NYC's New Culture Commissioner

"Diya Vij, a veteran curator with a strong record of community-forward work, has her heart in the right place. She was a member of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's transition team and will succeed Laurie Cumbo just four months after joining the Brooklyn nonprofit Powerhouse Arts as vice president of curatorial and arts programs."

"Cognitive dissonance can be hard to shake at any art fair, let alone Frieze Los Angeles. This year, though, several moments of quiet resistance made the way artists engage with contemporary issues impossible to ignore. These range from artworks themselves to a conflict between the fair and a nonprofit that works with migrant communities along the US-Mexico border."

"Fearing for her safety, Lisette Model buried her photos of artists like Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, but a new book reveals them to the world. These historical jazz photographs were previously censored and hidden from public view."

Diya Vij, an experienced curator with community-oriented work, has been appointed as the new culture commissioner for New York City by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, succeeding Laurie Cumbo. Vij previously served on the mayor's transition team and recently joined Powerhouse Arts as vice president of curatorial and arts programs. At Frieze Los Angeles, artists demonstrated quiet resistance to contemporary issues through their work, including pieces by Y. Malik Jalal and Christina Fernandez, alongside conflicts between the fair and nonprofits serving migrant communities. Additionally, photographer Lisette Model's historical jazz photographs of artists like Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, previously buried due to safety concerns and FBI censorship, are now being revealed through a new publication.

Read at Hyperallergic