There are few artists more innocuous, more neutered, more universally loved and reviled than Thomas Kinkade. His soft-focus images present an idyllic vision of America and of Christianity, like Norman Rockwell without the blue-collar populism, where everything is beautiful, nothing hurts, and there’s always a warm fire going in the Lincoln-Log cabin just down the trail.
Kenyan-based photographer Boniface Mwangi has captured his country's political and civic turmoil since the controversial presidential election in 2007. The violence and disorder he witnesses daily motivated him to take action, setting up a creative hub for activism called PAWA 254.
DAMN. Kendrick Lamar opened the 2018 GRAMMYs with a powerful and political performance of his hit, "XXX.'" The rapper featured an army of face-covered soldiers marching in the background of an American flag, that quickly turned into a "satire" taking a jab at the current political climate in the United States.
Forensic Architecture's Cloud Studies is a project that investigates the impact of toxic clouds on colonised and oppressed communities. The clouds, originating from sources like tear gas, industrial emissions, chemical weapons, and forest fires, often go unaddressed due to doubt and denialism.
The development of the Nights from the oriental oral and literary traditions of the Middle Ages into a classical work for Western readers is a fascinating one. The notebook of a Jewish book dealer from Cairo around the year 1150 contains the first documentary evidence for the Arabic title. The oldest preserved manuscripts, comprising a core corpus of about 270 nights, appear to date from the 15th century.
This past Valentine's Day the Fresh Juice Party pulled another "art prank;" this time sending chocolate shaped as dead American soldiers and sent them to U.S. government officials, especially to the previous Bush administration. This prank while very effective in its message, is not so effective in terms of timing.
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.
“Misplaced Women?” is an art project-workshop by Tanja Ostojic in which she and project`s participants – artists , art students , cultural workers and activists: Nela Antonovic, Gorana Bacevac, Nadezda Kircanski, Tatjana Beljinac, Milica Jankovic, Tamara Bijelic, Irena Djukanovic, Bojana Radenovic, Marija Jevtic, Irena Mirkovic, Jelena Dinic, Sanja Solunac and Suncica Sido showed the everyday life activities that are characteristic for migrants, refugee
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.
Breach Theatre’s multimedia play The Beanfield joins a growing trend of artists using documentary inquiry to hold violent and corrupt institutions to account.
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.
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.
Thich Nhat Hanh reads his poem "For Warmth" in Vietnamese, Krista Tippett reads the translation in English, excerpted from the episode "Mindfulness, Suffering, and Engaged Buddhism."
The Guggenheim Museum in New York City temporarily closed off its entrance on Saturday afternoon, November 11, after eight artists and cultural workers took to the institution’s iconic spiral ramp to denounce the Israeli military’s ongoing killing of Palestinian children in Gaza.
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.
In five months Ankara has seen more blood spilled by terror than many places do in a lifetime.’ A protest after a bombing in Ankara in October 2015. On Sunday evening, a bomb exploded near a bus stop at a busy transport hub in central Ankara. At least 37 people died and many more were injured. Innocent people who were just trying to go about their day-to-day business had their lives blown apart.
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.
The exhibition Law of the Journey is Ai Weiwei’s multi-layered, epic statement on the human condition: an artist’s expression of empathy and moral concern in the face of continuous, uncontrolled destruction and carnage.
HBVA (Honour Based Violence Awareness Network) is an international digital resource centre working to advance understanding of HBV (honour based violence) and forced marriage through research, documentation, information and training for professionals who may encounter women, girls and men at risk of these forms of abuse in order to suggest good practise in responding to their needs.
Presaged by shimmering spin-off hits “Dreams” and “Linger,” The Cranberries’ landmark debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, suggested its creators had taken up the baton handed down by jangly indie-pop classicists The Smiths and The Sundays.
A group of Syrian artists in Damascus has created the world's biggest mural made of recycled materials, a rare work aimed at brightening public space in a city sapped by war and sanctions.
The brightly coloured, 720-sq metre work was constructed from aluminum cans, broken mirrors, bicycle wheels and other scrap objects and displayed on a street outside a primary school in the centre of the Syrian capital.
He had served in the army, either as a full-time soldier or as a reservist, for 22 years when he finally decided he wanted out. In 2003, Ari Folman, who had just turned 40, asked his commanders in the Israel Defence Forces to release him from the obligation to do a month's military service every year. They agreed - "so long as you go to the army therapist and talk about everything you went through".
This year, Bethlehem is sombre and quiet. There is no Christmas tree and there are no holiday lights or tourists to see them.
Instead, the city of Jesus’s birth – which is in the middle of a war zone – is marking Christmas with a powerful and poignant message: solidarity with Palestine.
Dan Perjovschi is one of Romania’s foremost artistic voices. Although known as a talented multi-disciplinary artist in his home country, particularly for his early performance work, he is most widely known internationally for his massive drawing installations.
Myanmar has been engulfed in protest since February 1, when Burmese army general Min Aung Hlaing seized control of the government in a military coup, refusing to accept the landslide election victory of the National League for Democracy and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.