Sexual Violence in Greek and Roman Mythology

To Ovid’s Metamorphoses and back. ‘I intend to speak of forms changed into new entities.’ So starts the Roman poet Ovid’s canonical text about Greek and Roman myth, the Metamorphoses. An epic poem that informs most of what the western world views as ‘classical’ myth, the work is one of many fantastical transformations. It is often considered equally united by the theme of metamorphosing as it is by love. 

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A Reflection on Changing Artists and Art

One of the challenges that artists face is the expectation that their work must look a certain way. If they are lucky enough to find fame while they are alive, they are often constrained by the idea that only a certain style will get them money and recognition. As much as a starving artist is romanticised, no one wants to be one. Yet, must that come at the expense of their own creative metamorphosis?

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Anger and Gender: Equal but not the Same

Anger is an emotion that is highly influenced by gender. That is not to say that men are angrier beings. This is a popular misconception that plays into gender stereotypes of men being allowed to feel anger more than others, when in fact all genders feel anger equally and as intensely as one another.

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Time and Art: Connection in Disconnection

March 2021 has brought a new dimension to the art world by seeing Beeple sell his incredible piece Everydays: The First 5000 Days, developed over time in auction digitally at Christie’s Auction House. Connecting the digital world with the art world is an entirely new way of making and selling art in the 21st century.

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Clitbait’s Recreate Art Series- ‘The Two Fridas’ by Frida Kahlo

Go read more about this incredible painting in an article by our wonderful Arts and Culture Editor (and organiser of the recreate art series!), Manvir Dobb: The Two Fridas and finding the balance between normalcy and reality. Manvir explores how Kahlo grappled within her disconnected and counter selves as well as reflecting on our relationships with ourselves in Lockdown.

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Fleur & Arbor: Connection in Disconnection

During the UK’s first lockdown in 2020, Jasmine Farram and Olivia Newstead collaborated in a photo shoot over Zoom, each created a DIY backdrop in their homes, and using flowers from their gardens created portraits of each other using only their laptop screens. The aim was to express themselves creatively, utilising the video platform allowing them to continue to collaborate albeit from afar. 

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The Two Fridas and finding the balance between normalcy and reality

A few days ago a large number of houses in central Edinburgh experienced a power cut. My phone was on 5% so I went to charge it and then realised that I couldn’t do that. I also had to go to the loo and as I made the trepid journey out of the safety of my covers into the dark abyss of all two metres I tried to turn the bathroom light on but also couldn’t do that.

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Art Renewing Nature: while galleries are closed, our senses remain open to the art around us

I remember walking to school when I was a teenager one wintry snowy morning. It was freezing, I was wearing soft black gloves, and I distinctly remember seeing something small and delicate catching my eye as it landed from the white sky onto my thumb. A perfectly shaped snowflake. There it was, like a tiny frozen star on my hand. I was so in awe of the snowflake I stopped walking, and with my one free hand tried to take a photo before it melted away. Although it vanished before I could capture it with my BlackBerry phone camera (quality wouldn’t have been as good as my memory anyway), I still remember it years later, and I still haven’t seen one as beautiful since. 

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CB Recommends: Black Scottish Artists

Black artists have traditionally been marginalised from the mainstream conversation, despite their respective brilliance. Since the majority of our team is based in Scotland, we thought we would shift focus and shine some light on some of our favourite Black Scottish artists…

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Beauty and the Virtual Beast

Social media and the fascination with image is more prevalent than ever in today’s society, because of how much access we have to it and how much information is online for us to consume. We have access to the camera phone, proven to be “a revolution in visual culture that has turned us into a population of image addicts. We now take more photographs every minute than we made in the entire 19th Century and spend the average of six hours a day gazing into screens” – Age of the Image (2020), BBC4…

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Race and beauty: Fanny Eaton, the Pre-Raphaelites, and revising art history

Many people associate the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) with beautiful snow-skinned redheads. However, as with all first bases of academic research, if you go to the Wikipedia page for the PRB, the word “redhead” nor any other mention of hair colour comes up. Wary of Wikipedia, one starts to think to themselves, is Wikipedia hiding something from me or have I been disillusioned by popular art history? Is Wikipedia being woke or stupid, or am I?…

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#GirlsGirlsGirls X Clitbait

So! It all started when I decided to tune into a Zoom with Women in Ctrl. An organisation created by Nadia Khan, who is one of the many magnificent women working within the music business. This webinar was hosted by founder Nadia and the guest speaker was Roisino, who is an extremely talented creative director. Both great, strong influential females within the creative industry. I was gifted with words of wisdom and advice about working as a creative within the creative field. Here, I was set the challenge of self-shooting myself with the concept #GirlsGirlsGirls in mind…

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I read a (new) feminist book and I have thoughts

I recently read Gender Rebels: 50 Influential Cross-Dressers, Impersonators, Name-Changers, and Game-Changers (hereafter Gender Rebels) by Anneka Harry (published 1 June 2020) and I have some thoughts about it. I’d like to start this review with a star rating, but I actually think this book defies rating for me. On balance I think I would have to give it 2.5/5 stars, but that feels both unhelpful and unrepresentative of my actual thoughts. It suggests I thought it was a completely mediocre read when actually I have feelings at both extremes…

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Irise Art for Action Auction

Irise International, a charity focused on demanding period equality for people with periods in both East Africa and the UK, are holding an online art auction to raise money and awareness for their cause. The charity is doing crucial work and we spoke to some of its key members to find out more about period poverty, the challenges ahead with corona and of course, the auction.

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Reclaiming Belly Dance

A beautiful explanation and history of Belly Dancing, a cultural practice which is a deeply personal and powerful act to many Middle Eastern women…

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Never Have I Ever…felt the pressures of being a brown girl

Mindy Kaling’s new show Never Have I Ever debuted on Netflix recently, exploring the life of Devi, an American teenager of Indian heritage. Whilst trying to navigate high school, friendships, family and relationships, Devi finds herself caught in some cultural traps. It’s something that us brown girls growing up in a Western world can relate to. Whilst Never Have I Ever wasn’t intentionally all about race, it still showed some of the modern-day problems of girls torn between two cultures…

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What ‘Normal People’ reveals about mental health

Normal People is a book I read around a year and a half ago, whilst at home from university for Christmas. It left me feeling haunted due to its sense of such familiarity – leaving your hometown for a new city, to a university with elitist tendencies, only to face a life you could never had imagined had you decided to stay at home…

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Some Quarantine Culture

For those of us who are locked-down in our homes, working remotely or just trying to fend off the anxiety of unending news updates, it can often feel like we are trapped and unable to enjoy what we once did…

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A Decade in Tomes

The last ten years has offered up an eclectic range of new fiction that has challenged and changed how and what we read. Below, I’ve collected a handful of iconic or influential books of the last 10 years that show how new stories are being welcomed onto our shelves…

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Dungeons and Dragons and Inclusivity

There’s generally a common perception around table-top roleplaying games regarding who they are for. They’re for white, male nerds, right? That’s the kind of people who play Dungeons and Dragons. The reality may surprise you…

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Study Season Lofi

Lena Avery recommends music streams which will get you through this study season: “In celebration of study season, let me take you down the Lo-fi radio rabbit hole. Grab some coffee (or tea) of your choice— it’s a long way down…”

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