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The first thing I see upon entering Ren Light Pan’s tiny New York studio is a large canvas with a monochrome image of Sleeping Hermaphroditus . It’s the one that’s in the Louvre: a life-size marble Roman copy of an ancient Greek bronze from the 2nd century C.E. Pan shows me a series of smaller images on canvas, variations on this classical figure by other artists. But Pan’s big one is most arresting, in part because it’s from a photograph in which we see the legs of spectators behind the reclining marble figure.  It’s not surprising that a transgender artist would choose this subject, or that a transgender writer would immediately recognize it. Hermaphroditus is a supposedly mythical figure. He was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, so hot he turned the head of Salmacis. She was a rather wayward naiad who tried to force herself on the boy. The gods granted her prayer to unite them forever—and they became Hermaphroditus.  In Western visual culture, Herm...

“Listen…! It’s a goal!” One of the most memorable spoken moments in New Zealand sporting sporting broadcast history, and uttered by Wellington rugby commentator Winston McCarthy Winston John McCarthy was a leading rugby personality in the middle years of the twentieth century and he remains one of the most famous rugby broadcasters in New Zealand,...

When the Belarus Free Theatre opened “Official. Unofficial. Belarus.” at La Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista di Venezia earlier this month, it marked the first time Belarus had a presence at the Venice Biennale in six years—and the first time it appeared there not as a state, but, as curator Daniella Kaliada put it, as “a self-governing, self-authored cultural body.” The distinction matters enormously. Belarus has only appeared at the Biennale a handful of times, and not since President Alexander Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 2020. In exile since those protests, the Belarus Free Theatre has been at the forefront of efforts to counter the dictatorial Lukashenko regime and telling the country’s story on the international stage. In Venice, the Theatre translates its approach to visual art, stepping away from the plays and theater productions that have become its calling card, to stage an e...

Despite a considerable number of penalties and some four yellow cards, there was no shortage of entertaining play for the neutral viewer at this game at Helston Park. The Rams scored early off a near side lineout back on their side of halfway, but Johnsonville ran in three tries before halftime, including two to wing...

General Swindale Shield action from Lyndhurst Park on Saturday, where competition leaders Tawa beat bottom placed Avalon. Like all their recent matches, Avalon were in the contest throughout much of the first half before falling away. Tawa won 47-7. Photo: Stewart Baird.  Monday morning edition: The settled weather rolls on, but we don’t want to...

The upcoming presentation of the Bayeux Tapestry, a 230-foot-long embroidered cloth depicting the Norman invasion of 1066, figures to be the blockbuster exhibition of the year for the British Museum. The institution is pricing tickets like it is. On Thursday, the museum said that tickets to see the tapestry, which goes on view September 10 through July 11, 2027, will cost £33 for a standard adult ticket, or about $45. That’s the high end, for “peak” times. During off-peak times, i.e. non-holiday, non summer weekdays until 5:10 p.m., an adult ticket will cost £27. Tickets for Students and disabled visitors are a flat £25. All tickets get you a 40-minute visit with the tapestry. The first two weeks of the exhibition and the last two weeks of the exhibition will be treated as “peak” tickets no matter the timing. If that wasn’t all confusing enough, the British Museum said it is also offering “super off-peak...