🌀 aura no. 5 - a tour through time & art
catching up from a busy couple of weeks
i bit off more than i could chew last week, which meant i skipped my newsletter without any warning. i hope you can forgive me.
i celebrated my bestie’s birthday, drive down to tucson for mj lenderman, drove back to phoenix for christian lee hutson, went to the cutest galentine’s day, saw frida at the phoenix symphony, went to my favorite event of the year (vsna used book sale), toured a few historic homes, and tried the new subject to change x loosebrain wines. in between all of that, i had a dog sitting gig and i got sick. needless to say, i was stressed.
but now i’m BACK. and there was so much beauty in just the last few days that i’m glad i waited.
willo home tour
if you don’t already know about the historic home tours in phoenix, you’re missing out. last weekend, i went to the willo home tour where i fell in love with a handful of vintage bathrooms. specifically one with a tulip stained glass window.
my favorite neighborhood in phoenix, encanto-palmcroft, only does their home tour every other year. luckily, 2025 is one of the years the tour is taking place and i can’t wait! see you there on march 16.
frida
i wish this ballet had a longer run because i wanted to recommend it to everyone! the production was only one weekend, but if it comes back next year, everyone needs to buy tickets! for being one of the most famous artists in the world, i’ve only done a deep dive into the life of frida kahlo once when there was an exhibit at the heard museum. since then, i had forgotten so many things about her life outside of her tumultuous relationship with diego rivera.
it’s also so mind-boggling to me that there are professional ballerinas and musicians who put on these shows. i kept forgetting that i was watching a live performance. the last thing i’ll say about this show is that i don’t always feel extremely connected to my hispanic culture, but in times like these, it was very special and touching to see mexican culture and arts being celebrated.
i have plans to make it back to mexico city this year, and if i do, casa azul is at the top of my list.
vivian maier
speaking of mexico city, on my first morning there, i stumbled upon an ad for a photography exhibit that i recognized from one of my classes in high school. i walked blocks to that museum, only to discover through a poorly translated conversation with the girl behind the ticket window that the exhibit had ended. i still bought a ticket to see whatever they had on display, but every time i come across vivian maier’s photos, i think about what it would have been like to see them up close.
vivan maier was a nanny for her career and wasn’t discovered as a street photographer until after her death. maier spent her youth back and forth between france and new york until finally settling down in the suburbs of chicago. her first nannying job came with a private bathroom which allowed her to develop her own film during the first few years of her photography. later on, she took a job with a new family which forced her to abandon developing her own film. most of her photos went undeveloped and unprinted for the rest of her life until they were auctioned off after she failed to pay rent on her storage unit. luckily, some of the photos ended up in the right hands.
you can read more about her life and work here.
that’s all for this week! i hope it was worth the wait.
as always, thank you for reading and not being mad at me when i need a little break.
with gratitude,
lauren