Arts & Culture

Beyoncé’s music constitutes a vast and varied diatribe against the patriarchy. Based on her infamous dissertation, which took the internet by storm earlier this year, Molly Inglis explores constituent parts of Beyoncé’s brand of feminism.

Alpana Sajip explores the wider implications of the Mead Gallery’s 2016 exhibition ‘The Human Document’, considering how truthfully photography can reflect the human condition, and how it has continued to evolve from post-Depression America to today’s digital universe

Fatima Ali Omar reviews the BBC’s recent T.V. film adaptation of Zadie Smith’s 2012 novel, NW – Black identity, struggle and redemption are just some of the themes explored

Molly Russell argues Bob Dylan’s recent Nobel Prize win is wholly deserved: his lyrics of protest and emancipation speak louder now than ever before.

Clare Hymer examines problematic partnerships between oil companies and British cultural institutions, and the importance of creative direct action to combat them.

Sohrab Najle-Rahim examines why we should be wary of the business world’s ‘mindfulness revolution’.

Arts and Culture co-editor Kat Burdon reviews Justin Kurzel’s widely acclaimed reinterpretation of the Scottish Play, examining the tale’s treatment of man, madness, and morality to suggest that its enduring appeal can be found in the lessons it would teach us, lessons long learned and yet never fully acted upon.

Jordan Hindson explores the relationship between mental illness and the creative temperament, with the help of Kay Redfield Jamison’s seminal book Touched with Fire.

Hélène Selam Kleih examines artistic representations of the interrelated issues of immigration, identity and mental health in modern France.

A 21st century re-imagining of Caryl Churchill’s 1981 play, Top Girls, from Arts & Culture Co-Editor Kat Burdon.

Agasty Baylon Yogaratnam discusses the link between comedy and mental health.

Perspective’s Editor Thames discusses the film ‘The Lobster’ in the context of online dating and suggests that looking for love and searching for a job have more in common than you think.

Jordan Hindson reads Arthur Koestler’s novel Darkness at Noon, and reflects on the chilling moment in history that gave rise to the Moscow Show Trials.

Jordan Hindson examines the use of the death penalty in the US, and argues that Albert Camus still has a lot to teach us.

Themes co-Editor Lizzy Yarwood surveys developments in transgender culture across the Middle East and Asia.

Jamie Taylor analyses the viral videos that rapidly flood our newsfeeds alongside the political soundbites that emanate from our television screens.

Anna Carey asks if we can represent climate change more effectively than the static image of the stranded polar bear.

Jordan Hindson explains why the Spanish Civil War was such attractive subject matter for twentieth-century artists and intellectuals, and explores the immortal works that they produced in response to the conflict.

In his essay ‘Who Owns Auschwitz?’, Holocaust survivor Imre Kertész wrote: “More and more often, the Holocaust is stolen from its guardians and made into cheap consumer goods. Or else it is institutionalized, and around it is built a moral political ritual, complete with a new and often phony language.” Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in American culture, writes Helena Skinner.

Jordan Hindson examines Dr. Strangelove and the Cuban Missile Crisis to reflect on the twisted logic that frames the nuclear debate.

Do you control games, or do they control you? Frank Davies explores the links between contemporary systems of social control and video games.

Arts and Culture co-editor Kat Burdon discusses the importance of clothing in contemporary society, and how the way we dress can impact upon and inform collective and individual identities.

Jordan Hindson discusses what Nafisi’s memoir reveals about the intersection between art and revolutionary politics.

Arts & Culture co-Editor Clare Hymer discusses how our predilection for ‘multiple identities’ is reinforcing hyper-consumption.

What was the experience of the disabled in the ancient world? Annie Sharples challenges our notions of inherent Western progression by examining the representations and experiences of the disabled before the common era.

Arts and Culture co-Editor Kat Burdon considers how the VW scandal could affect attitudes towards the car as our primary medium of transport.

Arts & Culture co-Editor Kat Burdon discusses the concept of ‘eating clean’, a recent phenomenon driven in part by food bloggers encouraging readers to follow a healthier diet. The article exposes the way in which eating ‘cleaner’ has been falsely equated with a greener, more ethically sound lifestyle through the faddish promotion of ‘superfoods’ – many of which are expensive and fundamentally damaging to the environment.