In her landmark speech, “Ain’t I a Woman,” abolitionist Sojourner Truth spoke to the humanity of Black women at the predominantly white Women’s Rights Convention in 1851. Exemplifying the hardships she had endured while enslaved and afterward, Truth rhetorically asked, “Ain’t I woman?” throughout her speech to assert the rights of Black women within the movement. Now, artist-activist Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter is bringing this question to the halls of the Brooklyn Museum with a wrenching exhibition that opened in late January.

In a 15-minute documentary, also titled Ain’t I a Woman, the Philadelphia-based artist uses an original hip-hop composition under the name Isis Tha Saviour to underscore the through-lines between mass incarceration and slavery. She recreates the harrowing experience of being shackled and denied medical care during 43 hours of labor as an expectant mother while in prison. Asked by Baxter, the question of “Ain’t I Woman” demands better from a broader reproductive justice movement that has largely ignored the implications of mass incarceration on bodily autonomy.

For the show’s second work, Consecration to Mary, Baxter tries to reclaim bodily autonomy for a young Black girl who was victimized by the widely revered Philadelphia painter Thomas Eakins, a known predator. Baxter superimposes her own image over sexually exploitative photographs of the girl, whose identity remains unknown, shielding the child’s body from view. Reckoning with the nature of such works, even with Baxter’s image as protector and guardian, is devastating.

“[It’s] an opportunity for Black women to experience what reimagining our personal and collective traumas can do for our healing,” Baxter tells Surface. “We can take ownership over our autonomy in this creative way and it can be across time.” In an interview, she digs into the power of hip hop, holding museums accountable, and using art to demand systemic change in the carceral system.

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Reach the design world every morning. Find out more about advertising in the Design Dispatch.

Sydney’s vibrant dining scene is rejoicing the arrival of Rafi, a 300-seat restaurant that fuses contemporary design and the city’s love affair with seafood. Conceived by local studio Luchetti Krelle, Rafi is a celebration of the abundant produce from Sydney’s coastline, offering a seasonal menu of small plates (butternut pumpkin with black garlic; grilled Glacier 51 toothfish with koji) courtesy of Peruvian executive head chef Matias Cillóniz.

Named after the children of owners Ben Carroll and Hamish Watts, the space is filled with childlike wonder and playful decor elements. From the trio of giant paper lanterns, mosaic flooring, and an open kitchen with a chunky red mantelpiece to Walmajarri artist Jimmy Pike’s stools lined with fabric inspired by the Australian desert, every corner of Rafi invites guests to bask in visual pleasures. The intimate private dining room, complete with a branch-like chandelier and abstract artwork, greenhouse-style dining room dubbed The Arbor, and sprawling terrace dotted with “Aperol-toned” umbrellas are just a few options to perch with a glass of local Pinot Gris and enjoy the Australian sun.

This week, RxART hosted its annual gala to celebrate the work of the nonprofit’s collaborating artists, hospital partners, and major supporters. The festivities honored artists Nina Chanel Abney and Derrick Adams with the RxART Inspiration Award to recognize their recent installations in the pediatric departments at NYC Health + Hospitals Elmhurst and Harlem. RxART founder and president Diane Brown welcomed the chic “color-block”–attired crowd, who sat down for a family-style dinner and sipped negronis by Doce Mezcal.

When was it? Feb. 8

Where was it? Nine Orchard, New York

Who was there? Brian Donnelly, Mickalene Thomas, Neil Blumenthal, Jasmine Wahi, Jack Shainman, Nicolas Party, and more.

After launching his career as a graphic designer in Venice, Marco Campardo relocated to London to double down on his passion for product design, sustainable materials, and tweaking industrial processes to simply see what happens. The results are bearing fruit: a stellar showcase of his playful polyurethane resin Jello furniture at this past year’s Fuorisalone perhaps forecasted him winning the coveted Ralph Saltzman Prize at London’s Design Museum, where a wide-ranging survey of his practice is on view until April 3.

At more than 400 pages, Odili Donald Odita traces the evolution of the Nigerian-American artist’s practice: from the mixed-media collages of his early career to the mesmerizing abstract paintings that curator Robert Storr has credited with rejuvenating the medium a century after its invention. The Sternthal volume pairs photographs of Odita’s works and installations over the years with the ads, photographs, and news clippings that make up The Black Album—a collection of visual media the artist has compiled to document race and Black culture in America.

The publication accompanies “Burning Cross,” Odita’s current solo exhibition at Jack Shaiman New York, in which his kaleidoscopic abstract paintings explore how a perceived “threat to democracy” and white supremacy underscores the rampant bigotry afflicting society today.

Surface readers are invited to celebrate the book’s launch at Jack Shainman Gallery (513 W 20 St, New York) on Feb. 11 at 3:30PM with an artist talk featuring Ian Sternthal, Gregory Volk, and Ugochukwu Smooth-Ngewi.

Our weekly roundup of the internet’s most preposterous headlines, from the outrageous to the outright bizarre.

700 Pounds of Acorns Found Stuffed by Woodpeckers Inside Walls of California Home [CNN]

Use the New Panera Purse to Carry a Better Sandwich [Eater]

Adam Neumann Says His Apartments Will Make Tenants Want to Plunge Their Own Toilets [Bloomberg]

Hogs Are Running Wild in the U.S.—And Spreading Disease [National Geographic]

Fresno Yoga Duo Dosed Malibu Doc and Defrauded Him for Millions [LA Mag]

What’s the Deal With That Essay About How the “Waffle House Brawl” Is Like an Edward Hopper Painting? Here’s My Guess [Artnet News]

Montreal’s No. 1 Ranked Restaurant on TripAdvisor Actually Doesn’t Exist [Food & Wine]

When: Until March 12

Where: Over the Influence, L.A.

What: Each artist in this group exhibition employs different formal elements of interruption to spur abstraction, from Brittany Fanning’s photographic image cropping to create bougie-garden dreamscapes to Zes’s layered canvases, where gesture, broad stroke, and paint build up the surface to excite the phenomenological effects of physical mark making.

In the rarefied world of fashion, the Hermès Birkin bag is an extraordinarily rarefied product—and at one point could have reigned as the world’s rarest bag. Named after the actress Jane Birkin, the handbags are meticulously hand-made by the luxury French label’s specialized artisans over an agonizing 18-hour-long process. The ten-figure totes are exceptionally hard to come by and famously have years-long wait lists, sometimes fetching nearly 23 times their retail value on the secondary market. So Hermès executives watched in horror as unauthorized digital versions of the coveted bag made the rounds on social media during 2021’s NFT boom.

Hermès quickly sued creator Mason Rothschild, arguing that MetaBirkins were diluting the French maison’s trademark, causing confusion in the marketplace, and profiting off the appeal of the Hermès brand. Rothschild rebuffed that his MetaBirkins are original artworks—in this case, digital assets sold on the blockchain—and shielded by the First Amendment. This week, a federal jury determined that Rothschild infringed on the label’s trademark rights and awarded Hermès $133,000 in damages. The case concluded that his NFTs were not protected speech, a ruling likely to influence how digital artists use trademarks in their work.

Sudio utilizes the latest technology available to create premium audio devices that meet the highest standards of sound, design, and simplicity. That has been the cornerstone of the Sudio process since 2012, and is why they deliver an unparalleled listening experience.

Surface Says: With its use of premium materials and audio engineering expertise, Sudio’s tech offers everything a devoted listener could possibly ask for.

A hobbyist unearths a rare, Renaissance-era pendant connected to royals.

Inventive homeowners transform disused airplanes into chic abodes.

Fashion designers are scrambling to cash in on the puzzling pickleball craze.

A funky apartment building inspired by Mario Kart will soon rise in Phoenix.