This book merges memoir and social critique in an original fashion. By combining personal observations with a general systemic analysis, it thereby seeks to propose a new genre of writing.
Isabelle Graw manages to capture radical political, social, and cultural changes that have occurred since 2014 in elegantly written observations, analyzing as well how these macro-shifts reach into her own life. She addresses topics ranging from Brexit, Trump, and a general rightward turn to #MeToo, men with beards, and Balenciaga. While registering the symptoms of a world that clearly feels different, Graw also meditates on irretrievable personal losses. She describes how we find ourselves literally "in another world" after the death of our parents. With a theme of mourning running throughout, her book is an attempt at exposing and analyzing painful emotions.
Isabelle Graw is Professor for Art Theory and Art History at Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste (Städelschule), Frankfurt am Main, where she co-founded the Institute of Art Criticism. She is an art critic and co-founder of
Texte zur Kunst in Berlin.
