Zadie Smith, Marina Abramović, and the Art of Getting Older
By Wim Langedijk for HURS
Zadie Smith, Marina Abramović, and the Art of Getting Older
HUR Reads is our definitive shortlist of the most prominent articles from around the web.
By HURS Team
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Zadie Smith's Heads Up to Young People: 'You Are Absolutely Going to Become Old'
Now 50, Zadie Smith reflects on middle age in her new essay collection Dead and Alive. A quarter century after her celebrated debut White Teeth, the British-born writer examines generational divides, climate grief, and the strange velocity of aging. Smith speaks with Terry Gross about the shock of becoming older and the responsibility that comes with it—offering a wake-up call to younger readers who might assume time is infinite.
NPR FRESH AIR
Syrian-American artist Rama Duwaji graces The Cut's special issue cover ahead of becoming New York City's first Gen Z First Lady. Known for pen-and-ink portraits of Arab women commissioned by The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and Vogue, the 28-year-old opens up about adjusting to sudden visibility, the frustration of being labeled "Zohran Mamdani's wife," and her determination to remain a working artist. Her message is clear: there are many ways to be First Lady, especially in New York.
THE CUT
The former teen pop star has become a new emblem of the "Veracruz sound." From rock rebel to folk custodian, Natalia Lafourcade has spent the past decade diving deep into traditional Mexican music, earning Grammys and uniting generations in the process. Her song "Hasta la raíz" has taken on new life as an anthem of resistance for Mexicans in the United States amid escalating ICE raids. With her latest album Cancionera, recorded in one live session on analog tape, Lafourcade continues to honor the cancioneras before her.
THE NEW YORKER
At 78, Marina Abramović has unveiled her most ambitious work yet: Balkan Erotic Epic, a four-hour performance with 70 performers across 13 stages in Manchester. Rooted in ancient pagan rituals from across the Balkans, the piece is also deeply personal—a reckoning with her strict communist mother and a liberation from the past. Abramović discusses her strict lifestyle, her admiration for David Lynch, and why she believes she's finally in her "pink period." Running at The Factory until 19th October.
A RABBIT’S FOOT
With her six-month-old store Rubirosas, jewelry designer Lauren Rubinski offers a colorful take on old-world charm. The 450-square-foot boutique on Rue de Grenelle stocks just four products—poplin shirts, cashmere sweaters, pajamas, and leather slippers—in a riot of hues, drawing on her family's history supplying fabrics for Vatican clergy. Despite predictions that retail is dead, the shop met its projected annual revenue in six weeks, becoming a pilgrimage site for the fashion set during Paris Fashion Week.