Top Rank Magazine

On episode 13 of the Top Rank Podcast, “Thick/er Black Lines,” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas spoke with Rianna Jade Parker, Hudda Khaireh, and Aurella Yussuf founding members of the London based curatorial collective Thick/er Black Lines. Thick/er Black Lines is an interdisciplinary collective that brings together art criticism and, cultural studies, as well as archival, and activist practices to shed light on the creative production of the Black European diaspora. Their ongoing efforts to canonize Black British women and femme artistsun cluding their most recent residency at the Tate Modern— -- emerge from an urgency to highlight the multiplicities and convergences of Black identities across the globe.

On episode 12 of the Top Rank Podcast, co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with Cecilia Palmeiro and Verónica Gago, founding members of Argentinian feminist movement and collective Ni Una Menos. Ni Una Menos (which translates to Not One Less) combats femicide—the intentional killing of women because they are female—as well as all gender based-violence. They are committed to changing a culture that castes women as objects to control, to consume, and to discard. To do so, Ni Una Menos examines the multiple forms of violence (economic, political, financial, state, social) that limit the autonomy of women and therefore generate the conditions that allow for physical violence, shedding light on the relationship between the most dramatic manifestations of violence against women and their structural roots. The movement’s affiliates now span numerous Latin American countries and even continents, and their work includes organizing marches, protests, strikes, and discussions to putting forward formal

On episode 11 of the Top Rank Podcast, “High Performance Hijabs,” co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with Arshiya Kherani, founder and CEO Sukoon Active. Sukoon is a New York-based apparel company that designs inclusive activewear for women. Kherani, an active runner, launched Sukoon in 2016 after years of going without high-quality workout clothing that aligned with her Muslim faith. Sukoon offers fuller coverage and looser-fitting exercise apparel and high performance hijabs for women across backgrounds, who desire athletic wear that is not tight or revealing. From Nike to Dolce & Gabbana, global fashion brands have begun targeting the Islamic fashion consumer as their latest marketing opportunity, and some brands have started to offer modest clothing, head coverings, and special occasion wear for Muslim women. Yet, in a social climate that is rife with negative associations surrounding Islamic traditions, the recognition of Muslims as part of the American marketplace is as politically c

This summer, an exhibition opened at the Museum of Sex in New York City titled NSFW: Female Gaze. Organized in collaboration with Vice’s Creators platform, and on view through April 2018, this show includes the work of 25 young and/or emerging female artists. The show’s two part title invokes Laura Mulvey’s canonical 1975 feminist film theory about the masculine cinematic perspective, as well as the everyday politics of internet censorship and sexual respectability. However, this exhibition’s title presents an important and timely question: What is the “female gaze” and what about it is “unsafe”? A “female gaze”—or any gaze for that matter—is cultural and learned, not innate, not universal, but intensely subjective and situated by race, class, and history. On Episode 10, co-hosts Marcel

Few would dispute the immense social, cultural, and political significance of creative production in realizing our potential as human beings and in fostering both inventive and nurturing communities. Creative labor is a critical part of our social ecosystem. Yet, artists—especially in the US—are often unable to make a living wage from their physical and/or intellectual labor or its products. The trope of the “starving artist” still pervades pop cultural notions about the sacrosanct status—and corresponding fiscal value—of artistic labor. This romanticized image of an individual whose isolation, specifically from the market economy, is the very wellspring of their creative genius continues to have vital material implications for those who desire to be professional arts workers. In a culture of unpaid internships and “paying dues” via free work in exchange for prestige and exposure, carving out a career in the creative industries is immensely precarious. On Episode 9, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flo

Over the past decade, abuse of prescription opioids such as Oxycontin and Percocet has come to affect over two million Americans, precipitating a quadrupling in overdose fatalities. The spike in opioid related deaths within White communities in particular has visibly shocked and alarmed the media, the public, and policy makers. The so-called “new epidemic” has been widely and consistently framed as affecting "blameless victims” and "good people"—ostensibly those individuals who, within American public consciousness, are not associated with drug abuse. Drug epidemics in this country have historically been addressed by using harshly putative legal measures, most notably exemplified by the War on Drugs in low income communities of color. The wake of the opioid spike leads us again to the question: Whose lives matter? And, how are the media narratives and concurrent policy efforts about this issue informed by intersecting race and class biases? For Episode 8, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower invit

For Episode 7, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower spoke with three guests—Khalila Douze (Social Media Editor at The Outline), Kimberly Drew (Social Media Manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Rawiya Kameir (Culture Editor at The Outline)—about the intersections of social media and identity politics in their professional and personal lives. Within the last 30 or so years, the phrase identity politics has become a critical mechanism for self-realization and expression, as well as for political and cultural alliance building. The internet, and social media in particular, has provided a public but also highly personal platform for anyone with access to a computer and a network to distill and perform their identity, and to have an audience. We have come to see that the implications of said access and exposure hold the potential of unravelling and restructuring the way information is disseminated, the way money is made, and the way power itself is manifested. Here, we reflect on how our generat

On episode 6 co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with New York-based activists Elaine Paredes and Lori Adelman about Planned Parenthood’s essential work, the current state of women’s health-related legislation (domestic and overseas), and how we might prepare for what’s to come. Paredes and Adelman lay out the implications of defunding Planned Parenthood and the repercussions of and relationship between such legislation as the Mexico City policy and the Helms Amendment. They discuss the significance—as well as the critical fault lines—of the Women’s Marches, and, perhaps most importantly, express why it is essential that our strategies for the days and years to come be intersectional at their core.

On Episode 5, co-hosts Isabel Flower and Marcel Rosa-Salas speak with members of BRUJAS, a New York City-based feminist organization who use skateboarding and community activism to foster radical social change. Brujas members ARIANNA GIL, ANTONIA PÉREZ, and REBECCA STURCKEN discuss the group’s representation in mainstream media, the labor involved in producing and sustaining their program, and the challenges of using social media to incite political resistance while considering the threat of surveillance. Sharing their influences and aspirations, the Brujas members talk though the possibilities of youth-led activism in the digital age. You can find Top Rank online @toprankmagazine. You can learn more about Brujas on their website https://brujas.nyc/ and @BRUJAS A special thank you to Red Bull Studios New York, and to each of our wonderfully generous participants. This episode was produced by Sienna Fekete. Isabel and Marcel welcome input for future content. You can reach us at isabel@toprankmagazine.com

On the occasion of Knockdown Center's MAMI exhibition and market, Top Rank Podcast co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower talk intersectional identity with journalists Jenna Wortham (NYT Magazine) and Doreen St. Félix (MTV News), Brujas skate crew leader Arianna Gil, and Bklyn Boihood founder Ryann Holmes. Available here as the Top Rank Podcast’s 4th episode, their conversation addresses the promises and pitfalls of digital media as a tool for social change, the importance of fostering self-affirming environments that prioritize self-care, and, more generally, how Mami Wata’s hybrid identity serves as a framework within which we can question conventional binaries and locate strength in paradox, contradiction, and multiplicity. You can find us online at toprankmagazine.com and on Instagram @toprankmagazine. A special thank you to Red Bull Studios New York, and to each of our wonderfully generous participants. Isabel and Marcel welcome input for future content. You can reach us at marcel@toprankmagazine

In Episode 3, co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower reflect on their enduring affection for Selena Quintanilla Perez, the beloved Tejana singer, and assess what it means to memorialize and perform her identity.

Our second episode, “Elements of Style,” is a post-Fashion Week reflection consisting of conversations about the politics of fashion imagery, beauty, modeling, and self-styling. Co-hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower ask what fashion can teach us about configurations of power in contemporary society, and discuss the industry as an institution that produces culture through collective knowledge. In conversations with each other, fashion industry professionals, and scholars, Isabel and Marcel seek some insight into this mammoth question. On this episode you'll hear from: Brandi Thompson Summers, Assistant professor of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University Christelle de Castro, photographer, filmmaker, art director, and creative director for Top Rank Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati Nafisa Kaptownwala, founder of modeling agency Lorde Inc. Paloma Elsesser, model, writer, and student Eric Darnell Pritchard, Assistant Pr

Hosts Marcel Rosa-Salas and Isabel Flower nerd out about nameplate jewelry, discussing the style's formal qualities, its material and social history, and its relevance in American culture today. Music Credit: "Uptown Top Ranking" by Althea & Donna Original interlude by @dyani_douze