Meg moved from Oakland, CA to PVD in May 2018 and works as a freelance writer and marketing specialist. For her, writing isn't a choice or even something she thinks about- it's her primary method of communication and the way she processes information. Meg is excited to write for Motif because ever since moving to PVD, she's been developing crushes on all these RI residents, so that's what she wants to write about – the people who make this strange little state so dreamy and worthwhile.
I meet cover artist Sophie Foulkes at her roommate’s studio in a converted mill building in Pawtucket. The space is warm, bright. An A/C hums. Sunlight pours through the windows onto two tattoo beds. Tables and desks are set with visual projects — strewn prints and sketches, the beginning stages of ideas. I take a […]
The following article is derived from an interview with Lyric Sullivan, a PVD resident currently majoring in art history at MassArt who has a deep interest in what symbols and iconography mean within an historical context. In the 1970s, at the request of Harvey Milk, artist, activist, and organizer Gilbert Baker was asked to create […]
While putting together this issue, we spoke often about gender. In celebrating Women’s History Month, it is important to acknowledge that while we live in a patriarchal society where the material effects of misogyny and gender-based inequity are very real, the concept of gender expands beyond the binary of women and men. Enforcing the gender […]
The morning of June 24, 2022, I was flossing my teeth at a La Quinta outside DC. I had traveled to Philly to take part in an art show and wanted to get the most out of the trek, so I spent a few days enjoying the Laurie Anderson exhibit at the Hirshhorn. That morning, […]
A cyan sky swirls luminescent around pink daffodil trumpets and petals that curl and stretch skyward as a pipevine swallowtail comes to rest, its metallic blue hindwing shimmers above its characteristic orange dots. Yanggen un tånom, siempre dokko, created using soft pastels by artist Fu’una, is Chamoru for: If you plant it, it will grow. […]
Grace Church Cemetery is a few blocks from my house. I like walking through cemeteries, I like reading the names, I like reading the inscriptions: There is one link that death cannot sever/ a loving remembrance lasts forever. If you enter the cemetery on Elmwood Ave, one of the first headstones you’ll see reads: RICH […]
Ketamine is a controlled substance and should only be used under medical supervision in a controlled environment. Unapproved or unmonitored recreational use can be lethal. In 1970, ketamine was approved for human consumption by the US-FDA and administered as a battlefield anesthetic during the Vietnam War. In sub-anesthetic doses, ketamine can induce dissociative experiences similar […]
Assemblage is art made by assembling disparate elements, often everyday objects. Collage describes both the technique and the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, and other ephemera are arranged and adhered to a surface. Automatism refers to creating art without conscious thought, accessing material from the unconscious mind as part of […]
In 1937, the federal government entered the world of public housing when FDR signed the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act into law. The law established the US Housing Authority, which created a federally funded public housing program that provided $500 million in loans for low-cost housing projects across the US to help house America’s most financially poor. […]
“Hello? I just had a missed call from this number.” Shaena Soares calls me from her car. She just started driving for Uber. “I thought I had something to do today, let me pull over.” Soares apologizes and says her brain is scattered. “I’ve got five kids, two sets of twins and one in the […]