International art, cinema, and music highlight this week’s culture picks

It's going to warm up a little bit this weekend, they tell us, but it’s still great weather for going indoors to check out some art. KUOW’s Kim Malcolm got these recommendations for things to do from Jas Keimig, who writes about arts and culture for The Stranger.

Thick As Mud, at Henry Art Gallery

This amazing group show pulls together eight contemporary international artists who explore mud as a material. Many of their works look at colonialism, land, capital, history, and memory.

I loved every piece in the show, but one was Ali Cherri’s gorgeous and immersive three-channel video, "Of Men and Gods and Mud." It follows seasonal mud-brick workers in northern Sudan. You feel like you're on the ground with these people, bathing in the river or building these structures.

James Baldwin Abroad, at The Beacon in Columbia City

This cinema is showing three newly restored documentary shorts, all centered around writer James Baldwin living abroad in the late 60s and early 70s. I've only seen one of them, "James Baldwin: From Another Place," which follows him in Istanbul. It’s a beautiful rumination on Blackness and American society and queerness. He speaks with such candidness about his emotions, his history, and his reflections on what it means to be a Black American in the world.

Sergio Mendes, at Dimitirou's Jazz Alley

Brazilian bossa nova god Sergio Mendes is playing five shows this weekend. I love Sergio Mendes so much. He’s in his 80s and he's still out there touring and going strong. I had the opportunity to see him play at Jazz Alley. I was in like the worst seat in the house, and it was still one of the most electrifying performances that I've had the opportunity to see.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.