To borrow a notorious line from former Mayor Eric Adams: New York is a city where, on any given morning, you might encounter anything from a looted Roman antiquity at The Met to an artist selling trash outside Taylor Swift’s wedding.
That Roman bust has now, in fact, been returned by The Met. The museum had acquired it from the controversial gallery Phoenix Ancient Art, and Erin Thompson’s reporting traces the path of the gallery’s co-founder, a convicted antiquities dealer whose objects are still displayed in museums across the country despite questionable provenance.
In Brooklyn, there is also the story of Noore Yazigi, an artist who carefully tattoos Arabic calligraphy, including passages from the Quran and lines by the late Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer. Randa Jumean tells that story.
And in New York, waking up can also mean finding yourself in the middle of yet another heat wave. If you need relief, look for a cooling center nearby; some are cultural institutions, including the Museum of the City of New York, where you might even catch some art while staying out of the heat.
As always, stay cool, NYC.
—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor
