Unboxing Fascism

A beautifully designed bar of soap from Lisbon, Portugal has a lot to teach us about life under dictatorship. From the 1920s to the 1970s, the fascist regime of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar suppressed free expression, leading most artists to pour their creative energies into acceptable decorative arts. For me, this bar of soap from Claus Porto - it's gorgeous, and you should buy one - is a symbol of constrained artistic expression. I'm thinking about how beauty and artistic distractions can emerge under oppressive regimes. This episode touches on how today's political climate and commercial appetite for comforting, aesthetic distractions might mirror historical precedents. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter at TheRipCurrent.com!