volume two

Palestine will be free.

Low Altitude is free to read. Instead, we encourage our readers to mobilise, support and donate to end the genocide. 

Donate to gift of the givers and stay up-to-date with pro-Palestinian events by following Passive Stance or the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Instagram :

A large crowd participating in a protest or rally, with many holding flags and signs related to Palestine. The crowd includes diverse men and women, some wearing keffiyeh scarves and patriotic clothing.
People holding up a large rainbow-colored banner or flag at a street protest or march, with a crowd in the background and some green smoke in the air.

death on the treadmill tv

Rereading Teju Cole's 'Death in the Browser Tab'

ASHLEY ALLARD

It is a couple days after the anniversary of October 7 that I go to the gym. I go alone today. I go to the treadmills. It is three o’clock in the afternoon and the gym is mostly empty.

On the treadmill screen, a body of a Palestinian woman is being carried by three men, her pink dress trails along the floor, a child clutches at the hem. Headlines blare across the screen in violent yellow and red and then there are missiles flying and crashing and buildings crumbling to ruin. I haven’t seen a fully-intact Gazan building since viral coverage began. It is difficult to imagine that there were any to begin with.

Police officers detaining a person at a cafe counter while a worker looks on.
An elderly man with sunburned skin sitting outdoors under a tree, using binoculars, with people relaxing and standing in the background.
People at an outdoor event in an urban area with large advertisement posters, including a Lancôme ad featuring a woman with blonde hair in a pink top, high-rise buildings in the background, and children and adults walking around.

kwei shun-yu

桂順禹

Children and adults playing and dancing in the rain on a wet outdoor surface at night. Some people are wearing swimsuits or light clothing, and there are illuminated signs and people in the background.
A man stands on a city sidewalk with his eyes covered by another person's hands, in an urban setting with cars, pedestrians, and tall buildings.

The Beauty of the Language
of the Missile

Adam van Graan

If a gun is whose end.

If carrying a gun is carrying an end.

Whose hands hold the most ends, the most houses with the most ends

Probably are somewhere in America, we know this, everybody is talking about it.

I mean the news delivers it to us as if on a missile,

But sometimes the missile is the news,

Sometimes the news explodes and kills 100 people.

That is the beauty of the language of the missile: everybody can read a dead body.

And after, everybody starts to talk in dead bodies.

That is the beauty of the war: it is so, so easy to translate

review

+

review +

The Iron Claw: “I used to be a brother.”

I’ve spent a lot of time recently pondering the relationship between ways of being that are, on the surface, coexisting. But, if we were to delve a little deeper, we would see that they are in fact, codependent. One cannot exist without the other. In The Iron Claw, we follow the Von Erich brothers, who have cultivated this unbreakable bond with one another that is bourn of abuse, both physically and emotionally. One might think their bond exists despite the abuse, but I argue that it exists because of it. But it didn’t have to. That is the true tragedy of The Iron Claw...

Mukisa Mujulizi

Black and white photograph of a person's nude torso, with a shadow of a plant's leaves cast across their side.
Black and white photo of a woman and a young child among large tangled tree roots, both partially unclothed.

sophie smith

A flamingo standing in shallow water near a rusty structure, with its head lowered towards the ground.

Thoughts on Driving

Skye Simpson

I’m twenty-five, and I’ve been thinking about everything lately. I can’t believe it’s May and I can’t believe I can drive a car. Every morning, I wake up with a sick, aching feeling in my stomach as I realise I have to do things. I lie in bed until the last minute I can when my alarm has finished ringing for the sixth time. Then I get up. I walk into the kitchen and start making myself and my roommate coffee. I unscrew the Bialetti and empty out the old coffee grounds from the day before, wash it, boil the water, pour the water into the base, scoop the grounds into the basket, and twist on the top. Then I put it on the stove and wait for the hot liquid to bubble out and spit at me until I take it off the heat...

Three women and one man standing on a city sidewalk near a shop window, with a reflective glass and dark textured wall behind them, during what appears to be evening or night.

Interview

+

Interview +

Disconnecting Failure from your Worth:

An Interview with Body Lovin’
Series Founder, Bianca Rasmussen

Young woman with curly hair smiling and holding a microphone, standing on stage with purple and silver decor in the background.

Troye Alexander

Two men posing on a colorful vintage couch in a casual indoor setting, one wearing sunglasses and jewelry, the other in fishnet stockings and boots.
Black and white photo of a person with short, wavy hair wearing a dark blazer, holding their hand over their face, revealing tattoos on their neck and fingers.
A musician passionately performing into a microphone with a clenched fist, surrounded by people at a concert or club, with graffiti-covered walls in the background.
A person walking near a fire on a street at night, with large flames and smoke rising into the sky.
Person with a shaved head and bold makeup, wearing a shiny gold and black top with pink ruffles, posing in front of a dark background.

A Night at Nkoli:

The Vogue Opera

A performer wearing a beige beret, black headband, and red mesh dress on stage, surrounded by people in costumes, with colorful lighting and fog.

Steff Malherbe

I left the Baxter theatre, after watching Nkoli: The Vogue Opera, exhausted. It was the kind of tiredness that comes from the use of all your senses, your emotions jolting up and down and repeatedly clapping and stomping your feet along to music; the kind of fatigue that comes from both laughing and crying hysterically within the space of a few hours. I did not quite know what to expect when I walked into the Baxter theatre, but it certainly was not what I was met with. S’bo Gyre, co-lyricist of the Opera with Philip Miller, described it best when they said, “Think if Hamilton and RuPaul’s Drag Race had a baby in South Africa. That’s Nkoli: The Vogue-Opera!”. The show is somehow a perfect concoction of drag, ballroom, archival multimedia, unbelievable choreography, a live orchestra, astonishing (and intentional) wardrobe choices and of course, opera…

Person with light skin and short dark hair submerged in clear green water, with their head facing down.

Joanne Roodt

A pregnant woman sitting on a gray couch, wearing a white crop top and jeans, with her hand resting on her belly and her other hand on her chest, looking at the camera.
A nude woman lying face down on a large rock surrounded by boulders outdoors.
A shirtless man with short hair and jewelry stands against a plain white background, posed in profile with his right hand near his face and his left arm crossed over his chest.

Review

+

Review +

Mr & Mrs Smith:

Would You Still Love Me if I Was an International Super Spy?

By now, we should have all seen the original Mr. and Mrs. Smith, starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. In that story, we follow a married couple that spends six years unaware that their partner is a spy. Hard to believe, I know, but the charm of Angelina Jolie and her co-star whisks away any form of logic and replaces it with romance. And a Spicy Romance at that. Their dynamic is undeniably attractive to their counterpart and the audience, spurred on by the real-life affair initiated while filming this very movie. At this point you would have to ask yourself, what more could this story need?

Mukisa Mujulizi