The forests of India are a critical resource for the subsistence of rural peoples throughout the country, but especially in hill and mountain areas, both because of their direct provision of food, fuel and fodder and because of their role in stabilising soil and water resources.
"A new photographic work created by Ayyam Gallery artist Tammam Azzam has captured the imaginations of the world, going viral and being shared across social media as a symbol of the power of love and human spirit in times of war. The Syrian artist has superimposed Gustav Klimt’s iconic work, The Kiss (1907 – 1908), over the walls of a war-torn building in his native country in a powerful juxtaposition of beauty and devastation.
"Members of the Reclaim Shakespeare Company jumped on stage at the Noël Coward theatre to deliver another surprise anti-BP performance. Just before the second half of a BP-sponsored Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) performance of Much Ado About Nothing was due to begin, the three actor-vists performed a short Shakespeare-inspired piece.
In 1989, playwright, actor, and activist Safdar Hashmi was fatally attacked by political thugs while performing a street play outside of Delhi. His death led to the founding of Sahmat, an influential artist collective that has taken a consistent stance against the threats of religious fundamentalism and sectarianism in India through a vibrant mix of high art and street culture.
We Animals is an ambitious project which documents, through photography, animals in the human environment. Humans are as much animal as the sentient beings we use for food, clothing, research, experimentation, work, entertainment, slavery and companionship. With this as its premise, We Animals aims to break down the barriers that humans have built which allow us to treat nonhuman animals as objects and not as beings with moral significance.
Racist adverts promoting hatred against Muslims are currently being run on buses in San Francisco - but someone has started covering them up with anti-hatred messages from Marvel's première Muslim superhero, Ms. Marvel.
I really enjoy the events that we host at The Sanctuaries. They're well planned but not over-planned, so there's space to just be yourself. On Monday, January 19th, we held a wonderful event that celebrated the teachings and life of Martin Luther King, Jr. The turnout was strong!
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.
See below for a link to the performance of the song at the Academy Awards.
From Salon: How Common and John Legend’s performance of “Glory” fired up Oscar night’s idling empathy machine by Sonia Saraiya
On 6 January 2012, Metrópolis (TVE 2) broadcast "Activismo y Ficción", a report directed by Enmedio members Leónidas Martín and Núria Campabadal. It looks at a series of creative projects that lie somewhere between fiction and social activism.
Coal Seam Greed was going to be a simple satire showing Katso and Nowhereman posing as a mining company called Reed Gas and erecting notices stating their intent to explore for unconventional gas or CSG in inner-city Brisbane. The idea was that residents would see the signs, phone and leave messages in response, which would then be incorporated into the video.
Orquesta Solfónica de Madrid
The Orquesta Solfónica de Madrid (Solphonic Orchestra of Madrid) is a self-organized orchestra that was formed in the context of the social movement 15M and that has gained popularity for playing classical music in demonstrations and acts of social protest.
“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.” Mahatma Gandhi
#FUEELESTADO is a project about the lack of social justice and the gross human rights violations in Mexico. It examines the conflict between state power and personal autonomy and responsibility, a conflict that, in Mexico, involves missing persons and unidentified bodies and that can’t be silenced anymore.
São Paulo went through a process of privatization of the public spaces. The local government implemented several rules that beneficiated the real state speculation, the city is expensive, and it's not for the poor.
Besides that, in october the elections were a hard game for the progressive party, PT, since two conservative candidates had big shares.
"Surround Congress”: as soon as we’d heard this, in our minds we were there. To make the Government resign and demand they start a new constituent process seemed like a great idea. We immediately got to work.
Kwentong Bayan: Labour of Love is a community based comic book project, created by Toronto-based artists Althea Balmes (Illustrator) and Jo SiMalaya Alcampo (Writer) in close collaboration with caregivers and supporters, about the real life stories of Filipina migrant workers in the Live-in Caregiver Program.
This project was born a few days after a demonstrator lost an eye after being hit by a rubber bullet shot from police guns in Barcelona. Unfortunately, it was not the first time. "Cop d' ull" means a "a blow to the eye" and also "at a glance”, which is a perfect description of this project.
The Revolutionary Theatre project co-written, co-directed and acted by writers, artists and poets currently living, surviving and sometimes thriving in Single Room Occupancy Hotels aka poor people housing in the Bay Area.
"For those who haven’t seen it, Big Bang Big Boom (2010) is yet another fabulous animated graffiti parable from the Blu
art collective. Their work is endlessly fascinating — animated
creatures sliding seamlessly from walls, through sand, along pipes and
under bridges into stop-motion interaction with beach garbage and
On November 7, 2010 Pope Benedict XVI visited our city. He would have been better off staying at home. Even before he touched land we had rendered him impotent for life. Yes: im-po-tent.
First cut the banks! In 2012 Bankia declared itself bankrupt and, almost immediately, asked the Government of Spain for €23 billion. The Government accepted, yet that very same week ordered €20,000 million worth of cuts in health and education. It was then that we realized that what they called a crisis was actually a scam. You wouldn’t believe how pissed off we were. So we threw a party, because there is nothing like partying to relieve your anger.
During this time rent prices in the Lower East Side/ East Village were rising due to the presence of many community gardens. In response to this, then Mayor Giuliani decided to sell the 198 gardens in question. Streets into Gardens was an effective project that engaged the neighborhood into a collective of change.
This project features a collection of various artists, in which they submit a project/action/performance of human connection and communication in the busy bustling world of today. Holding this event on the notorious 12/12/12 (the day the world was supposedly supposed to end) gave this project a heightened appeal and awareness.
On completion the 100 Faces project will consist of 100 Portraits of Americans who have been to the theaters of war in Iraq or Afghanistan (OEF,OIF). Each portrait is accompanied by a placard featuring a statement written by the person pictured and a brief biography of the person pictured. The biographical information and the statement reflect the person at the time of the creation of the portrait.
On the one-year anniversary of the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, artist-activists at Liberate Tate staged a guerrilla performance in the Tate Britain galleries to highlight the museum's ties to BP.