Main Gallery

People React to Being Called Beautiful
Practitioner:
Shea Glover
Date:
Dec 4 2015
Shea Glover, age 18, began a senior project that became an activist/social campaign. Shea approached people throughout her high school and asked them if they would pose for her senior project. To each person she would say, I'm taking pictures of things I find beautiful". Recording the entire encounter revealed the diverse reactions of each student and teacher. Some erupted with laughter, others a huge grin, while some embarrassment.
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Stella Nyanzi's Birthday Poem "Yoweri, they say it was your birthday yesterday."
Practitioner:
Stella Nyanzi
Date:
Sep 15 2018
Dr. Stella Nyanzi, a Ugandan medical anthropologist, activist, and writer, was convicted after writing and posting a poem online, in which she criticized Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his mother. In November 2018, Ugandan authorities charged Dr. Nyanzi with “cyber harassment” and “offensive communication” under Sections 24 and 25 of the 2011 Computer Misuse Act, and detained her in connection with the poem.
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Lady Gaga's Meat dress
Practitioner:
Lady Gaga
Date:
Sep 12 2010
Lady Gaga showed up to the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards wearing a dress made out of raw meat. She claimed that the dress showed her disgust towards the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, but missed the media opportunity to clearly string her thoughts together.
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Bon Appetit
Practitioner:
KD Key Detail
Date:
Sep 3 2013
Creative Graffiti at the Urban Culture Festival in Germany By Loredana Loy A street art project by by KD Key Detail from Minsk, Belarus--created and featured at the IBUg 2013 Urban Culture Festival in Zwickau, Germany. The project is entitled "Bon Appetit." Images speak louder than words. Links and photos below.
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Dance with ghost, Student using dance to protest the corrupt Chinese tradition
Practitioner:
Frebel Crew, a street dance club of students at Guangxi University of Finance and Economics
Date:
Nov 20 2020
A viral video of a student dance performance in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has won praise for speaking out against so-called ghost marriages, which many today see as an archaic and even dangerous tradition.
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Artist and Activist Niki Lopez Helps Trauma Survivors Through Art
Practitioner:
Nikki Lopez
Date:
Apr 11 2018
Artist and activist Niki Lopez is a survivor. From age 11 to 25, she was trapped in a religious cult in Georgia, where she was separated from the rest of her family. The cult's leader sexually abused her. But in 2000, Lopez escaped and worked with the FBI to put him in prison. She was later given a humanitarian award from the FBI for her help in putting her abuser behind bars.
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Manifest Justice
Practitioner:
Manifest Justice
Date:
May 10 2015
Last August, as protesters marched in Ferguson, Missouri, after the death of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old unarmed teen shot by a police officer, another group of activists began thinking about how to incorporate the creative community into the movement. The result is Manifest:Justice, a free pop-up art show taking place in Los Angeles.
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QUINCEAÑERA PROTEST: Texas teens protest against SB 4 at Capitol
Practitioner:
Texas Teens
Date:
Jul 17 2017
Highlights: A handful of teens donned puffy quinceañera dresses to protest against the “sanctuary cities” ban. The teens gave paper flowers to lawmakers who voted against SB 4 and flyers to those who voted in favor. Texas teens took part in a quinceañera-themed protest on the south steps of the Capitol to voice their opposition to Senate Bill 4, the so-called sanctuary cities ban.
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Orca whale light/drone performance in Russia
Practitioner:
Greenpeace
Date:
Feb 17 2023
A performance in support of a bill banning the catch of cetaceans for cultural and educational purposes in Russia. The bill was supposed to pass readings in the lower house of parliament but unfortunately it was postponed; this activity is meant to help generate support for it to pass. The action was timed to coincide with the World Whale and Dolphin Day (Feb 19).
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Cliteracy
Practitioner:
Sophia Wallace
Date:
Jun 1 2012
According to the artist:
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The Rhode Island-based artist creates sculptures from trash that look like wildlife from one perspective — but reveal themselves as much more when you take a closer look.
Practitioner:
Thomas Deininger
Date:
Mar 17 2025
“Works in Progress” highlights artists across a range of disciplines whose work deals with ecological themes. Considering the particular role that artists play in the climate movement, this column shares their voices and provides a glimpse behind the curtain into their creative processes and experiences.
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Op-Doc A Conversation With Latinos on Race
Practitioner:
JOE BREWSTER, BLAIR FOSTER and MICHÈLE STEPHENSON
Date:
Feb 29 2016
In this short documentary, Latinos grapple with defining their ethnic and racial identities http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/opinion/a-conversation-with-latinos-on...
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Protests, sainthoods and unapologetic queer joy: The secret history of the secular LGBT+ nuns
Practitioner:
Sister Polly Amorosa, the founder of the Trans Pennine Travelling Sisters
Date:
Jun 1 2021
As she puts the finishing touches to her habit, Sister Clarita, a Mexican immigrant living in Los Angeles, tells me that there are more than 3,000 LGBT+ nuns around the world. They’re part of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an international network of activists who identify as secular nuns.
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The Future Republic of Macedonia of the Former Republic of Macedonia
Practitioner:
Citizens of The Future Republic of Macedonia of the Former Republic of Macedoninia
Date:
Mar 22 2014
The Future Republic of Macedonia of the Former Republic of Macedonia Devised, constructed and carried out all within 24 hours, the Future Republic of Macedonia of the Former Republic of Macedonia opened its borders for 2 hours on Saturday 22nd March, 2014.
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Male students walk a mile in red high heels to help stop sexual violence against women
Practitioner:
University of Miami students
Date:
Apr 20 2019
"University of Miami students, mostly male, walked a mile in red high heeled shoes. They are walking a mile in her shoes. The mile long walk was in support of Walk a Mile in Her Shoes®, an international men’s march to stop rape, sexual assault and gender violence. The organization, which says on Facebook that they were founded in 2001, has walks around the world.
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One People Flash Mob
Practitioner:
dancewithoutborders
Date:
Dec 13 2011
On 19 November 2011 over 100 dancers converged at OccupySF & Oakland to dance the world awake. 
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Four Dead in Ohio
Practitioner:
Neil Young, Students at Kent State University
Date:
May 1 1970
“Tin Soldiers and Nixon’s Coming. We’re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming. Four Dead in Ohio."
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Movimento Vem Pra Rua (Come to the Streets)
Practitioner:
Rogério Chequer / People in Brazil
Date:
Dec 1 2014
Vem Pra Rua is a nonpartisan, democratic, and pluralist movement that emerged in response to society’s fight for a better Brazil. Brazilians of all regions, social classes, and ages began mobilizing at the end of 2014—building on the 2013 marches that protested corruption, inequality, and other socio-economic and political problems.
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Centros Sociales Okupados Autogestionados (CSOAs) in Spain: From abandoned houses to activist enclaves
Practitioner:
Movimiento Okupa
Date:
Jan 1 1980
A Centro Social Okupado Autogestionado (Self-Managed Occupied Social Center) or CSOA is an occupied building dedicated to the development of social and cultural activities. They are part of the “movimiento okupa” (“squatter movement”), a label created and circulated by the mainstream press.
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Conflict Kitchen sponsors live Skype Meal between Pittsburgh and Tehran, Iran
Practitioner:
Conflict Kitchen
Date:
Jun 5 2010
"A few months ago artists John Peña, Jon Rubin, and Dawn Weleski opened Conflict Kitchen, a take-out restaurant that only serves cuisine from countries that the United States is in conflict with. Nowadays the Iranian food is served at the counter. More precisely, the kubideh, a dish made of grilled ground meat in freshly baked barbari bread with onion, mint, and basil.
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