Anja Rubik Is Super Taus in Vogue Czech March 2021 by Marcin Kempski
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The Art of Taus Makhacheva
Supermodel Anja Rubik is among the women covering the March 2021 issue of Vogue Czech in images tagged on Instagram with #whencreativitybecomesform. Jan Kralicek styles Anja in a fashion story pieced together by Google translator and me that focuses on the practices of Taus Makhacheva, Super Taus and Superhero Sighting Society. Taus Makhacheva, 38, is a Russian artist based in Moscow..
A COVID-impacted summer/fall exhibition in Germany at Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art adds additional texture to the understanding of the images. Taus Makhacheva also showed at the Armory Show in New York in 2019. Remember that the March issue of Vogue are devoted to creativity.
The Vogue Czech tagged IG post specifically references a Super Taus viral videl ‘Untitled 1’ by Taus Makhacheva. Photographer Marcin Kempski captures the fashion story with a distinctive feminist energy, anchored with fashion from Jil Sander, Rick Owens and more.
The Plight of Russia’s Women
A portion of the proceeds from the actual art inspiring the March 2021 covers of Vogue Czech — and sold at the Plato Gallery in Ostrava for a special price — will go to support the Marem movement that helps Dagestan women who have been victims of domestic violence.
Artist Taus Makhacheva is originally from the Muslim-majority region in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan. She is known predominantly for her performance and video works that critically examine what happens when different cultures and traditions come into contact with one another.
The Marem movement for Dagestan women is focused on widespread racism faced by Russia’s Muslim minorities and the taboo topic of sexual violence against women and girls but embraces the much larger issue of physical violence against women in Russia. This Guardian article is five years old but explains just how explosively serious the topic of violence against women is even in modern Moscow.
Abortion in Poland Update
When AOC last left Anja Rubik, she was naked on the cover of the December 2020 issue of Vogue Poland, anchoring an issue devoted to the power of women. The magazine supported the topic of abortion rights in Poland, as the right-wing government sought to enforce the most onerous ban on abortion in decades. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Polish citizens were in the streets for days.
In the United States most Trump supporters agree that a woman should be forced to carry a totally deformed fetus that will die at birth to term — one that doesn’t have a brain, for example. The new Catholic Church law in Poland demands this obedience from women with no regard for her own psychological and mental health over such a catastropic situation. If men were forced into such servitude of carrying a fundamentally ‘dead’ baby for months, such a law would never be passed or embraced by the Catholic Church.
AOC is sad to report that the anti-abortion law in Poland is now being enforced. Most recently, on January 27, 2021, Poland’s top court, known as the Constitutional Tribunal, ruled on the fetal-abnormality abortion ban and declared it law.
Searching for the update, it was a pleasant surprise to see that Vogue.com is carrying the February 11 update. No Google translator required. After Poland Issued a Near-Total Ban on Abortions, Marta Lempart Has Been on the Front Line of the Protests. Solidarity legend Henryka Krzywonos is interviewed about the past and present of her activism.
Personally, I believe this international activist response is more the work of Edward Enninful than Anna Wintour, but I’m thrilled to see Vogue covering this problem of right-wingers taking away abortion rights worldwide, as the threat is just as real here in America.
Controlling women’s bodies is priority #1 of right-wing, fascist societies. I read many complaints online that fashion is no longer fashion. Why can’t we all just have a jolly good time and get our political news on women’s rights, race relations, sustainability, LGBTQ rights and more somewhere else.
Answer: because the developed modern mind understands the intersections of these issues in the fashion world and media’s influence in helping to advance them in pursuit of justice. This is why we have fashion on AOC in the first place — to bait and switch educated minds. LOL. AOC agrees that balance is required, but the days of living in a fashion-world cocoon are over. And Anja Rubik deserves a lot of credit for being a relentless ringleader in this drive for higher consciousness among fashionistas. ~ Anne
