatorship, how does this on/offline restorative work now occur?
February 12, 2025 at 5:19 PM
reeraw.bsky.social
can't believe this k-pop author has a back-dated due south fic
February 11, 2025 at 4:12 AM
reeraw.bsky.social
lisa frank! virgil abloh! hong jang hyun! if this spread had a fan chant, that's how it would start
dailybts.bsky.social Daily BTS⁷ 💜 @dailybts.bsky.social · Feb 8
BTS Paper Magazine Cover and a thread of their individual photos from 2019. 🧵

(Sources: Pinterest; seokiescans)
A colorful magazine cover featuring all seven BTS members—RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—smiling and dressed in pastel blue and lavender outfits. The background is a vibrant, rainbow-themed design with stars, unicorns, a golden retriever, aliens in a peace sign car, and other whimsical, neon-colored elements.
February 8, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by rea mcnamara
wanlittlehusk.bsky.social
Kathy Acker, from I’M VERY INTO YOU
Life’s too cool to keep getting hurt and I love my work and my friends and what we do in culture so I don’t have time or willingness to go through useless pain anymore
February 7, 2025 at 4:15 PM