Everyone Discusses My Art And Pretends To Understand, As If It Were Necessary To Understand, When It

Sabrina (1954) dir. Billy Wilder

A young boy carries his slingshot around his neck and wears cherries like earrings in Gilgit, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Ric Ergenbright

1959 : Dancers performing in street of Kabul following the arrival of the 34th U.S. President Eisenhower from Karachi.

Rebec.

A precursor of the violin that originated in Islamic nations in Asia. It found its way to Spain and France where it remained popular until the violin displaced it. It had only three strings and was rectangular or trapezoidal. This instrument was also known by the Arabic name, rabab.

Normalize science academia

Okay, we get that dark and light academia are mostly associated with social and language studies. But what about the people who study physics and chemistry and math and who have adopted the light/dark academia aesthetic? Give me the physics scribbling notes on the 123nd notebook of the month and gazing at discs turning, springs springing and pendulums moving incessantly. Give me the aspiring chemists being careful and frantic at the same time while they measure all kinds of substances and turn the pages of books, with dirty glasses slightly broken to the side. Give me the mathematicians who are writing quickly like there is no tomorrow on the chalkboard and when there is no more space they continue on walls and notebooks. Give me all those scientists who, once at home throw their robes in the washing machine and sit down with coffee and a book and turn their radio to the classic station. Maybe the book is a classic or a piece of poetry, maybe it is related to their subjects, but they make notes on the spaces of the page. They may not be able to analyze it like an English major but they are devoted to their purposes and absolutely love their occupation.

Illuminated pages from a manuscript of Hafez, Zand Period style, 1790.

dark academia critics

dark academia is like one of my favourite aesthetics however there are certain things/issues that bother me about this whole aesthetic

1. where is the diversity?

have you ever come across any dark academia posts that included any people of color. everywhere I go, all I see is elite white kids. I would die to see japanese/korean/indian /pakistani/ african/ middle eastern dark academia students often wearing their ethnic attires and embracing their cultures.

2. eat the rich

I know the whole theme about dark academia is ivy league/ rich elite students but imagine middle class dark academia srudents who are not necessarily clad in expensive attires rather wearing clothes bought from the thrift stores studying on scholarships, who own second hand books and antique/vintage items from some local flee markets or thrift stores.

3. fuck that Greek philosophy

not that I hate Greek philosophy but all dark academia posts do talk about is western art/architechture/ mythologies / history and philosophy etc. I would love to read and discuss persian poetry and history , south asian mythologies, japanese/Arabic/korean calligraphy, Muslim world's art and architecture.

4. what's up with that nerd shit.

why are dark academia students always protrayed as nerds, reserve, quiet, hates to have a social life, perfectionist who can't afford to get any grades lower than As etc like even the best students have their ups and downs, what matters is the passion and the will to do better. It's okay to have a life outside books, to have romantic dates, to prank, to hangout with yout friends, to skip classes, to be unorganized...its more realistic.

Let’s admit it, we were all dark academic hoes the moment we

- started fantasising abt going on museum dates with a crush

- wanted to live in cities with mysterious vibes

- watched the rain outside the car and started reminiscing

- would buy bundles of books and literally ignore people for a few days

- wanted to learn classic instruments for the aesthetic

- had favourite clothes that made you sweat like hell in the summer

There was such noise around you, what I wanted to say got lost somewhere in the middle

-Amjad Islam