Local Arts: Duke & Durham

The music world and Bull City lost one of its most beloved homegrown musicians Feb. 9. 

It is known that cigarette advertising was once ubiquitous in the nation, but students often forget that Duke was founded on tobacco money. This exhibit displays the inherent connection between the Duke family, Durham and tobacco. Several defining pieces of Durham, including the American Tobacco Campus and the city’s mascot (descending from Bull Durham smoking tobacco) are indicative of the city’s success in tobacco manufacturing. 

Before the Roe decision, many women turned to underground services that resisted the law for the benefit of women’s safety. The exhibit features a piece dedicated to one such service, the Abortion Counseling Service of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (commonly known as “Jane”). Jane provided thousands of illegal abortions for women from 1969 to 1973, and “Ar·ti·facts” reveals the reasons why. 

​Ingram has been featured in several magazines and museums, including the traveling “Southbound” exhibit and the “Southern Accent” exhibit at the Nasher Museum. In “Road Through Midnight,” the photographer pairs images of Southern landscapes with FBI files, family files, local library files and microfiche from journalists to reveal the stories of civil rights activists and victims of racist violence. 

As much as MacDiarmid's short film explores the unusual, often unheard of experiment, it also speaks to the current environmental destruction we are experiencing on our own planet. 

Blanding’s account illustrates how social media should be used in troubling times. While reposting IG stories and old vacation photos can help pass the time, writing personalized messages are both simple and thoughtful methods of supporting friends. Without being able to see each other in-person, young people are reinventing social media platforms as the primary source of maintaining personal connections. 

They’ve developed a schedule with nothing but good intentions — they’ve created time for academics and free time, and resources for enrichment and wellness. But it doesn’t benefit students, McDonald said, when they’re not encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities.

Lively and inviting energy is necessary for a tattoo shop — even if buzzing needles and blood-stained gloves threaten your bravado, there is comfort in the echoing post-grunge playlists and muffled admiration for wall-hung collages. The dying vivacity within the tattoo shop was indicative of the impending shutdown. The shop voluntarily closed their doors two days later. 

The American South is an ever-changing landscape, its growing communities and dynamic businesses pushing the region away from strict definitions. With a dark history and rich culture, it’s convenient to describe the South as nothing more than a land of sweet tea and bitter discrimination. The New South, however, presents a progressive transformation from 19th-century Dixie. This fall, “Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South” illustrates the heartbreaking stories of the past and pluralistic identity of the present.

Tattoos have undergone a revolution within the past two decades. This form of body modification once associated exclusively with bikers, sailors and criminals is now considered an art form, found on people of diverse backgrounds and professions. According to the 2013 documentary “Tattoo Nation,” one out of every three adults under 40 in the United States now has a tattoo. The history behind tattoos, however, often goes ignored. How long have humans been decorating their skin? Why did negative stigmas develop? C.W. “Chuck” Eldridge answered these questions Nov. 10 during his “Tattoo History 101” presentation at Choice Tattoo in Durham. 

Unfortunately, like every other library, cafe and social space, the Coffeehouse has been closed since March 2020. This spring, however, they will continue to host socially-distanced and online events. Senior Nathan O’Hara, the booking manager of Coffeehouse, revealed how the space is trying to maintain a presence on campus and catch the attention of new students. 

This July, Duke sophomores Riley Hicks and Claire Kraemer launched The Coop, an online publication created by Duke women, for Duke women. The bold orange site features a beautiful blend of satirical articles and serious conversations about equality and image, all designed to bring Duke’s women together and reject the unspoken competition between us. After examining existing publications and noticing a lack of freedom and inclusivity, the founders decided to launch their own site over the summer.