Art critic Zarina Muhammad doesn’t mince words and yet, there is a vulnerability in them. What sets her texts apart from most mainstream media art reviews is the honesty you’d expect from a friend recommending a movie or a play. With her, art criticism escapes the realms of clinical dissection-ish discourse to become relatable, humane and within reach.
Along with Gabrielle de la Puente, she runs The White Pube, an online criticism platform where they share reviews and essays around art, and more recently video games and food. Their writing reflects the sentiment Zarina echoes in our conversation – ‘the arts are fucked’. They are appalled by the art world’s elitism and inaccessibility and are ready to take on those who need to change. While the platform started almost as a joke, it has amassed a huge following ever since its inception in 2015. Zarina, now 26, lives with her family in London while Gabrielle resides in Liverpool. Their humble office is Whatsapp, and their website is a reflection of everything they stand for: inclusivity, diversity and a whole lot of honesty. Under The White Pube, they run web residencies, give wholesome and cool emoji reviews, assist with grants for artists of color, and pour their hearts out every week on their website. They describe The White Pube as their collective identity, so much so that sometimes Gabrielle’s fiancé can’t tell who is tweeting.
It is often tricky to navigate the paths of radicality, but Zarina knows the responsibility that comes with the power of an audience. The White Pube, therefore, doesn’t just stop at the reviews – they also boldly point out the problematic patterns of the art world, calling out galleries and artists when needed. Zarina and Gabrielle are also full of ideas on how to fix these issues. On our video call, surrounded by her plants, Zarina talks to me about her process of writing reviews, her thoughts on galleries, why The White Pube makes its financial accounts public, and how it sometimes feels like she is screaming into the void, but will continue to do so. https://thefloatingmagazine.com/people-zarina-muhammad/
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