In Women Are Heroes, JR introduces women who sometimes look death in the face, who go from laughter to tears, who are generous, have nothing and yet share, who have had a painful past and long to build a happy future.
An Israeli member of the Taiji Dolphin Action Group, with a red body painting to evoke blood, is curled up on a sheet depicting the Japanese flag, during a January 30, 2014 protest against the killing of dolphins, notably in the Japanese city of Taiji, held outside the building housing the Japanese Embassy, Tel Aviv. Similar rallies outside Japanese consulates and embassies were expected to take place worldwide.
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.
Acknowledging that sexual harassment is a serious problem in Egypt, the volunteer based organization HarassMap has created a series of strategies -both on site and online- to stamp out the social acceptability of sexual harassment in the country.
CAIRO — Seven Egyptians were arrested on charges of promoting homosexuality after concertgoers waved rainbow-colored flags at a rock concert in Cairo last week, Egyptian officials said.
The arrests were the latest assault on social freedoms in Egypt under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whose government has imposed harsh restrictions on free speech and led an aggressive campaign against gays.
In 2011 a protest movement started in Israel. Citizens expressed their demand for a fair distribution of resources, claiming for the lack of housing and maintenance of the buildings and apartments, due to the privatized housing schemes. In these instances no one feels responsible for maintaining buildings and those in need are forced to live under poor and risky conditions.
Craftsmanship in Istanbul is under the danger of extinction with all the knowledge accumulated with generations of masters and apprentices. After visiting some workshops in the city, craftsmen shared with the initiators how their condition and businesses have changed since they started working.
A town in northwestern Syria has become the creative center of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Since the beginning of the uprising, the residents of Kafr Anbel have drawn signs that skewer the Assad regime and express outrage that the world has not done more to stop the killing in Syria.
This month marks ten years since the start of the Syrian Civil War, an ongoing conflict that has cruelly cut the lives of hundreds of thousands short, and irrevocably changed the course of millions more. An estimated 5.6 million have fled the country over the past decade, mostly to the neighbouring countries of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, with many settling in camps they’ve since to come to call their permanent homes.
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.
Bashar al-Assad snores, his head twitching on a large white pillow. Suddenly, he wakes up. “The people want to overthrow me!” he screams, the pompom on his nightcap bouncing.
Estados de excepción (States of Exception) is series of participatory cultural interventions created for women to freely and joyfully exercise our rights in public and secure environments, currently being produced in Mexico and abroad.
A deaf man was moved to tears after learning that his neighbourhood had learned sign language just for him to promote the heartwarming message: 'A world without barriers is our dream'.
Muharrem was unwittingly placed at the centre of an elaborate stunt in which he was secretly filmed encountering a host of strangers in a series of staged meetings through Istanbul.
The Trials of Spring is a major documentary event that chronicles the stories of nine women who played central roles in the Arab Spring uprisings and their aftermaths in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. It includes a feature-length documentary, six short films, articles by award-winning journalists, and a robust social media conversation about women and their unwavering quest for social justice and freedom.
ISLAMABAD —
A prominent female rights activist in Afghanistan lambasted the global community Saturday for failing to come up with a plan or agreement on how to help her crisis-ridden country since the Taliban took control of it 18 months ago.
Mahbouba Seraj, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, spoke virtually from the Afghan capital, Kabul, to a town hall at the Munich Security Conference on prospects for her country under Taliban rule.
The wreckage of the Syrian city of Homs became the bittersweet backdrop for a young couple’s wedding pictures.
Nada Merhi, 18, wore a traditional white gown when she married camouflage-clad Hassan Youssef, 27, on Friday. Youssef is a soldier in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army, which took Homs from rebels in November.
Recurrent themes in Emily Jacir's practice—which spans a range of strategies including film, photography, interventions, archiving, performance, video, writing, and sound—are silenced historical narratives, resistance, movement, and exchange.
On your doorstep, or in their neighbourhood hotel, or the local tea shop, the media bring to you a world full of troubles. But along with that, they’ve had some consideration for your funny bone and give you a daily dose of laughter by publishing the work of some of the finest cartoonists in the country. “
On May 5 – World Cartoonist Day – here’s bringing you a glimpse of your favourite illustrators and what keeps them going.
EP Unny
Charged with participating in demonstrations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Soudabeh Ardavan was held for eight years (1981-1989) in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. She found sanity and solace through the forbidden activities of drawing and painting, secretly producing paint from flower petals and tea, using brushes made from toothpicks and human hair.
From the two shores of the Mediterranean, Zoukak theatre company and cultural association (Beirut) and Center for cultural decontamination CZKD (Belgrade) collaborates by sharing their experiences and knowledge in working within sociopolitical contexts in the field of art and culture.
“I am the dishes, the ironing, I am everything, I am nothing. But remind me: Who are you?” So plays the hook of a new feminist anthem released by the Palestinian rappers, DAM. The video for “Who You Are” plays on sexist attitudes by having men and women switch domestic roles typical in the Middle East, but also familiar across most cultures.
On October 2nd 2012, World Farmed Animals Day, three animal rights activists in Israel got branded with a hot steel brand, in the same way that farmed animals are branded in factory farms.
Regardless of one's spiritual ties (or lack thereof) to Christianity, all artistic activists can take a note or two from Jesus's playbook--the actions of "a radical Mediterranean Jewish peasant building a revolutionary movement two millennia ago."1. Jesus: Media Mogul. Jesus was a master of making a scene, ensuring that news would spread. If he was around today, the media wouldn't be able to get enough of him.