Light A Fire Readings

In this series of live readings held throughout the Art Papers Art Writing and Publishing Symposium, presenters Re’al Christian, Sasha Cordingley, and Natalia Zuluaga read selected pieces of art writing. Each reader addressed why they chose that text to share, and lead a discussion with the audience.

In the first Light a Fire Reading of the Art Papers Art Writing + Publishing Symposium Natalia Zuluaga ([NAME] Publications; Frost Art Museum at FIU) reads “Reality would Have to Begin” by Harun Farocki. The essay was originally published in German, but was first translated into English in 1992 by Documents Magazine in their Fall / Winter issue.

In the second Light a Fire Reading of the Art Papers Art Writing + Publishing Symposium, Sasha Cordingley (independent writer) reads “The Problem with Diaspora Art 2” by Zarina Muhammad. Muhammad is one half of The White Pube, a UK-based writing duo that publishes weekly texts on art and culture. This selection is Muhammad’s follow-up to an essay written in August 2018 about the same subject.

In the third Light a Fire Reading of the Art Papers Art Writing + Publishing Symposium, Re’al Christian (Vera List Center for Art and Politics, ART PAPERS Contributing Editor) reads from “Art on My Mind” by renowned author bell hooks. She reads the essay “Diasporic Landscapes of Longing,” originally published as catalog essay for a 1994 exhibition of Carrie Mae Weems’ photography at The Fabric Workshop / Museum in Philadelphia.

Re’al Christian (she/her) is a writer, critic, editor, and art historian based in New York. Her work explores material histories of diasporas, movement, language, and ecology. Her criticism, essays, and interviews have appeared in BOMB Magazine, Art in America, Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, Frieze, and ART PAPERS, where she is a contributing editor. She has written texts for such catalogues and anthologies as Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Sasha Cordingley (she/they) is an arts and culture writer born in Hong Kong, raised in the Philippines, and residing in Brooklyn, NY. Her writing has been published in Hyperallergic, ART PAPERS, ArtAsiaPacific, C Magazine, Studio, The Strategist, and Dirt. She is the recipient of C Magazine’s New Critic Award and the Henry Moore Institute Dissertation Award, and she has participated in Cue Art’s Art Critic Mentorship Program. Currently, she works at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Harbinger Is Home (Monacelli Press/Prospect New Orleans), And ever an edge (Studio Museum in Harlem), Track Changes: A Handbook for Art Criticism (Paper Monument), Howardena Pindell: Numbers/Pathways/Grids (Garth Greenan/Dieu Donné), and On the Town: A Performa Compendium 2016–2021 (Gregory R. Miller & Co.), among others. Her editorial projects include Maria Hupfield’s Breaking Protocol (2023) and the digital publishing series Post/doc (2022–present). She is the co-editor of the anthologies As for Protocols (2025) and Acts of Art in Greenwich Village (2025), and a consulting editor on 50 Years of ART PAPERS (2025). Christian is currently the assistant director of editorial initiatives at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School. She received her MA in art history from Hunter College. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from New York University, where she double majored in art history and media, culture, and communication.

Sasha Cordingley (she/they) is an arts and culture writer born in Hong Kong, raised in the Philippines, and residing in Brooklyn, NY. Her writing has been published in Hyperallergic, ART PAPERS, ArtAsiaPacific, C Magazine, Studio, The Strategist, and Dirt. She is the recipient of C Magazine’s New Critic Award and the Henry Moore Institute Dissertation Award, and she has participated in Cue Art’s Art Critic Mentorship Program. Currently, she works at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Natalia Zuluaga (she/her) is a curator and editor based in Miami. She is currently the chief curator at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University. Since 2014, she has also been the co-director of [NAME] Publications, a nonprofit press and exhibition space. She previously served as the artistic director at Art Center/South Florida (now Oolite Arts), where she led Zappas has been a visiting writing mentor to Burnaway’s Art Writing Incubator program, Los Angeles Review of Books’ Publishing Workshop, the Cornelia publishing workshop, and the Oklahoma Arts Writing & Curatorial Fellowship. She has been a visiting artist/critic at University of California Los Angeles, CalArts, ArtCenter, University of California Santa Barbara, Cal State Long Beach, Los Angeles Valley College, University of Southern California, Syracuse University, Colorado State University, Point Loma Nazarene University, and elsewhere. She has taught at Cal State Long Beach, Oregon College of Art & Craft, Fullerton College, California State University, Northridge, and Harvey Mudd College. its exhibition, residency, and artist opportunities. Zuluaga has been a guest editor for Shift Space 2.0; a critic-in-residence for the Great Meadows Foundation; and a visiting lecturer at the University of Louisville, Pacific Northwest College of Art, and Florida International University. In 2023, Zuluaga was the recipient of the Andy Warhol Foundation Writers Grant