PHOENIX – WNBA star Brittney Griner said she contemplated suicide during the first few weeks of her stay in a Russian prison following her 2022 arrest on drug charges.

Griner spoke for the first time about her month-long detention in Russia during an hour-long interview that aired Wednesday night on ABC. Her diary might be released on May 7.

Griner was detained upon arrival at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vaping cartridges allegedly containing oil derived from cannabis.

“I wanted to take my own life more than once in the first few weeks,” Griner told Robin Roberts in an interview. “I wanted to leave here so bad.”

She decided to accomplish that partly because she feared that Russian authorities wouldn’t release her body to her family.

Her difficult situation unfolded concurrently Russia invaded Ukraine and further escalated tensions between Russia and the United States, which ended only after her release in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Griner said she was forced to write down a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin before being released.

“They forced me to write down this letter. It was in Russian,” she added. “I needed to make an apology and thanks from their so-called great leader. I didn’t need to do it, but at the identical time I desired to go home.

She was upset when she boarded the industrial plane and that Paul Whelan, one other American held in Russia, was not with her.

“I kept walking and didn’t see him, possibly he’ll be next. Maybe they’ll bring him in next,” she said. “They closed the door and I thought: Are you serious? You won’t let this man come home now.

Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury. The WNBA season starts on May 14.

Today, the Carnegie Museum of Art announced that the work will be on view from May 11, 2024, to January 12, 2025, in the museum’s Heinz Galleries. Next month, a podcast amplifying the voices of artists, writers and scientists will debut, hosted by tennis champion and humanities advocate Venus Williams.

The 6-episode podcast series, premiering on June 26, 2024, will feature 20 celebrities including AK Burns, Raven Chacon, Dionne Lee, Xaviera Simmons and Sky Hopkina. Podcast authors will address issues of colonial legacy, landscapes marked by memory, human adaptability and complicity, and ecological anxiety, foreground narratives and people who find themselves often missed or excluded from conversations about landscape.

“I am honored to collaborate with the Carnegie Museum of Art on an incredibly meaningful project that integrates art, the environment and thoughtful storytelling,” says Venus Williams. “The participating artists and thinkers you will hear on the podcast represent diverse, global perspectives and a wide range of backgrounds and experiences; I’m proud to help amplify their voices as they encourage us to consider new and alternative ways of relating to our landscapes through photography.”

The synergistic partnership between the Carnegie Museum of Art and Williams has resulted in a shared interest in increasing access to art, engaging new and diverse perspectives, and scary conversation around the exhibition’s timely, key themes. An avid collector of contemporary art with a particular interest in promoting and preserving the legacy of artists of color, Williams was drawn to the collaboration by the opportunity to expand her knowledge of the photographic medium and have interaction a wide audience who may not otherwise give you the chance to accomplish that. interact with the museum.

In addition to the podcast series, the project consists of an intensive exhibition bringing together nearly 100 works by 19 artists, an intensive suite of public programming, and a fully illustrated publication offering visitors multiple entry points into the American landscape. The exhibition – and broader project – has emerged as one of the most significant surveys of contemporary photography presented this 12 months, and is a component of the latest installment of the museum’s renowned Hillman Photography Initiative, an ongoing series that invites viewers to explore new ideas about art and photography.

“The project is explicitly looking at how the camera can act as a tool to challenge inherited narratives about people and ecology, and foreground stories that are often overlooked or excluded,” says Dan Leers, curator of photography at the Carnegie Museum of Art. “We are excited the opportunity to bring together a multitude of artists and thinkers who stimulate their creative agency to ask difficult questions and envision possible futures.”

A series of public programs launch on Saturday, May 11, 2024, activating the project inside and out of doors the museum. Visitors can join artists, environmentalists and poets to locate themselves and their stories in space.

Additional details about programs and events will be found at carnegieart.org.

Ever since I first met Shaboozey just a few months ago, I’ve been trying to grasp how the hell he became the artist he’s. He is from Woodbridge, Virginia, which is an element of the Washington suburbs in Northern Virginia. He is an American of Nigerian descent. He can be 20 years old. His entire profile reads as a hip-hop artist, leaning trap. And he did it. The first song I heard about him that permit me know who he was was “Beverly Hills,” which is largely a trap jam in the same vein as Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.”

But the more I began being attentive and listening to his music (this was all before his appearance on Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter”), the more I saw this heavy lean towards, I suppose, country/Americana/folk music. His singing voice is crazy. But I wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. And then I heard “Let it burn” and I said, “Oh, my friend handled it!” It’s like Future played country, backwood jams with banjo and fiddle and wore Carhartts and large buckles in a non-ironic way. Again, Shaboozey’s voice is crazy and his lyrics are amazing. As for the package, he’s prepared to leap on the country music bandwagon, take up space and take quite a lot of individuals with him. The production value of his music and music videos is top notch.

And then “Cowboy Carter” dropped and ended up in each “SPAGHETTI” AND “SWEET*HONEY*BUCKIIN'” and I felt in my shando that it was about to go to the races. You don’t hear his voice (like all the other artists on “Cowboy Carter”) and you do not need to listen to any more.

Now we’ve probably one in all the best multicultural and unifying songs I actually have ever heard, including “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” Oh my. Good sir.

Have you ever heard a song and immediately knew it was a success? That’s exactly how I felt as soon as “The Bar Song (Tipsy)” hit. The hit is great, but what makes this song special is that it not only jams hard, but additionally takes the lyrics to J-Kwon’s 2004 mega-hit “Tipsy” to the band, he created a song that you just might run into (in fact) at a bar in a club – I bet J-Kwon is waiting for a call NOW. The song can be sung for thus long that I can hear it elsewhere. Even those that don’t love banjos and fiddles will find this song infectious. Well, the song begins with a story about his woman wanting a Birkin, a cross-cultural, class-based concern for all of us, and our significant others who want the finer things in life. We all work hard for money, but we never have enough of it.

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Like a lot of us who visit clubs and bars to flee reality, “The Bar Song (Tipsy)” is made for Friday night fun. I mean, who doesn’t have a history with Jack Daniels, you already know? Shaboozey’s penchant for creating relatable content is amazing. I feel like I want to go to a bar JUST this weekend and see what happens when the song comes on since it’s playing in all the places where white people gather. Black venues may be slower in reception, but all it takes is one DJ to play it, after which just a few people in the crowd who know the whole room is playing in two steps and shouting “one, then they go two to three and four!”

Apparently I’m not the just one who feels this manner. In historic style, Shaboozey’s “The Bar Song (Tipsy)” is currently the No. 1 song on Billboard’s country chart, marking the first time a Black artist has overtaken one other Black artist for the No. 1 song on the chart. The song he overtook was none apart from Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold’ Em.”

The yee-haw program is in full swing and running at full speed and I’m completely happy to be here. Pour me a glass of Jack Daniels.

Oh my. Good sir.