The Black, Dallas-based artist Jammie Holmes put George Floyd’s final words in a place where everyone could see them: the sky. Five days after Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, May 30th, Holmes’s piece took flight across Detroit, Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York. Airplanes carrying banners flew between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. EDT.
This has been a racially-charged year. How one challenges the status quo is an individual choice and many opt for artistic expression. Artistic expression can personified most visually on the body and while black pride tees are big, nail art is just as big and just as communicative.
"WILD: Act I" is a film demonstrating the power of creativity in constraint. Using moving choreography performed by Elijah Lancaster and vivid imagery displayed on three walls in a mock cell, Jeremy McQueen gives voice to young Black and Brown men caught in the criminal 'justice' system.
As part of an international workshop (10-11 October 2015) with the Center for Artistic Activism, 17 trans activists and artists from 13 European countries developed a creative campaign to mark some of the spaces in Berlin which have symbolic significance for trans people.
"I had an intuitive sense that being shot is as American as apple pie. We see people being shot on TV, we read about it in the newspaper. Everybody has wondered what it's like. So I did it." - Chris Burden
In light of his recent death, I wanted to bring one of Chris Burden's pieces, Shoot, to Actipedia.org. Not just to honor the artist, but to also remind us of our country's insane fascination with guns and violence.
Initially organized to respond to holes in service provision following Hurricane Katrina, Burners Without Borders has since 2005 "emerged as a community led, grassroots group that encourages innovative, civic participation that creates positive change locally." One ongoing project headed by BWB's Will Ruddick is a complementary currency program in Mombasa, Kenya.
Spain is known for its beautiful scenic views, rich history, and rich culture. When we focus on Spain it mainly for the things that attract tourism. Often when living in paradise you forget the shadows that hold secrets are not far behind. I have uncovered a deep dark truth that hides within the cities - Sexual violence and the brutal inequality that women face in Spain.
DEL AIRE, Calif. — Fruit looms large in the California psyche. Since the 1800s, dewy images of oranges, lemons and other fruits have been a lure for seekers of the state’s postcard essence, symbols of fertile land, felicitous climate and the possibilities of pleasure.
Hobby Lobby is a chain of arts and crafts stores that has recently come under fire for denying its employees affordable access to contraception. Jasmine Shea redecorated many of the craft supplies in one of their stores to "troll" them by rearranging letters to spell out "pro choice" and "all women deserve birth control"
The Mirror Casket project is a sculpture, performance, and visual call to action designed and orchestrated by a collaborative of St. Louis community artists in response to the shooting death of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, MO.
Mayor Gilberto Kassab passed a Clean City Law that banned all public advertising in Sao Paulo, one of the world's most populous cities. The mayor gained the support of the city's elites in pressing the law as an anti-pollution measure targeting "visual pollution". The city was quickly stripped of its ubiquitous billboards, signs, graffiti and other public ads.
At Carnival, Where Challenging Normal Is the Norm
By NADIA SUSSMAN and TAYLOR BARNES
New York Times MARCH 2, 2014
RIO DE JANEIRO — Standing high atop a truck rigged with speakers, André da Silva Lisboa cried out to hundreds of drummers, dancers and costumed revelers gathering in the sun-drenched avenue below.
“Carnival has arrived,” shouted Mr. da Silva Lisboa, 38, a samba singer. “Come to the streets! We’re freaking out!”
The global response to COVID-19 has made clear that the fear of contracting disease has an ugly cousin: xenophobia. As the coronavirus has spread from China to other countries, anti-Asian discrimination has followed closely behind, manifesting in plummeting sales at Chinese restaurants, near-deserted Chinatown districts and racist bullying against people perceived to be Chinese.
*We would like to thank everyone who who participated in a very successful first Butterflies for Bealtaine*
For the month of May, we invited all ages to creatively respond to the theme of The Butterfly and to share a change they wish for on a personal, community or global level.
In Ireland as in many parts of the world we have been in a quarantine situation because of the global pandemic. This environment informed our project.
The project responds to the urgency that many asylum seekers and refugees have as soon as they touch a new country's soil: working and learning the language. The project, located in the former army barracks 'Caserma Piave' in Treviso, started as a grassroots initiative.
All those who practice surfing know firsthand the serious problem our beaches face: pollution. While some only complain, others do something about it. Two Brazilian surfers decided they could help raise public awareness of the need to protect nature of the proliferation of plastics used in the oceans through a novel idea: create surfboards plastic bottles.
Food delivery riders are taking industrial action in China over low pay and the recent detention of an unofficial labor leader. The strike comes after Xiong Yan, who headed an unofficial union formed by workers for the food delivery app Ele.me and other services, was detained in Beijing last month. His whereabouts are still unknown.
Emily's List is an organization that campaigns to elect pro-choice woman to office. They want change and will stop at nothing until they achieve it. They recruit competitive candidates that they know will win, and will make a significant difference in health care, voting right, education, etc..
Within the topic of terrorism, the idea of loss and memory is always a pervasive idea that cannot be avoided. Within the topic of loss and memory, the idea of monuments is always a pervasive idea that cannot be avoided because they are used to commemorate and remember those that lost their lives to the terrorists.
ONGOING ORGANIZATION:
CALLED: Iranti [pronounced írantì] is the Yoruba word for ‘memory’. Largely found in South West Nigeria and parts of Benin Republic, the Yoruba people consider memory a prized form of intelligence which determines how often one remembers what they see and hear.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday lodged a protest with Japan over descriptions in new Japanese elementary school textbooks, summoning a senior diplomat of its neighboring country.
Enterprising Brooklyn men CHARGING people to see the new NYC Banksy street art by hiding it behind cardboard.
Some men in the tough Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York decided to charge admission when a Banksy piece showed up on their block.
It was the October 10 addition to the British artist's month-long street art residency he's dubbed Better Out Than In.
Sheep stormed into Paris’ iconic Louvre museum on Friday (March 28) as farmers protested against reforms to the common agricultural policy (CAP).
A dozen sheep ran into the museum’s entrance underneath its famous glass pyramid, baffling tourists and aggravating museum staff.
On June 17, 2013, Russell Brand (a stand-up comedian and actor) visited MSNBC’s
'Morning Joe' news show to promote his international stand-up tour, 'The Messiah Complex', but he also managed to mock the 'Morning Joe' news anchors, as well as the mainstream media. Clips of this particular interview immediately went viral on YouTube, and one of the videos is linked to this page (see the first link below).