The Guardian
Performance and belonging: Rio de Janeiro’s ballroom scene – photo essay 31 August 2026 at 09:00

Performance and belonging: Rio de Janeiro’s ballroom scene – photo essay

31 August 2026 at 09:00

A look at the ballroom scene across Maré, Lapa, Gamboa and the city centre. The photographer Juliana Bizzo has documented a movement born from Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities in the US that has more recently evolved in Rio, growing from the city’s first ball in 2016

My first encounter with Rio de Janeiro’s ballroom scene was in 2023, during Noite das Estrelas, an artistic occupation that moved through the streets of Maré. From the top of a sound truck, the performer and drag queen Preta Queen B Rull, of the Kiki House of Mamba Negra, sang as people followed her through the neighbourhood. Before we had even reached our destination, the procession had changed the rhythm of the street.

Preta Queen B Rull performs from a sound truck during Noite das Estrelas.

The Guardian
A Chinese mermaid and Manchester Pride: photos of the weekend 30 August 2026 at 16:57

A Chinese mermaid and Manchester Pride: photos of the weekend

The Guardian

By: Jo Blason

30 August 2026 at 16:57

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

The Guardian
Big things and pink poodles: Frida Las Vegas’s tour of Australian kitsch – in pictures 29 August 2026 at 23:00

Big things and pink poodles: Frida Las Vegas’s tour of Australian kitsch – in pictures

The Guardian

By: Clare Press

29 August 2026 at 23:00

Stavroula Adameitis, AKA Frida Las Vegas, is an Adelaide-based artist and designer known for her camp, pop art aesthetic. A typical work might feature palm trees, poodles, Greek pillars or bin chickens (Australian white ibises), sometimes all at once. Does it veer into kitsch? ‘I hope so,’ she says. ‘Nostalgia, colour and fun can be very energising, and the feeling we get from these objects in popular culture binds us together.’

The term kitsch comes from the German verkitschen, meaning ‘to cheapen’. In the 19th century it was deployed by elites to look down on the supposedly trashy vulgarity of art for the masses. ‘The idea still carries negative connotations,’ says Adameitis. In her new book, she invites us to stop sneering and start relishing Australia’s unparalleled genius for kitsch: ‘Good kitsch laughs with you not at you. It brings people along for the ride.’

The Guardian
Stetsons and waterproofs at a very English country music festival 29 August 2026 at 21:34

Stetsons and waterproofs at a very English country music festival

The Guardian

By: Orlando Gili

29 August 2026 at 21:34

Country music fans use the Long Road festival in Leicestershire to mark the passing of Dolly Parton

The Guardian
‘The angle of the dog, the hat and the tattoo on her foot all come together’: Trace Meek’s best phone picture 29 August 2026 at 13:00

‘The angle of the dog, the hat and the tattoo on her foot all come together’: Trace Meek’s best phone picture

The Guardian

By: Grace Holliday

29 August 2026 at 13:00

A family day in a Florida back yard was the setting for a summertime memory it would be impossible to recreate

Trace Meek is abundantly proud of his Florida back yard. For the last 10 years, he and his wife, Lauren, have worked diligently on it. “It’s our happy place,” he says. “We live in Belleair Bluffs, and I’ve watched my son and daughter grow up playing in the dirt under our giant oak trees, swinging on the tree swing, riding their bikes and scooters on the circular path, and swimming in our pool. It’s big, with a really deep end and three water fountains that shoot over the top. We like to have a last jump into the pool before bed and, best of all, there are no iPads or TVs.”

The family had friends visiting for 4 July celebrations when Meek took this photo on his phone. There were six adults, six children and two dogs present. Harvey, a braque français, is pictured here on Lauren’s lap.

The Guardian
Sunsets, disasters, dinners: we now record them all with our phones. But what is that doing to our souls? | Phoebe Greenwood 29 August 2026 at 08:00

Sunsets, disasters, dinners: we now record them all with our phones. But what is that doing to our souls? | Phoebe Greenwood

The Guardian

By: Phoebe Greenwood

29 August 2026 at 08:00

As a war correspondent, I worked with photographers who said the camera was a buffer between them and reality. It is much the same now as we snap and scroll

I was sitting on a rooftop in Athens at sunset looking up at Filopappou hill. Athens in August is burning hot. Not so much hotter than London or Paris any more, but the sort of hot that makes it foolish to step out into sunlight before 6pm. Emerging from the air conditioning at dusk, I saw a dense line of silhouettes on the ridge above me. Almost every one of these shadows had its arm raised, holding a cameraphone towards the sunset.

Of all the pretty hills in the Greek capital, Filopappou arguably has the best view. The Acropolis stands directly to its north. To its south, where I sat, the city sprawls out towards the sea and a dark horizon of islands – Aegina, Salamina, Agistri.

The Guardian
The week around the world in 20 pictures 28 August 2026 at 21:06

The week around the world in 20 pictures

The Guardian

By: Jim Powell

28 August 2026 at 21:06

The Nepal-Tibet flood disaster, Russian strikes in Kyiv, Israeli settlers in the West Bank and tributes to Dolly Parton – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

The Guardian
Week in wildlife: a Cornish wallaby, a frazzled opossum and rare Montagu’s harrier chicks 28 August 2026 at 09:00

Week in wildlife: a Cornish wallaby, a frazzled opossum and rare Montagu’s harrier chicks

The Guardian

By: Pejman Faratin

28 August 2026 at 09:00

This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world

NYT > Top Stories
Roy Cohn, Robert Mapplethorpe and a Trump-Era Dilemma Over Free Speech 27 August 2026 at 12:02

Roy Cohn, Robert Mapplethorpe and a Trump-Era Dilemma Over Free Speech

NYT > Top Stories

By: Michael M. Grynbaum

27 August 2026 at 12:02

When a respected biographer tried to use a Mapplethorpe photograph of Roy Cohn for a book cover, worries about the wrath of Mr. Cohn’s protégé, President Trump, intervened.

Robert Mapplethorpe’s photograph of Roy Cohn, from 1981.

World news | The Guardian
Iran seeks to criminalise all contact with foreign media in ‘chilling’ crackdown 26 August 2026 at 08:00

Iran seeks to criminalise all contact with foreign media in ‘chilling’ crackdown

World news | The Guardian

By: Deepa Parent

26 August 2026 at 08:00

As photojournalist sentenced to 15 years, rights groups warn law would turn civic engagement into security crime

Iran has taken the first step towards criminalising contact with foreign media, in a move human rights groups have said attempts to “sever the entire Iranian society from the rest of the world”.

For journalists, researchers and even ordinary citizens, the proposed law being discussed by Iranian lawmakers this month could make speaking to international audiences and groups a potential criminal act and restrict coverage of events such as January’s mass anti-regime protests.

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