"Queen & Slim" Needs a Trim
Queen & Slim is a nice example of representation in both cast and crew

SOS (2021) was presented as part of “This End the Sun,” on view at the New Museum from June 30–October 3, 2021. Strafer’s SOS (2021) interweaves fantastical scenes with the artist’s autobiography to address themes of human cruelty, power, and futility. The work cycles through scenes of night and day, with dolls as protagonists: a girl seemingly stranded on a snowy beach, an elderly man on a medical stretcher, and two EMTs who attend to him. Strafer employs strategies of doubling, interchangeability, and scale shifts, with large hands occasionally swooping down to animate, caress, and bathe the dolls—perhaps in acts of care and/or control. (New Museum)
Queen & Slim is a nice example of representation in both cast and crew
Canvas illustrates the story of a grandfather who, after suffering the loss of his beloved, struggles to reclaim his love for painting.
As Andrew’s life begins to change, his passion for drumming soon becomes a spiraling obsession in the pursuit of perfection. Through the use of disturbing and abusive training methods, Fletcher puts Andrew through emotional and physical agony.
When long-time couple Jenny and Nate break up so Jenny can pursue her journalism career, Jenny leans on her two best friends for one last epic night in the city.
“And I think to myself….what a wonderful world”. Louis Armstrong sang about this notion via his classic 1967 song, an ode to witnessing elements of our life that should be but some reminders of exactly what that concluding line of each verse indicates. Now we see our contemporary realities and, just being honest, it makes a sentiment like this seem SO overtly far away….perhaps even impossible….to accept or believe could be. It sounds harsh, but again, so much of what is occurring speaks not to beauty, but bedlam.