By Wim Langedijk for HURS
A Ritual for Sylvia Plath in Manhattan
HUR Reads is our definitive shortlist of the most prominent articles from around the web.
By HURS Team
1
Doris Salcedo and the Burden of Memory
In an interview with Frieze, Colombian artist Doris Salcedo reflects on art’s capacity to preserve memory and confront violence. Her new work, House, made from human hair, responds to the destruction of homes while addressing forced displacement and conflict worldwide. Drawing on decades of research and witness testimony, Salcedo argues that art must resist societal indifference, honor victims and restore a sense of humanity, dignity and beauty amid devastation.
FRIEZE
Kitty Grady profiles Chilean actor Mariana di Girolamo, whose international breakthrough comes with Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine. Set against Chile’s 1973 military coup, the film explores democracy and historical trauma. Di Girolamo discusses the personal significance of portraying this period, her unconventional path from midwifery to acting, and the career-defining experience of working with an acclaimed director as she prepares for the upcoming awards season.
A RABBIT’S FOOT
Gisèle Pelicot and her daughter Caroline Darian discuss rebuilding their relationship after a devastating sexual abuse case that exposed years of assault by Pelicot’s ex-husband. After a year apart to process their trauma independently, they have reconciled and now campaign against drug-facilitated sexual violence. Honoured together by Equality Now, they reflect on the challenges victims face in securing evidence, the importance of public awareness and their commitment to helping other survivors.
THE CUT
Deborah Levy imagines a contemporary narrator whose attempt to write about the pioneering modernist becomes an investigation into art, identity and language. Amid friends’ romantic entanglements and everyday mysteries, the narrator grapples with Gertrude Stein’s radical writing, influential art collection and relationship with Alice B. Toklas. Blending fiction, biography and literary criticism, Levy offers an inventive portrait of a subversive artist and the complexities of becoming modern.
HAMISH HAMILTON
In Manhattan’s East Village, nearly 40 writers, artists and creatives gathered for a seven-hour-and-51-minute marathon reading of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, organised by Catherine Spino. Now in its second year, the event celebrated the novel’s enduring resonance, from its dark humour to its unflinching portrayal of women’s mental health. For readers, Plath remains a literary touchstone, offering new generations a language for experiences that remain painfully relevant.