This Gay Artist Challenged Sexuality Norms Long Before We Could Imagine
Edition #2 - Pursuit by Kamna Kirti
Ahoy readers and welcome to the second edition of my newsletter - Pursuit.
As part of the newsletter, I’ll be sharing my exclusive, well-researched and value-packed content on art and entrepreneurship.
I’d also share book, blog and podcast recommendations along with my personal experiments with writing. I’d never spam you. Promise.
Let’s dive straight away into this week’s edition.
My top article from this week
This week I wrote about George Quaintance, a gay artist who challenged sexuality norms long before we could imagine. He was an American-Virginian country boy who was way ahead of his times. He created homoerotic paintings and drawings of idealized male bodies.
The painting Idyll, 1952 caught my attention and inspired me to research Quaintance and his oeuvre.
Don’t you think the painting exudes subtle sensuality? The painting is riddled with numerous symbolism. Feel free to spot a symbolism that I might have missed.
Well, that’s exactly what happened when I published this article. One of my readers gave me an elaborate and insightful comment. He interpreted each painting in his own way and provided symbolism that I didn’t even notice. Kudos to him!
That’s the beauty of art, it lies in the eyes of the beholder.
Quaintance artworks emancipate homoeroticism, androgyny, nakedness & unbounded love in the era when gender fluidity was not even coined.
This week I watched
This week I saw a popular award-winning documentary on Netflix My Octopus Teacher. Trust me, if you want to explore calmness and stillness in this hyper-stimulated world, this documentary is for you. A beautiful story, filmed and narrated even more beautifully.
This documentary unravels a magical and purest bond between a South-African filmmaker and his underwater friend, an Octopus.
The film explores a year-long journey of the filmmaker in an underwater kelp forest and how he developed a relationship of a lifetime with the Octopus.
Do you know that octopuses are considered to be the most intelligent invertebrates because they have relatively large brains and can be trained for various learning and memory tasks?
My key takeaways
Let nature take its own course, everything happens for a reason.
There’s something to learn from every being.
Connect, explore and appreciate nature and wilderness.
Find your stillness in this hyper-stimulated world.
I’d recommend you to watch My Octopus Teacher at your earliest convenience.
This week I learnt
As part of my writing cohort, the 30-day writing streak continues. This week I learnt about hidden inflation called Shrinkflation.
To put it in simple words: When inflation occurs, instead of increasing the price, the retailers reduce the size of a product thereby offloading the inflation cost on us.
For instance: Consider the retailer Walmart: let's assume they used to sell Pringles (5.5 oz) for $1.53 and now they sell Pringles (5.2 oz) for the same price.
Shrinkflation is a psychological trick introduced by retailers to compensate profit margins during inflation without drawing much attention.
Read more about this in the thread below.
My plans for the next week
I’m working on the script for my next Youtube video and researching content for my next article.
I also have an India trip planned, I’m every bit excited about it. The family, functions, food and fun!
If you want to support my work
It’s a wrap for this week. Share this newsletter with your friends and anybody you feel would enjoy it.
See you next week, ciao!
I really loved My Octopus Teacher too
Insightful newsletter. Thank you Kamna.