About Portia

I love art and writing—this is why I have this blog! I’m a teacher by profession and I’m happy to be able to converse about art and culture for a living.

I am currently working on my seemingly never-ending thesis for a Master in Art Studies under the Art Theory and Criticism Program. At the same time, I have a renewed drive to keep my blog going. I find it a healthy and freeing exercise, very different from the academic writing that I do.

My research interest includes contemporary art and theory, publics of art, and of criticality. I am always trying to expand in other aspects of art history and art theory. My travels in Europe and Asia and my political philosophy generate a particular growing interest in the changes and revolutions of the 19th century.

I travel as much as I can, as far as I can possibly can. Travelling and immersing in other cultures teach me a lot about myself, and in such a consciousness, I learn about other people. I feel at home on the road and I feel helpless when I stay in one place too long.

I also love food and I see dining as visceral adventure in living. I’m not a great cook but I try. It helps that I have a partner who loves cooking and eating as well. There is a regularity about eating, we have to do it so often for survival; yet it can be the most exciting thing we can do in a day.

My personal photographs will find their way in the blog. I take a lot of them, though some end up lost in the shuffle. There is something about standing behind the lens, trying to capture the ephemeral moment. I’ve been doing that since I was in high school, more than 20 years now.