C. Shardae Jobson

Makeup artist Naezrah Desir is a big believer in taking chances. This past spring, she inspired hundreds of thousands on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook when she bet on herself and posted two uber-colorful, undereye eye shadow looks on her socials. One was a burst of pastel blue, while the other was a remix of a rainbow. Both went viral, prompting many to re-create the looks.
From makeup artists working on clients to beauty influencers and enthusiasts, all attempted Desir’s showstopping under...

Published in the Volume 43, Issue 4, July / August 2022 issue of Art New England.

Page 14:
Spotlight on Somerville-based illustrator, Monique Aimee.

Reviews & Previews
Spotlight
PAGE 64: Game Changers: Video Games & Contemporary Art at MassArt Art Museum

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Shaira Frías recalls the jubilance she felt when she would go to the drugstore and see herself represented so proudly and accurately by a few specific brands on the shelves, years before she became the co-founder of indie beauty brand Luna Magic.

Her main reaction? "Omigod, my color!" she recalls, looking back at IMAN Cosmeti...

In the print magazine for section, Massachusetts:

REVIEW:
51: Deana Lawson at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
by C. Shardae Jobson

If you’re not already an ardent beauty lover you may not realize it, but fragrance is having a moment, with 2021’s first quarter marked by a 45% increase in sales. As it happens, so are Black consumers who, according to a September 2021 Forbes report, “represent $151 million [spent on women’s fragrances, out] of a $679 million industry.” Black perfumers are also making waves in the fragrance space — despite the number of them remaining disappointingly low compared to the rest of the predomina...

You don't watch "Murder, Mystery, and Makeup" for the looks that Bailey Sarian creates. That's not to say they're not fierce, because they are. Whether it's a silver, glittery cut crease or expertly winged eye shadow, her viewers do love to see her go from no makeup to full glam in every episode of the series. But what they're really tuning in for are the aberrant, heartbreaking, and morbid stories of true crime and urban legends as relayed by Sarian while she applies a full face of glamorous...

With Boston’s major moment extended through July, a longer look at the impact of an iconic exhibition

Last year, Mattel released a beautiful $50 Barbie doll in a bespoke suit covered with his recognizable figures and skulls. His iconic artwork was also on Herschel backpacks, months before the release of a $795 “Empire” bag from Coach. And more affordable ways to wear his art can be found at superstores, where you can get a dinosaur tee for $20. Then there’s Yusaku Maezawa, who in 2017 paid $1...

“Knowing Storage Space was going to happen and be presented in locations not designed for artwork display gives artists and communities our power back and a chance to do intriguing work.”
When most of us think of the word “storage,” we likely imagine some kind of designated area for the items we cherish or at least need from time to time. But for Rudolf Lingens, artist and founder of the secretive Imaginary Collective, there are much more prominent demarcation lines at play.
“Storages are, in...

The inspiration behind Julia Lattimer’s Allston Living Room Read is storied and personal.
Storied, in that it joins the lineage of movements and organizations before it that were created to provide regeneration and a comforting space for communities and culture. Think of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in Manhattan, or Boston’s own Combahee River Collective, whose black feminist and black lesbian members built an alternative to the white feminist movement.
Personal, in that after having read at fell...

The resurgence of vinyl has been a homecoming for those that remember spinning a 45 or 33 ½ record in their day. For today’s youth, the media-labeled “Generation Z,” it’s another realization that even listening to music was a simpler and more thoughtful event.
“The return of vinyl makes sense because things go in cycles. Even if there is a little sna...

Located in the outskirts of Dedham—an Arcadian river, pizza shop, and 7-Eleven are its neighbors—Rob Walsh’s record store, Cheap Thrills Music, is home to a massive collection of tunes that includes everything from 1970s rock and soul, to iconic movie soundtracks of the 1980s, to ’50s and ’60s lounge and garage jam. Their specialty: used analog vinyl.
In racks, bins, and crates and on tall shelves, customers are greeted with the exciting near-certainty that they’ll find some gems to ogle over...

Catching up with Frugal Bookstore ahead of this weekend’s Juneteenth Book Fair
Frugal Bookstore feels like a neighborhood bookstore should. Whether up the ramp and with a choice of either going to the right where the memoirs reside, or to the left to the picture-book section, no matter where your interests or curiosity of text may take you, for such a small space, Frugal is impressively prepared.
Located in Nubian Square, a recognized center of Black culture in Roxbury, there is an emphasis on work by Black a...

Saturday’s Black Calling music festival sent a message to Brookline: the revolution will be televised, humanized, and also next door.

And as that afternoon’s temperature skyrocketed into the 90s, the fest’s white flag, that stated the phrase "WAKE UP!" with a power fist next to it, was also still managing to wave up and down by the occasional breezes that swung by Brookline High School's Cypress Field, where Calling was held.

Organized by the activist group Wake Up Brookline!, the day was a ...