Killian Fox

Dublin

Writer at Freelance

Writes for the Observer and elsewhere. Previously: The Gannet. Gmail: killianfox. @killianfox0.bsky.social

Articles

SXSW London: ‘A love letter to the capital I know’

6 days ago | observer.co.uk | Killian Fox

The trend-setting festival comes to England this week, and the cutting-edge music isn’t the half of it Over the past four decades, South by Southwest (SXSW) has gone from a tiny annual showcase for new musical talent in Austin, Texas, to a sprawling behemoth that takes over the city for a week each March, encompassing film and technology as well as music.
On my radar: Delaine Le Bas’s cultural highlights | The Observer

6 days ago | observer.co.uk | Killian Fox

The artist on feeling like a child at the theatre, her red felt boots and birthdays on the beach Delaine Le Bas was born in Worthing in 1965. She studied art at West Sussex College of Design and then Central Saint Martins. Her wide-ranging work uses embroidery, painting, decoupage, sculpture, performance and other media to explore her Roma heritage and address issues of nationhood, land, belonging and gender. Last year she was shortlisted for the Turner prize, for Incipit Vita Nova.
The big picture: Larry Fink’s New York state of mind

6 days ago | observer.co.uk | Killian Fox

The celebrated photographer contrives a moment of Manhattan hedonism as George Plimpton looks on In 1999, the photographer Larry Fink orchestrated a fashion shoot in New York. The location was the celebrity hangout Elaine’s and the theme was Sweet Smell of Success, the 1957 movie about a gossip columnist, played by Burt Lancaster, exerting his power amid the shadowy whirl of midtown Manhattan.
Marie-Laure de Decker’s Vietnam war self-portrait

1 week ago | observer.co.uk | Killian Fox

The French photographer cast an original eye on the violent conflicts she covered It’s 1971 and the war in Vietnam rages on. Recently arrived in Saigon from Paris with no experience of combat situations, Marie-Laure de Decker boards a US army helicopter for a reconnaissance mission. The 24-year-old photographer is on assignment for Newsweek, having replaced the French photographer François Sully, killed in a helicopter crash that February.
Liz Diller: ‘I truly believe you should do work that you’re totally unqualified to do’

1 week ago | observer.co.uk | Killian Fox

Liz Diller, 70, is the co-founder of Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, the architecture firm best known for renovating the High Line in New York. She was born in Poland in 1958 and moved to the US with her parents aged two. She studied architecture at Cooper Union, where her future husband and business partner, Ricardo Scofidio, was teaching (Scofidio died in March, aged 89). DS+R’s other projects include the Shed at Hudson Yards, the Broad in Los Angeles and the expansion of MoMA.
On my radar: Jenny Hval’s cultural highlights

2 weeks ago | observer.co.uk | Killian Fox

The musician on Naomi Klein’s investigation into the dark side of politics, the Norway folk revival and her favourite scent Jenny Hval was born in Oslo in 1980. She studied creative writing at the University of Melbourne and has written four novels, including Perlebryggeriet (published in English as Paradise Rot in 2018), but is better known for her experimental and often provocative pop music.
Julie Lin’s aunties are her toughest critics

1 month ago | observer.co.uk | Killian Fox

Recipes from the rising star’s debut cookbook Portrait by Amit LennonFood Photography by Liz SeabrookIn 2011, Julie Lin made a note to self on Facebook: “New mission in life,” she wrote in a status update on 4 December: “be Nigella Lawson.” At the time, she was working in retail in Glasgow and teaching piano and violin while channelling most of her creative energies into cooking dinner parties for friends.
‘It’s our duty to make Gaza’s stories immortal’

1 month ago | msn.com | Killian Fox

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Journalist Ahmed Alnaouq: ‘It’s our duty to make Gaza’s stories immortal’

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Killian Fox

On 22 October 2023, an Israeli airstrike hit Ahmed Alnaouq’s home in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, killing 21 members of his family, including his 75-year-old father, two brothers, three sisters and all of their children. At the time, Alnaouq was living in London, where he works as a journalist and human rights activist. “It crushed me,” he says of the attack. Unable to return home, he could only watch helplessly from afar and grieve alone.
On my radar: Nell Zink’s cultural highlights

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Killian Fox

Nell Zink was born in California in 1964 and grew up in rural Virginia. Before becoming a published novelist in her 50s, she worked a variety of odd jobs including bricklayer, technical writer and secretary, also running a postpunk zine. In 2014, with the help of Jonathan Franzen, she published her debut novel The Wallcreeper, followed closely by Mislaid, which was longlisted for a National Book Award.