For third world artists who are forced into exile, the creativity process could be greatly challenged due to displacement in language, community and history. Many filmmakers in exile tend to look at their connection to the homeland in strictly political terms, or give up making films overall.
Last week, a dozen of female artists turned the walls of a downtown parking lot in Cairo into a street art gallery. Colourful group murals carrying personal stories and spreading messages to increase women’s visibility, and positively affect public consciousness.
"Turkish past, Ottoman present" and "Spengler in Turkey"
105 NY-110, Melville, NY 11747
August 5, 11 am – August 30, 7 pm
Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm, free admission
Please write to racc.ny@mail.ru or call (347) 662 1456
The artist is available for interviews
Former colleagues of Abdulhadi Al Khawaja from Front Line Defenders today held a silent vigil at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Dublin to urge the King of Saudi Arabia to use his influence with Bahrain to enable Abdulhadi to travel to Denmark for medical treatment.
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.
"Oda Projesi is an artist collective based in Istanbul. It is composed of three members; Özge Açıkkol, Güneş Savaş and Seçil Yersel who turned their collaboration into an art project in 2000. The project members had met in 1997 and decided to rent and share an apartment as a private studio in Galata.
Palestinian and Israeli flags flutter in pro-Irish and pro-UK neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland, tapping into its own history of conflict and division that still affects everyday life despite a 1998 peace deal that largely ended violence.
Being a Kuwaiti citizen makes you feel like you belong to Kuwait, as nationality is a legal relationship between a person and a state. But what if you are a “halfie” and are finding it hard to answer the question “Where are you from?” Those whose fathers are Kuwaiti are automatically considered Kuwaitis but those whose moms are Kuwaiti and fathers are not, they are not granted the nationality, even if they are born here.
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".
A Lebanese Olympic skier whose topless calendar prompted calls for a ministerial inquiry has unwittingly sparked a social media campaign backing her, with supporters stripping off in solidarity.
Three years ago, Jackie Chamoun posed for a calendar photo shoot. Behind-the-scenes footage recently was posted online, and Lebanon's sports and youth minister reportedly ordered an investigation.
There is no embassy of Iran in Jerusalem.
We ask why.
We are a group of artists living and creating in Jerusalem, trying to create a new reality. one which we can identify with. A reality of dialogue between the people, not dominated by mass media and governments.
The Embassy as we imagine it will be functioning as a bridge for trading ideas, dreams and giving silent voices a sound through art.
Yazan Halwani is a young Beiruti artist who paints murals of revered Lebanese and Arab figures on prominent walls in a bid to help overcome sectarianism in this fragmented city. “What I try to do,” he explains down a fuzzy line from Beirut, “is write the stories of the city, on its own walls – creating a memory for the city.”
A Norwegian physician who has volunteered in Gaza for decades said Friday that Western leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, are complicit in Israel's intensifying assault on the Palestinian enclave's hospitals, which are overwhelmed with airstrike victims and displaced people seeking refuge.
Wafaa Bilal's childhood in Iraq was defined by the horrific rule of Saddam Hussein, two wars, a bloody uprising, and time spent interned in chaotic refugee camps in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Bilal eventually made it to the U.S. to become a professor and a successful artist, but when his brother was killed at a U.S. checkpoint in 2005, he decided to use his art to confront those in the comfort zone with the realities of life in a conflict zone.
"Everyday Iran”, inspired by “Everyday Africa”, is the most widespread mobile photography project based on social networks in Iran which started since early in 2014.
We in Everyday Iran ask the whole people who live and work in Iran to send us their photos of daily life in the country with #everydayiran. Those photos which are selected by 5 Iranian curators are reposted on our social media pages.
As the death toll from Israel’s attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip continues to rise, a guerrilla projection on May 13, 2021 illuminated a building in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood with messages of solidarity with Palestinians.
Creative activism and the remaking of Palestine
While policy wonks and media pundits wallow in endless debates about Jewish settlements and the threat of terror, Palestinian groups are creatively exploring alternative ways to realise their national aspirations.
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.
MoMA presents the first comprehensive American survey of the leading contemporary artist Walid Raad (b. 1967, Lebanon), featuring his work in photography, video, sculpture, and performance from the last 25 years.
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
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.
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.