What is your favorite Arca Portal currently?
Probably “
Better Self.” Each piece that I’ve curated for the Portal is such an inspiration and makes me want to do better for myself and the people in my life. I’m a huge proponent of introspection and reflection because there is always more to learn about the self or selves.
What is a piece of content that’s recently inspired you, and why?
Over the past couple of days, I keep returning to
Brie Wolfson’s “Notes on ‘Taste.’” I have an Arca Portal titled “
Taste” and I enjoy seeing how different thinkers write about taste, its history, and its current cultural position.
Wolfson structures the essay based on
Susan Sontag’s “Notes on ‘Camp’” and elucidates the multifaceted nature of this nebulous concept we call taste. If anyone is interested in learning about how to think about taste as the first step before actually refining your own I highly recommend this essay.
How do you balance the act of curating and creating in your day-to-day?
Set a schedule. I try to be very methodical about my day because I get overwhelmed easily by the sheer amount of content and information that I want to learn about. I try to start my day with calming activities - mediating, journaling, walking, and working out. And, then I set out to curate.
If I’m inspired to just research one topic, I will do that for a couple of days or weeks at a time. Right now, it’s Ann Demeulemeester and her prolific career spanning high fashion and art. But if I just want to explore, I’ll turn to Arca or Tumblr to see what people have been curating/posting, noting down what captures my attention and what I would like to research further.
I’m of the mind that writing is thinking. If I come across something that intrigues or confuses me, I’ll set some time to just write about it. This could be as quick as a couple of bullet points or something longer like a 1000+ word essay. Along with research, writing is such a vital tool to make sense of all the things I consume throughout my day.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone looking to refine their taste?
I think the two components of taste are interest and time. Note what you gravitate towards, what type of art, media, music, style, construction, or look. I don’t rely solely on social media to refine my sense of taste, but it can be a helpful starting point to introduce you to different cultural practitioners and their work.
Never pigeonhole yourself, be open to whatever sparks your curiosity, and ask yourself why. This takes time and is honestly a never-ending process, but that’s the beauty of taste, it always builds upon itself.
And lastly, never be ashamed of your taste. I enjoy 16th-century Italian mannerist art as much as I like contemporary Japanese shonen and seinen anime and manga. I love French New Wave cinema as much as I love high fashion’s appreciation and appropriation of the punk movement.
Introduce yourself to one thing at a time and slowly branch off from there, be confident in what you’re drawn to and what you could do without, and never stop asking yourself why.
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