Elizabeth Egan’s essay about Bridget Jones’ Diary in The New York Times made me think about representation in culture, particularly pop culture and every multicultural dimension. These days people call to be seen and heard on screens big and small. They want their stories to be reflected in Hollywood stories, in magazines and in fashion. People of color. People with disabilities. LGBTQ people. People who hate labels. All kinds of people. Representation matters.

I kept a copy of Bridget Jones Diary in my night table for over a decade. Every time I felt sad or depressed or down, I would open a page, any page, and find solace and even happiness. I felt a kinship with this fictional character I have hardly ever felt with any other person, fictional or otherwise. We understood each other. We liked each other.

Art at a Time Like This intentionally searches out and shines a light on bold curators and emerging artists showcasing on-line exhibits that address some of the most urgent social issues of the moment: gender equality, climate change, Black Lives Matter, human rights violations, systemic problems within the justice system, the farmer’s revolution in India and the fragility of Democracy in the United States . . . just to mention a few, all created and imagined by a deliberately diverse/international group of artists and curators.

The many angles of Pascal’s story will sound familiar to anyone who, for any reason, has looked to create a life far from home, in a different place, in a different country. Immigration, a word that over a century ago used to have an air of possibility and optimism, has become a politically charged issue and a humanitarian crisis that forces the displacement of millions of people fleeing war, violence, and economic or environmental catastrophe. The fact that Pascal mentioned Pinochet and his parents story in his monologue reveals that, maybe, not even growing up as a regular California kid in California was enough to erase the scars of a forced migration.

A few days ago, Christie’s auctioned around 400 items from the collection of André Leon Talley, the famous Vogue editor at large who passed away in January last year. After stops in Paris and Palm Beach, the items arrived in New York to be exhibited at Christie’s headquarters in Manhattan for a few days during the online sale and before the February 15th live auction. Like bread crumps in the road, many items auctioned in the sale revealed a privileged but complicated life; the life of a fantastic traveler that carried in his Vuitton and Prada bags deep and complex feelings about race, religion and sexuality.

Few people knew about Alvin Baltrop and his work until 2008, when Art Forum published a long article about him. Fashion Designer Joseph Altuzarra read the story and the photographer and his haunting images got his attention.

“What’s Going On” at the Rubell Museum DC, looks to respond “to pressing social and political issues that continue to affect society today” – say Museum officials- through 190 art pieces created by 50 artists, including Natalie Ball, Rashid Johnson, Richard Prince, Sylvia Snowden, Hank Willis Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Kehinde Wiley, Kennedy Yanko, and Cajsa von Zeipel, among many others.

Besides being fashionably chic and irresistible, Lingua Franca has a social and political spirit that is literally stitched into its heart. Under the slogan “Give a Damn!” the company, created by Rachelle Hruska McPherson, has raised over a million dollars for equity awareness and social causes that range from Marriage Equality to Peace for Ukraine.

The beautiful energy of Shantell Martin blew into my universe this spring – we met through dance. Her leap from the page to the stage felt like a natural place for this visual artist to explore – bringing the physicality of her drawing into lyrical movement where musicality, the human form and a playful richness of the performance, the stage set and costuming meld into an alternate universe.