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Philippa Snow
Philippa Snow is a critic and essayist. Her work has appeared in publications including ArtforumThe Los Angeles Review of BooksArtReviewFriezeVogueThe NationThe New Statesman, and The New Republic. Her first book, Which As You Know Means Violence, is out now with Repeater, and she is currently working on an essay collection about famous women.  

Articles Available Online


You Don’t Think God Is Sexy?

Film Review

January 2023

Philippa Snow

Film Review

January 2023

On the most literal level, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s elliptical, spiritual-cum-sensual movie Teorema (1968) is about an entire family being driven to distraction by their...

Essay

Issue No. 31

It's Terrible The Things I Have To Do To Be Me

Philippa Snow

Essay

Issue No. 31

Here was a woman who had modelled her life so closely on Marilyn Monroe’s that doing so eventually helped...

i   Oyster cards were first issued to members of the British public in July 2003; by June 2015 they will have been replaced by a contactless card payment system As we grow old these rectangles of blue plastic will fade into memory; they will become historical curiosities, representing little more than a transitional phase in the history of payment systems, weekend engineering works on our noble journey from the physical to the digital, from the actual to the virtual But let’s not allow the Oyster card to disappear from public consciousness unremarked upon; let’s take some time out from our hectic schedules and look up into the dim light; let’s take stock for just a moment, gulp in the close cold air, feel the dank wind of history on our faces, and contemplate the significant role this stored-value contactless smartcard has played in our everyday lives over the last decade or so     ii   Consider an example Let’s say you’re not a Londoner You don’t live here; you’re an alien We’ll sculpt you a bit more as we go along but, to begin with, let’s just say you’re an alien in London and see how that sits You won’t, don’t worry, remain undeveloped But everything in its time For now, enjoy the not-knowing, enjoy the formlessness, the weightlessness You could become anyone Think of the possibilities, the opportunities All we know, for now, for certain, is that you are, let’s say, an alien in London   You arrived, by plane, on a one-way ticket, say, your purpose, at the moment, dark to us You think nothing, once reunited with your suitcases at London Gatwick, having trudged with them through arrivals (and after everything that happened on the flight you might have appreciated some help), of taking a taxi to your hotel in Acton An indulgence, perhaps, but you are happy to spend money at times like these You’re not rich, you’re not profligate, but money is there to be spent You can’t understand people who hoard – people who save and save and save, knowing they will die with their accumulated wealth unspent, inactive, a

Contributor

November 2018

Philippa Snow

Contributor

November 2018

Philippa Snow is a critic and essayist. Her work has appeared in publications including Artforum, The Los Angeles Review of Books, ArtReview, Frieze, Vogue, The...

Essay

January 2021

An Uneasy Girl

Philippa Snow

Essay

January 2021

Even before Lucie arrives holding a shotgun, we know that the perfect family in this huge suburban house are...

Brilliant Muscles

Essay

December 2019

Philippa Snow

Essay

December 2019

‘Lindsay Lohan’s new film,’ I told almost everyone I spoke to for about two months earlier this year, ‘is about werewolf detectives.’ Nobody seemed...
Evita Vasiljeva, POSTCRETE

Art Review

February 2019

Philippa Snow

Art Review

February 2019

Lower.Green is situated in the unlikely surroundings of a near-dead mall in Norwich. It is not just any mall, but Anglia Square Shopping Centre:...
Gabriele Beveridge, Live Dead World

Art Review

November 2018

Philippa Snow

Art Review

November 2018

Several months ago, I went to a salon so small and so identikit that I do not recall the name, and against every sane...

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fiction

Issue No. 8

The Lady of the House

Claire-Louise Bennett

fiction

Issue No. 8

Wow it’s so still. Isn’t it eerie. Oh yes. So calm. Everything’s still. That’s right. Look at the rowers...

poetry

February 2015

In bed with the radio

Péter Závada

TR. Mark Baczoni

poetry

February 2015

IN BED WITH THE RADIO   You’d turned against me. There’s safety in knowing, I thought. Like lying in...

feature

Issue No. 5

Choose Your Own Formalism

David Auerbach

feature

Issue No. 5

1. ALL SQUARES RESIDE IN THE HUMAN BREAST In 2007 game designer and Second Life CEO Rod Humble wrote...

 

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