Najah al-Bukai cannot forget.
As an accomplished artist in Syria before the war, Mr. Bukai had long thought his photographic memory was his greatest asset, allowing him to recreate scenes on his sketch pads and canvases days, months and even years after he witnessed them. But now, after he has survived two stretches in the Syrian government’s notorious detention centers, his sharp memories only serve to haunt him.
For FX Harsono, art is activism. Over the past four decades, performance, sculpture, and painting have become his means of nonviolent protest against government autocracy and ethnic strife in Indonesia.
In the past, prostitution was intrinsically tied to religion ritual and public policy, and it wasn't considered a taboo. Taking up from the idea of ancient sandals worn by prostitutes, the artist has created platform shoes that specifically focused on their protection and safety nowadays, with a GPS tracker that can send emergency signals to 911 or a sex workers' rights group.
It is exceedingly difficult to organize peaceful protests in Russia. Since the Kremlin’s “Special Operation” began on Feb. 24, police have detained nearly 15,000 people across the country in connection with peaceful demonstrations. On March 4, the Kremlin expanded the scope of illegal activity with two laws that criminalize war reporting and antiwar protest. As of March 15, 180 charges have been lodged against protesters.
BEIJING – Before Yue Xin became a central figure in China’s burgeoning movement against sexual harassment, she recorded herself singing a revamped version of the 1960s pop classic “Que Sera Sera.”
“Will we be equal? Will we be free?” sang the Peking University senior in a voice clip posted online, putting her own spin on Doris Day’s “Will I be pretty? Will I be rich?”
On 27th January 2013, the participatory project titled 175 hectares has run through the streets of the city of Trento (Italy). All the community has traced a line of white chalk that measures 6.3 km and the area included was 175 hectares: the exact surface area of the extermination camp of Birkenau (Auschwitz II, Poland).
El Sistema, also known as The National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestra and Choir, was established in Venezuela in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu, a Venezuelan educator, musician and activist. The music education program operates within the voluntary sector and is funded publicly.
Out in Schools is a high school outreach initiative that has received acclaim from parents and educators across British Columbia since 2004. The Out in Schools program uses age-appropriate film and video presentations to engage youth and educators on issues related to homophobia and violence.
Ronald Haeberle took a color photograph of the bloody corpses of men, women, and children after the Mai Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War in in March 1968, initially publishing it in Life magazine. Later the image was used by the Art Worker's Coalition to create the infamous poster, "And babies.," which superimposed "Q: And babies? A: And babies" in red letter across the top and bottom of the image.
Love is in the Air is a quintessential Banksy painting. The image of a masked militant poised to hurl a bouquet of flowers has become synonymous with the artist's indelible graphic style. One of Banksy’s most coveted works on canvas, it is an archetypal example of the artist’s use of dark humour, satire, and his perceptive, stimulating commentaries on contemporary political and social events.
If something is a total opposite to war, that is the practice of yoga. Concentrating or relaxing your muscles and mind in order to release tension, is something a soldier would never have the luxury to do under the dangerous circumstances of war.
Inventor Dan Abramson thought of a amazingly creative and beautiful way to connect the two, by creating “Yoga Joes”, a series of simple green plastic army men that have some killer… yoga moves.
Marking the six month anniversary of September 11th, a poster designed by artist Hans Haacke appeared on scaffolding and media walls throughout New York City. The poster itself was blank and white, consisting only of die-cut silhouettes of the World Trade Center towers. The posters effectively reminded the pubic that September 11th created a ubiquitous filter through which everyday realities have become measured or seen.
UK design students focusing on the use of design that moves beyond exclusivity, wealth, entitlement, and privilege, have created a coat that is also a shelter. The functional pocketed coat that converts into a tent and a sleeping bag, is intended for Syrian refugees. The students under the guidance of Dr.
There was once a time when Israeli songs like A Matter of
Habit were routinely written, aired and became hits. These
were songs of political commentary or protest, songs of hope
and idealism. They represented the aspirations of Israel's
secular liberal (generally Ashkenazi) elite. But that was
long ago.
Located in Thomas Paine Plaza, across the street from City Hall, Hank Willis Thomas’s All Power to All People was a public art intervention that dealt with racial identity and representation in Philadelphia.
“Baraye,” the anthem of Iran’s “Woman, Life, Liberty” protest movement—a song woven together entirely from a Twitter hashtag trend in which Iranians express their investment in the current protests—continues to unite Iranians in their opposition to the Islamic Republic several weeks after it was first released online.
The Monument Quilt is an on-going collection of stories of survivors of rape and abuse. By stitching our stories together, we are creating and demanding public space to heal. We are building a new culture where survivors are publicly supported rather than publicly shamed. From 2013-2016, more and more stories will be added to The Monument Quilt as participants make their own squares, host workshops, and organize local displays of the quilt.
When the last detention facility in Guantanamo Bay was officially decommissioned in 2010, an international team of artists, curators and architects began planning and designing a museum that would take the place of the detention facility - a little less than two years later, their work became reality.
In 2023, it is impossible to be an apolitical artist in Eastern Europe. As war rages on in Ukraine, art serves as a powerful and necessary tool, according the members of the Sunflower Solidary Community Center in Warsaw: Maria Beburia, Sebastian Cichocki, Kuba Depczyński, Taras Gembik, Yulia Krivich, Kaja Kusztra, Natalia Sielewicz, and Bogna Stefańska.
While meditating in front of a Nepalese Sarasvati statue on New Year's Day in 1991 at her California home, Mayumi received a calling that brought a sudden halt to painting. Having witnessed the horrors of atomic bombings as a child and later, watching her beloved Japan become a leader in nuclear-energy, and seeing the effects of depleted uranium, Mayumi had to pursue a global cause greater than her art or feminism.