My 6 top blogs – art & culture

1. Mimo Khair Photography
   “Art is Life, Life is Art”. The photography style of this very talented Shanghai-based blogger is mainly based on documentary and street photography.
   Her impressive and varied collections are culturally and politically relevant.
   I loved the collection Misplaced-Refugee and Street Children portraying striking pictures of Syrian children refugee in Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

   

   The uncertainty of things to come. Misplaced-Refugee and Street Children, M. Khair ©mimokhairphotography

2. Atlas Minor
   This is the notebook-blog of James A. Reeves. He documents personal experience, such as road trips, street observations, or profound phycological introspection, producing engaging and readable essays.
   I have been particularly impressed by his piece Philosophy as an Ambulance, in which he explores some academic thoughts about the grieving process in relation to the death of his father. The author’s considerations result to be genuine and accurately exposed.

   

   Encyclopedia Britannicas. Slab City, J. A. Reeves ©atlasminor

3. Eyes plus Words
   “Let’s come together and share a story or two”. Jacob Ibrag involves the readership in his variety of storytelling by combining personal thoughts, quotes or poetries with allusive pictures.
   My favorite entry shares the portrait of a woman on a blue background accompanied by a poetry of Ibrag, which refers to the inscrutable mystery of the female thinking.

   

   Slight. ©eyespluswords

4. My OBT (One Beautiful Thing)
   This is the blog of a New Yorker who, at one point in her life, made the great decision of taking some time every day to focus on something beautiful.
   The blog mainly reflects her passion for fashion and art.
   I really enjoyed the entry about Harper’s Bazaar campaign of photographically recreating the painted dancers of Edgar Degas. I appreciated the blogger’s comment stating that in Degas’ paintings each dancer has the same profundity within the composition, whether she is on the foreground or in the background, and, contrary to this, in the shots of Misty Copeland, the America Ballet Theatre’s dancer, the subject seems to “pop up” out of the picture.

   

   Pas de Degas. Ken Browar & Deborah Ory, Harper’s Bazaar

5. A Girl’s Voyage
   Blanca, a young student, created her diary blog recording her thoughts, travels and daily experiences, offering nice stories and tips for places around the world.
   She made a valuable Geek’s guide of London, including the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street, a Harry Potter shop and dedicated platform at King’s Cross station, and the Doctor Who shop and Museum in East London.

   

   ©agirlsvoyage

6. Artbacchant
   “Drunk on arts”. This is an entirely visual blog exposing paintings, mostly oil on canvas, form the 19th Century Impressionism. Sometimes it also posts evocative photographs from 19th and 20th Century.
   My favorite painting recently posted is the Young Beauty with Poppies by the French painter Émilie Vernon (1872-1919)

   

   Young Beauty with Poppies.©artbacchant