Description: "A collection of intimate and conversational accounts of the artists that have impacted the poet activist Margaret Randall on her own creative journey. As makers of art, social commentators, women in a world dominated by male values, and in solitude or collaboration with communities, each artist is seen in the context of the larger artistic arena. Through her reflections, Randall also takes on questions about visual art as a whole and its lasting political influence on the world"--
Brief description:
Margaret Randall is a poet, writer, translator, photographer, and activist who has lived in New York, Mexico City, Havana, Cuba, Managua, Nicaragua, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, with short stays in North Vietnam and Lima, Peru. Her time in these places often coincided with major sociopolitical upheavals or pivotal historic moments. She edited an important bilingual literary magazine for eight years out of Mexico City and has known some of the great minds of her generation. When she returned to the United States, the US government ordered her deported because of opinions expressed in some of her books, and she was forced to wage a five-year battle for restoration of citizenship. Her correspondence with those she met along the way makes for exciting reading.
Randall is the recipient of numerous international awards and the author of over 200 books, four of which were published by New Village Press: My Life in 100 Objects, Artists in My Life, Risking a Somersault in the Air, and Luck.Review Quotes: "Panoramic yet intimate, Artists in My Life brings Margaret Randall's poetic and photographer's sensibilities, as well as her superb prose, to these portraits of artists who have touched her life. The examples are far-ranging, from well-known Elaine de Kooning and Frida Kahlo to contemporaries like Jane Norling or the unknown creators of 10,000-year-old petroglyphs and the Nazca lines of southern Peru. Male power, female resistance, the pain of childhood abuse or physical disability shaped the lives and art of some, but all persisted in claiming their independence and unique artistic creativity. This is a fascinating read."--Louise Lamphere, Past-President of the American Anthropological Association