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I explored the 'Fine Acts' link and checked out  "12 Black Artists/ 24 Protest Posters" where I came upon this cool typeface design by Kevin Adams.  It's free to download and can be printed and used. The style is retro and clean. Black Lives matter is a social issue that's of great importance to me. Besides, I love a font with drop shadow! I've included the link to the image and a quote from the artist below.

https://thegreats.co/artworks/fight-the-power

Quote from Kevin Adams
“Much of my personal work finds inspiration in African American music. African American music has helped to uplift souls, express pain, and give social commentary. The impact of African American music and its importance to the Black experience, to the cultural heritage of all Americans cannot be escaped, regardless of race or origin. These words have personal significance to me and are timely in my message.” Kevin Adams

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I explored the "Fine Acts" link and found TOMORROW IS TO TOO LATE  by HUST WILSON in The climate collection. Nowadays, people are always hesitant, when we look around and hesitate, opportunities are passing bit by bit. Many times we find reasons for ourselves, and then think about doing it tomorrow. So when I saw this cool font, it was like giving myself a wake-up alert that it's too late tomorrow, act now.

https://thegreats.co/artworks/tomorrow-is-too-late

Huston (aka Hust) is a self-taught lettering artist and graphic designer living in Johannesburg, South Africa. His focus in typography and design includes color, texture and hard shadows to create bold pieces that share positive messages that will inspire those who come into contact with the work he creates. “Always improve yourself and get out of your comfort box” are words constantly employed within his mind.

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I explored the 'Fine Acts' link and checked out "Artists for Climate" where I found this interesting artwork by Lily Kong. I chose this artwork because the way it is portraying an ongoing issue it is unique and also has some humor. I like how she showed "Earth" as a person and telling a human to love them now or else it might be too late to solve the problem. Climate change has been an issue for a while and people are aware of it. There are times where people forget it is still happening but these kind of posters help us to remind that we got to make a change and act fast before it is too late.

https://thegreats.co/artworks/love-me-now

Lily Kong lives in London, UK. She is an illustrator and utilizes her expertise to celebrate the happy times while also finding comedy in the awkward, lonely, almost-pathetic occurrences. The climate crisis is an important theme in her work. She feels that using comedy is effective in capturing the audience's attention and exposing them to the relevant themes.

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To be Young,Gifted, and Criminalized, Mark Harris, 2014

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To be Young,Gifted, and Criminalized, Mark Harris, 2014

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I found this incredible piece on the International Museum for Activist Art's website, through the link that Professor Gregor provided. It was hard to pick one of his works as my favorite, I felt like I was cheating when I picked this one because it was the first to pop up. However, after looking through all of his work this one spoke to me the most, but I encourage you all to explore some of his other pieces, as they speak volumes. First the image was shocking to the system, I felt the pain and hurt from that photo of the innocently attentive boy with a bullet in his head. Next, I saw the title, now I'm going to talk about the initial title I saw on the International Museum for Activist Art, there was another title I saw entitled, Original Gangsters on a site entitled, 1890 Bryant. The title really stuck out to me because I was once (and still am in some capacity) young and gifted, and now I understand what it's like to be criminalized. This piece of work encompasses a large part of my life, I've always been treated as some sort of anomaly, but at the same time I'm looked at as a danger and threat. This piece of work is so reflective and infomative. https://www.activistart.org/mark-harris/

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I glanced at the "Fine Arts" link in the list and found this interesting item under the "artists for climate" page. It is free to view and even download to your computer or other device; the style reminds me of skateboard brands or perhaps older cartoons, such as black and white Mickey Mouse. This piece discusses and illustrates a very real issue we face, climate change, and how we should treat this planet better because it is our only home, as well as an issue I believe should be discussed more. After all, I enjoy the unique style employed, as well as the utilization of the fact that Mother's Day was just yesterday as of composing this post, giving it a twist and creating a fantastic idea from it, since many people refer to nature as "mother nature," so it makes sense in a manner. A link to the work will be provided here, as well as a brief overview of his profile.

https://thegreats.co/artworks/love-your-mother

"Yeye Weller lives as an illustrator in Münster, Germany. He loves the colors, the humor and the balance - these are the three necessities for his work. He doesn't have a smart messaging device because freedom. His illustrations come as they are: happy, colorful and stupid."

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I chose this artwork because it relates to the commoditization of natural resources that I learned in Environmental Science. It is interesting to think about the privatization of these resources and the pros and cons it can bring. I am also drawn to the artwork because of the artist’s playful and genius way of getting their message across. Artist duo Raemann touches upon the topic by photographing their subjects with an oxygen mask where the tank is a Evian water bottle. Raemann changed the name to Eviair to show that water is necessary as oxygen. Except, oxygen is free to use while water is a paid resource despite it being vital to our survival. Raemann mentions the benefits of discovering plastic, but that its overuse is the problem. I like how this artwork touches upon a topic that is barely talked about.

https://www.activistart.org/raemann/

Raemann is a NYC-based duo who focuses on environmental activism through their photography. This photo is one of many in the series titled Eviair. The series talks about the privatization and commoditization of natural resources. Raemann calls out the difference between water and oxygen (as vital resources) and how one costs money while the other doesn't.

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The artwork that I chose is titled "Peace in Cambodia 1970" by Ted Connelly (puffinculturalforum.org). Yet, I should mention that specific details about this piece are limited, given that it's part of an art collection (puffinculturalforum.org). Despite this, what drew me to this work were the simplistic geometric-shaped bamboo trees of the background, contrasting against the textured grass in the middle ground. Furthermore, I felt that the use of earthy colors was appropriate, and I liked how there's even a brown border surrounding the edge of the figure. Also, while one might miss this at first glance, I thought the black and white beads on the soldier's hat were very eye-catching. In short, there is something very calming about this piece, despite some of the connotations that this war attributed—which is something that I learned in my Vietnamese American Culture class.

https://www.puffinculturalforum.org/vietnam-on-my-mind/

According to the website, it states, "The exhibition features a series of story-telling paintings by Nina Talbot titled 'Veterans.' Talbot's vision for crafting paintings of men and women who served in the military from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan, is to 'reveal how each individual war veteran lives in the shadow of war" (puffinculturalforum.org).

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For this early work Kruger appropriated a portion of Michelangelo's renowned Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco, notably the image of God's hand touching Adam's at the moment of creation. Through her use of the pronoun "You," Kruger directly addresses the viewer, inviting them to impose their own narrative on Michelangelo's masterpiece. The inference of personal responsibility in this work, however abstract, is a consistent theme through Kruger's work. She suggests that all of us are somehow implicated in a historical narrative; in this case, that of Western ideology, society, and art and as viewers of works of art, our opinion about the importance or role of the work of art is influenced, and sometimes even predetermined, by our own religious or philosophical, cultural, and ideological beliefs. Participating in postmodernism's ideal of questioning the progression and narrative of modernism, Kruger uses this piece to help the viewer acknowledge their role and agency when viewing art.

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/kruger-barbara/#artworks

Untitled (You invest in the divinity of the masterpiece), 1982
The Museum of Modern Art, New York

What draws me to this piece of art is the words of Barbara Krueger that “art is just daily work, research, anthropology, commentary. I do works about what we are for each other and how we coexist together.” I also believe that art has no boundaries and is present in everything in our lives. Creating a family, giving birth and raising children, the ability to communicate, make friends and learn, play sports, and much more is an art. Art cannot be elitist and belong only to influential people.

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I explored the "Art Stories: Political Art Page" link and checked out the Banksy collection, where I could see more of his art. My previous assignments have mostly revolved around his art "Flower thrower," and for a good reason. His art continues to resonate today as it's a call to end war and violence, which can be seen in what's happening between the war in Russia and Ukraine-- something that continues to devastate me each time I open the news. The style of art is black and white graffiti, and I especially love this piece because Banksy can emphasize the bouquet by bringing bright colors to the flowers. In contrast, the entire mural is in colorless graffiti. I've included the link to the image and a quote from the artist below.

Banksy is an artist, film director, and political activist as he tends to merge his art and political influences together. He is based in Bristol, England, and has quickly risen to become one of the most influential artists while retaining anonymity. He celebrates his love for art by creating street art, so he's involved in the graffiti art style and implements irony, satire, and humor into his art pieces.

Quote from Banksy
"A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest weapons you can hit someone with."
-Banksy

Link: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/banksy/

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All We Need Is Love by Nuria Bellver and Raquel Fanjul

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All We Need Is Love by Nuria Bellver and Raquel Fanjul

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I explored the “Fine Acts” link and checked out “Artists for Climate.” The Spanish duo Cachetejack is represented by freelance illustrators Nuria Bellver and Raquel Fanjul. These young artists are not yet so famous and lead a nomadic lifestyle. I chose the illustration “All We Need Is Love,” which refers to the theme of environmental protection. Cachetejack has been making its creations since 2011. The picture is filled with bright colors and radiates youthful energy with humor and irony. The universe in the picture is depicted from some unique point of view: the artists wanted to get closer to their viewers. A cheerful image of the earth tells people, I only need love from you, and then I will bring only joy to you. The style of conveying the message to the people of the planet is unique and inimitable, which leaves a positive charge for the visitor contemplating the illustration. I chose this illustration because its theme is clear to any modern person who understands how important it is now to solve environmental problems. Global warming, human waste products, and earth wars cripple our planet, which you need to love and protect.

https://thegreats.co/artists/cachetejack

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i chose spring of hope in fine acts i like colors, fonts, textures, words, because what if spring can give us hope and it change anything like to stop coronavirus or stop the war, Today, more than anything, humanity needs hope. And art is hope.

That’s why Fine Acts is starting SPRING OF HOPE.

We commissioned a selection of amazing artists from around the world whom we admire – and they gave us their best. We also opened a call for submissions to creatives everywhere. See all the powerful and uplifting illustrations below and enjoy new works every week until the end of May.

Huge thanks to everyone who submitted their works to the Spring of
Hope open call.
https://fineacts.co/hope

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Today, more than anything, humanity needs hope. And art is hope.

That's why Fine Acts is starting SPRING OF HOPE.

We commissioned a selection of amazing artists from around the world whom we admire - and they gave us their best. We also opened a call for submissions to creatives everywhere. See all the powerful and uplifting illustrations below and enjoy new works every week until the end of May.

I love these works
Yay! Go ahead and download, print and share them online. Please tag the artists and us.

I love them so much I want to adapt them
Yes, you can! All featured works are published under a Creative Commons-Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC-BY-NC-SA) and are available for free noncommercial use and adaptation, given the appropriate credit. We will also upload the work files of all commissioned works at our new open platform for socially engaged visuals, to launch next month. Watch this space for more info.

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Today, more than anything, humanity needs hope. And art is hope. That's why Fine Acts is starting SPRING OF HOPE. We commissioned a selection of amazing artists from around the world whom we admire - and they gave us their best. We also opened a call for submissions to creatives everywhere.

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I chose to do this artwork piece that I had found by exploring the fine acts link provided by professor. I chose this artwork because it shows women's hands up in the air fighting for their rights. I chose this piece because especially in times like we are in right now women are fighting for their rights due to the roe v wade case that is currently happening and can be seen anywhere. I believe strongly that women have the right to do what they want therefore we need to fight for our rights. The artist who created this piece is named Milena Filipova, It is titled; fight for your rights and it was a project created during women's history month which is in March. I found this art piece here : https://thegreats.co/artworks/you-gotta-fight-for-your-rights

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The art work that I chose was from fine art and the project group love speech sprint. The reason why I chose this art piece was because of what is metaphorically represented. I love how being strong or having a tough mine is really hard and what this  picture it really shows that if you’re stronger than hate nothing can break you down. If you’re stronger than hate we can conquer anything we want. I love how she used a man hold a big ball on his back and being able to hold it so lots of strength to not to give up even if it’s really hard to hold despite being pushed to your limit.
https://thegreats.co/artworks/stronger-than-hate

Artist information “Nikoleta Nosovska is a freelance graphic designer and an illustrator. During the last 2 years her inspiration has been the effort to update the traditional folk visual language and give it a contemporary creative voice.”

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This artwork by Laura Boushnak, titled "Survivor" included in her project "I read I write."

I chose this artwork because of the awareness it brings and the significance of the current Russia-Ukraine war. The subject in this photo lost both of his legs while riding on the back of a motorcycle with his dad. This is currently the prosthetic legs of the subject. They drove over a cluster bomb during the Israel-Hezbollah war. This photo encapsulates the tragedies encountered by the survivors of these inhumane attacks.

It is not justifiable to drop or plot cluster munitions on regular and innocent citizens that will suffer and carry these kinds of effects throughout their life. History repeats itself and continue to drag innocent people with it.

link: https://fineacts.co/laura-boushnak

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Here I Stand [Kaepernick] by Imar Hutchins

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I chose this piece by Imar Hutchins because I think he did a great job in his  portrait of football player and activist Colin Kaepernick. I also chose it because Kaepernick made a huge sacrifice to bring awareness to racism and police brutality. He was willing to sacrifice his career for something he feels so strongly and cares about.  I think that is very honorable and I think he deserves a lot of credit for the steps he took to initiate action.
I got the image at https://www.puffinculturalforum.org/conversations-2020/

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"In Mourning and in Rage" Suzanne Lacy, Leslie Labowitz, Bia Lowe, 

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I chose "In Mourning and in Rage" because the thumbnail of the women lined up in red caught in interest. I watched the entire live performance and thought it was a bold display of defiance during an ongoing struggle with women's issues. It reminded me of the struggles our country is currently experiencing surrounding women's rights. The red costumes also reminded me of the short story turned Hulu show, The Handmaid's Tale. In the Handmaid's tale, women are concubines and wear burgundy to signify their low social status. I also love true crime, and this performance was in response to the women being violently raped and murdered by the infamous Hillside strangler. I think it's also very cool and important that this performance caused the Rape Hotline Alliance to start offering self-defense classes, which goes to show the reach and effect this event had on the community.

(full performance)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idK02tPdYV0

(source) https://www.theartstory.org/movement/feminist-art/history-and-concepts/

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"Shall We Clear The Air" by Holly St Clair

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I chose this poster because I believe that climate change is a real issue. This poster created by Holly St Clair is called Shall We Clear The Air, and was created for Artists for Climate. I think it is clever how she used a phrase that means to discuss an issue, but also means let's work to get rid of air pollution. I also enjoyed the bright colors, and the almost cartoon like style of art. I think Holly St Clair did a great job creating an intriguing and informational poster.
Link: https://artistsforclimate.org/climatecollection

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Louise Bourgeois The Maternal Man 2008.

I opted to choose the art work from Louis Bourgeois. She was a native from France who emigrated to the United States in 1938. Most of her work displayed memories and traumas of her life which included Father, Mother, Child and lover. They are represented in a complex symbolic language that is drawn from apparent opposites, breast and phallus, human and animal, plastic and flesh, seduction and repulsion.
I chose the painting: The Maternal Man because, it brings to light issues of sexuality. The piece highlights sexuality in early family life as inspiration. It also conveys a statement about the role that a male plays in the family structure and also the key role that they play in the process of conception.

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/129802

Louise Bourgeois The Maternal Man 2008.
State/variant : Version 2 of 3 only State.
Medium: Digital Print.
Dimensions: sheet: 48 x 32 1/2" (121.9 x 82.5 cm)
Publisher: Carolina Nitsch Edition, New York.

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Cohesive Living by Preeti Singh - part of The Climate Collection

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I chose to explore the social issue of Climate change and looked through the Fine Arts website we were provided with. At first, I looked at other collections but ultimately chose this one because I am often talking about other pieces that include issues like Immigration in America or the Feminist Art movement. This collection stood out to me also considering how dependent we are on the resources we have but we don't often cherish them or take time to protect the only land we have left. Out of all the artworks from this collection I chose this because of the color palette and also because of the ways it is showing we can change our way of living to help lessen or slow down the damage Earth has suffered from humans years ago and now. These are examples of small ways each individual can make and as a community it can go so far as to improve our view on the future and consider that we can have a future. To me climate change is serious and it just happens to be controversial even when it shouldn't be but it also happens to be the younger generations known to speak out considering many of our children will have to suffer the consequences and we are even suffering them now because of choices of the past that followed us to the present.

Link of image : https://thegreats.co/artworks/cohesive-living-no-text

Link of collection: https://artistsforclimate.org/climatecollection

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2. I chose this piece of art because I really like the ocean and boats. I have always had a strong association with the ocean and water in general since I was young so this piece really drew my in because of how well the water was drawn. This piece of art gives me lots of nostalgia because of the memories I have associated with the ocean.
3. https://www.puffinculturalforum.org/green-perspectives/
4. Untitled by Thomas B Allen

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Artist: Jal Reed
Title: Protect your Planet
Jal Reed is a freelance illustrator who participated in the “Artist for Climate” which was meant to inspire climate action through art. I chose the “Fine Arts” link and went to “the climate collection” and choose this specific work because I was very much attracted to the bright colors. I also liked the artstyle this specific artist has as well, especially with the way the hand is drawn and the little faces. To add, I also agree with the whole climate change and so to me the artwork acts like an awareness act and with all the colors, I feel it can help entice others just like it did with me.

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The Greats is a free platform for awesome socially engaged visual content, open to anyone to use or adapt non-commercially.

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https://www.theartstory.org/artist/banksy/

I like this painting, it really shows what’s going on in the world and how people treat out ponds, oceans and lakes. I don’t like littering and I try to show my children that they can not throw their trash were ever they want. I feel like we all have opportunities to show our children or even picking up trash so our world doesn’t get worse. We all live here and I’m sure not everyone wants to walk or see trash also there are animals dying due to people throwing trash in oceans.

Name of painting: Show Me Monet
Artist: Banksy
Year: 2005

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2. This piece really resonated with me as it shows how unjust and racist our society truly is. A white man would be celebrated for his brains, while a black man would have to work at least twice as hard to even get recognition. Black people in this country are at a high risk of being abused, prosecuted, and killed by the police, who should be the ones protecting us. It shows that no matter how smart a child is, a cop sees skin colour first, and judges off of that. Children are shot, girlfriends sleeping are shot, and men are suffocated on the street by pure negligence of improperly trained racist cops, who have a god complex and think just because they are white and wear a badge they are immune.   The unfair treatment of black people in this country is disgusting and by showing a child with bullet holes it really draws the viewers eyes to see the full picture, an upsetting and tragic artwork. One that is unfortunately too common in this country.
3. I found this artwork from
https://www.activistart.org/mark-harris/
4. The artist if Mark Harris, the title of the art piece is called To Be Young, Gifted and Criminalized. The project was for social justice that society is dealing with today.

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Too Hot To Handle (Not Yet) by Victor Ynami

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Too Hot To Handle (Not Yet) by Victor Ynami

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I was exploring the climate change art collection because it is a topic I have been educating myself on the last two years. In the collection, this artwork created by Victor Ynami stood out to me the most because it was both comical, but very true. When looking at this post I immediately thought of my environmental science class where I learned that just from, I believe it was the last 50 years, we've increased CO2 emissions at an exponential rate. 50 years is insane when you consider the Earth is millions of years old. So when I saw this post, I thought the use of the saying "Too Hot To Handle" and a picture of  a "seductive" Earth perfectly fit the narrative for climate change. This project was also one of the fifty selected artworks that were chosen to inspire climate action.

https://thegreats.co/artworks/too-hot-to-handle-not-yet

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I chose Judy Chicago and her piece "The Dinner Party" because I've seen it before, but did not know much about it. I'm aware Chicago is known as on the pioneers for giving women a spotlight in the art industry, so I wanted to learn a bit more about one of her most popular projects. What I liked about the project is that Chicago and those who helped her, made their pieces from textile arts and ceramic crafts, explaining that those things were known as traditional "feminine" crafts. Chicago intended to use these as a celebration and I think it was a great way to show empowerment and uplifting women who were known to use these crafts.

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I was looking over "The Art Story" website. I searched for Middle East Wars that have been going on for a long time. Then, I came across this picture which not only represents the Middle East Wars but all the wars that have receded and are ongoing. It is called "Hot Spot III" by Mona Hatoum. I have noticed that not a lot of people pay attention to what goes on in the Middle East. The disturbing horrors that innocents are going through. People gather together in protests for many social issues, but it is very rare to see a protest about the horrifying things happening in Islamic Nations.

The link to the website: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/hatoum-mona/

Quote: "in 2006... it felt to me like the whole world was up in arms and that conflict was no longer isolated to certain borders in the Middle East. It was affecting the whole world" (Mona Hatoum).

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Yikui Gu, "The Immigrants" (2020), gouache, acrylic, ink, gouache on photograph, yarn, printed newspaper cartoon, and expired passport on bristol board, 1

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Puffin Cultural Forum: contemporary artist activist 

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Puffin Cultural Forum: contemporary artist activist 

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I choose this image because it  is entitled Immigrate; I can see elements of a traveler. This art has a deep meaning because it symbolizes how many immigrants come with tourist visas. When they see job opportunities, they stay in the country even though it is difficult because of the language, being alone, etc.

https://i0.wp.com/hyperallergic-newspack.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/06/2-The-Immigrants.jpg?fit=1200%2C920&quality=100&ssl=1

Yikui Gu's art, titled "The Immigrants" (2020), gouache, acrylic, ink, gouache over photography, worsted, printed newspaper vignette and expired passport on cardstock, 1.  Gu is a teacher  Associate Professor of Art at the College of Southern Maryland. He feels that as an artist, he has political commitment to speak the feelings of minorities. However, this art represents that as an American citizen, he is always be marked as a foreigner because of his appearance and that his wife who is from Germany, is considered American even though, at one point, she did not have American citizenship.

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We Can Turn The Clock Around by Violeta Noy

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We Can Turn The Clock Around by Violeta Noy

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2. I decided to choose this artwork because it's so meaningful and important for our lives today. The Earth's climate is changing, the weather is getting hotter every day, and we are in danger of facing doom in the future. As we can see in the picture, our "Earth" is divided into two parts in the shape of an hourglass. The upper one describes a green world with a lot of trees, animals, plants, and especially life. The lower one shows us a pale world without the color of life, barren land, dead trees, no animals, etc. Time is running out, if everything above all the way falls down to the tail end of this hourglass, means that there will be no more life on this earth. That's why we should turn the clock around together as soon as possible. We must become more aware of what the earth is suffering, and fix our fault before too late to save the world. For me, this artwork is a warning about the alarming situation that the earth is suffering.

3. The link where I found the artwork: https://thegreats.co/artworks/we-can-turn-the-clock-around

4. Here is the link to the artist: https://thegreats.co/artists/violeta-noy-1
Some information about the artist: Violeta Noy is an illustrator, writer, and educator from Barcelona. Her main work is making books, prints, websites, and also drawing. Violeta's work explores interpersonal relationships from a positive and affirming angle. Some selected clients of hers include Google, Snapchat, Barcelona City Council, Adobe, Danone, and Harper Collins. In my point of view, Violeta's artwork is colorful and fresh, but still, fully reflects the cruel reality of today's world. Violeta has two main projects on the websites "The Greats" for now, which are "Upwards and Onwards" and "We can turn the clock around."

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I chose this piece of art called "Syrian Daily 9/11" by artist Tamman Azzam because it really caught my eye by the colors, the two demential shapes and also the way every detail in the picture seems to be resembling something. This artworks hits deep to my heart because of day 9/11, many people lost their lives lost loved ones as well. The house in the picture feels like it represents a piece of your heart going up into heaven. I've lost some people in my life that I think about everyday so this picture really hit home.

link: https://www.activistart.org

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2. I chose this artwork because it spoke to me on a number of levels. To me it says that we must always keep striving to have our voices heard, to get our message out, to not stop until we have reached our goal, and even then there is always a reason to continue to fight for what we believe.
3. https://thegreats.co/artworks/persist
4. Safwat Saleem, Persist, FineActs/Reimagining Human Rights: A Global Creative Challenge

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El Tendedero (The Clothesline) by Mónica Mayer

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El Tendedero (The Clothesline) by Mónica Mayer

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Mónica Mayer is a feminist Mexican artist, activist, and art critic. She has been active in feminist activism in Mexico throughout 1970s, which she describe as diverse. I decided to explore The Art Stories Feminist Art Page and found one of her artwork. This is called El Tededero (The Clothesline), in which she passed out over 800 pink papers to women of various classes, ages, and ethnic background in Mexico City. On the paper there's a prompt that says, "As a women, what I most hate about my city is..." The women filled the paper with their responses, talking about recurring problems such as sexual harrasssment, feeling unsafe, and suffering various forms of abuse.
The reason I chose this artwork is because of the message and story it holds. Each of the responses tells the viwer what goes on in other part of the world. I found it really inspiring and powerful because she's showing an artwork that could help the women in Mexico City as people from different part of the world sees it. Many women in third world countries are suffering from issues like those listed and don't get any sort of help. It's sad to see how women are treated like they are nothing, like they are not worth something. I really like this artwork because of the prompt and the responses to the prompt.

Link:
https://www.theartstory.org/movement/feminist-art/artworks/#nav

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Title: Advantage of Facing Extinction
Artists' Name: Collaboration of the public, Guerilla Girls, and TED.

I chose this artwork because it highlights one of the greatest existential crisis that faces humanity in a way that I find humorous, if a bit morbid, and I really like that it is living art. Though these are only a few examples, the artwork itself is basically a collage of gathered input from people that have visited and submitted their own advantage of facing extinction. Many more of these notes can be viewed on the artwork's page. It can be found here https://fineacts.co/extinction

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I found this piece while I was exploring the "Fine Acts" link  and found the "Love Speech Print" gallery. I chose this piece because kindness and showing love to everyone is something that seems so uncommon today. Our media is often always showing the negative in the world and this just seemed like a nice little reminder to show love to everyone. I also liked the way this piece was made because I think this was strategically made. Using the flowers as the "ammo" inside the gun was clever because guns are a part of the "negative connotation". So putting the flowers is almost ironic but clever. The artist who created this is named Zhana Mitkova and she is based in Bulgaria. She is a self-taught illustrator who is a fan of bold shapes and clumsy lines, which we clearly see in this piece. Here is the link where I found the artwork:
https://thegreats.co/artworks/be-kind-to-everyone

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Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair by Frida Kahlo 1940

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I chose Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair by Frida Kahlo because the painting makes me feel like this was her break to freedom. She was divorcing Diego Rivera and was about to develop her own identity and find out who she truly is as an individual.

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Summary of Frida Kahlo

Small pins pierce Kahlo's skin to reveal that she still 'hurts' following illness and accident, whilst a signature tear signifies her ongoing battle with the related psychological overflow. Frida Kahlo typically uses the visual symbolism of physical pain in a long-standing attempt to better understand emotional suffering. Prior to Kahlo's efforts, the language of loss, death, and selfhood, had been relatively well investigated by some male artists (including Albrecht Dürer, Francisco Goya, and Edvard Munch), but had not yet been significantly dissected by a woman. Indeed not only did Kahlo enter into an existing language, but she also expanded it and made it her own. By literally exposing interior organs, and depicting her own body in a bleeding and broken state, Kahlo opened up our insides to help explain human behaviors on the outside. She gathered together motifs that would repeat throughout her career, including ribbons, hair, and personal animals, and in turn created a new and articulate means to discuss the most complex aspects of female identity. As not only a 'great artist' but also a figure worthy of our devotion, Kahlo's iconic face provides everlasting trauma support and she has influence that cannot be underestimated.

Accomplishments

Kahlo made it legitimate for women to outwardly display their pains and frustrations and to thus make steps towards understanding them. It became crucial for women artists to have a female role model and this is the gift of Frida Kahlo.

As an important question for many Surrealists, Kahlo too considers: What is Woman? Following repeated miscarriages, she asks: to what extent does motherhood or its absence impact on female identity? She irreversibly alters the meaning of maternal subjectivity. It becomes clear through umbilical symbolism (often shown by ribbons) that Kahlo is connected to all that surrounds her, and that she is a 'mother' without children.

Finding herself often alone, she worked obsessively with self-portraiture. Her reflection fueled an unflinching interest in identity. She was particularly interested in her mixed German-Mexican ancestry, as well as in her divided roles as artist, lover, and wife.

Kahlo uses religious symbolism throughout her oeuvre. She appears as the Madonna holding her 'animal babies', and becomes the Virgin Mary as she cradles her husband and famous national painter Diego Rivera. She identifies with Saint Sebastian, and even fittingly appears as the martyred Christ. She positions herself as a prophet when she takes to the head of the table in her Last Supper-style painting, and her depiction of the accident which left her impaled on a metal bar (and covered in gold dust when lying injured) recalls the crucifixion and suggests her own holiness.

Women prior to Kahlo who had attempted to communicate the wildest and deepest of emotions were often labeled hysterical or condemned insane - while men were aligned with the 'melancholy' character type. By remaining artistically active under the weight of sadness, Kahlo revealed that women too can be melancholy rather than depressed, and that these terms should not be thought of as gendered.

The Life of Frida Kahlo

Important Art by Frida Kahlo

Biography of Frida Kahlo

Childhood

Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo Calderon was born at La Casa Azul (The Blue House) in Coyoacan, a town on the outskirts of Mexico City in 1907. Her father, Wilhelm Kahlo, was German, and had moved to Mexico at a young age where he remained for the rest of his life, eventually taking over the photography business of Kahlo's mother's family. Kahlo's mother, Matilde Calderon y Gonzalez, was of mixed Spanish and indigenous ancestry, and raised Frida and her three sisters in a strict and religious household (Frida also had two half sisters from her father's first marriage who were raised in a convent). La Casa Azul was not only Kahlo's childhood home, but also the place that she returned to live and work from 1939 until her death. It later opened as the Frida Kahlo Museum.

Aside from her mother's rigidity, religious fanaticism, and tendency toward outbursts, several other events in Kahlo's childhood affected her deeply. At age six, Kahlo contracted polio; a long recovery isolated her from other children and permanently damaged one of her legs, causing her to walk with a limp after recovery. Wilhelm, with whom Kahlo was very close, and particularly so after the experience of being an invalid, enrolled his daughter at the German College in Mexico City and introduced Kahlo to the writings of European philosophers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, and Arthur Schopenhauer. All of Kahlo's sisters instead attended a convent school so it seems that there was a thirst for expansive learning noted in Frida that resulted in her father making different decisions especially for her. Kahlo was grateful for this and despite a strained relationship with her mother, always credited her father with great tenderness and insight. Still, she was interested in both strands of her roots, and her mixed European and Mexican heritage provided life-long fascination in her approach towards both life and art.

Kahlo had a horrible experience at the German School where she was sexually abused and thus forced to leave. Luckily at the time, the Mexican Revolution and the Minister of Education had changed the education policy, and from 1922 girls were admitted to the National Preparatory School. Kahlo was one of the first 35 girls admitted and she began to study medicine, botany, and the social sciences. She excelled academically, became very interested in Mexican culture, and also became active politically.

Early Training

When Kahlo was 15, Diego Rivera (already a renowned artist) was painting the Creation mural (1922) in the amphitheater of her Preparatory School. Upon seeing him work, Kahlo experienced a moment of infatuation and fascination that she would go on to fully explore later in life. Meanwhile she enjoyed helping her father in his photography studio and received drawing instruction from her father's friend, Fernando Fernandez - for whom she was an apprentice engraver. At this time Kahlo also befriended a dissident group of students known as the "Cachuchas", who confirmed the young artist's rebellious spirit and further encouraged her interest in literature and politics. In 1923 Kahlo fell in love with a fellow member of the group, Alejandro Gomez Arias, and the two remained romantically involved until 1928. Sadly, in 1925 together with Alejandro (who survived unharmed) on their way home from school, Kahlo was involved in a near-fatal bus accident.

Kahlo suffered multiple fractures throughout her body, including a crushed pelvis, and a metal rod impaled her womb. She spent one month in the hospital immobile, and bound in a plaster corset, and following this period, many more months bedridden at home. During her long recovery she began to experiment in small-scale autobiographical portraiture, henceforth abandoning her medical pursuits due to practical circumstances and turning her focus to art.

During the months of convalescence at home Kahlo's parents made her a special easel, gave her a set of paints, and placed a mirror above her head so that she could see her own reflection and make self-portraits. Kahlo spent hours confronting existential questions raised by her trauma including a feeling of dissociation from her identity, a growing interiority, and a general closeness to death. She drew upon the acute pictorial realism known from her father's photographic portraits (which she greatly admired) and approached her own early portraits (mostly of herself, her sisters, and her school friends) with the same psychological intensity. At the time, Kahlo seriously considered becoming a medical illustrator during this period as she saw this as a way to marry her interests in science and art.

By 1927, Kahlo was well enough to leave her bedroom and thus re-kindled her relationship with the Cachuchas group, which was by this point all the more political. She joined the Mexican Communist Party (PCM) and began to familiarize herself with the artistic and political circles in Mexico City. She became close friends with the photojournalist Tina Modotti and Cuban revolutionary Julio Antonio Mella. It was in June 1928, at one of Modotti's many parties, that Kahlo was personally introduced to Diego Rivera who was already one of Mexico's most famous artists and a highly influential member of the PCM. Soon after, Kahlo boldly asked him to decide, upon looking at one of her portraits, if her work was worthy of pursuing a career as an artist. He was utterly impressed by the honesty and originality of her painting and assured her of her talents. Despite the fact that Rivera had already been married twice, and was known to have an insatiable fondness for women, the two quickly began a romantic relationship and were married in 1929. According to Kahlo's mother, who outwardly expressed her dissatisfaction with the match, the couple were 'the elephant and the dove'. Her father however, unconditionally supported his daughter and was happy to know that Rivera had the financial means to help with Kahlo's medical bills. The new couple moved to Cuernavaca in the rural state of Morelos where Kahlo devoted herself entirely to painting.

Mature Period

By the early 1930s, Kahlo's painting had evolved to include a more assertive sense of Mexican identity, a facet of her artwork that had stemmed from her exposure to the modernist indigenist movement in Mexico and from her interest in preserving the revival of Mexicanidad during the rise of fascism in Europe. Kahlo's interest in distancing herself from her German roots is evidenced in her name change from Frieda to Frida, and furthermore in her decision to wear traditional Tehuana costume (the dress from earlier matriarchal times). At the time, two failed pregnancies augmented Kahlo's simultaneously harsh and beautiful representation of the specifically female experience through symbolism and autobiography.

During the first few years of the 1930s Kahlo and Rivera lived in San Francisco, Detroit, and New York whilst Rivera was creating various murals. Kahlo also completed some seminal works including Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931) and Self-Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and The United States (1932) with the latter expressing her observations of rivalry taking place between nature and industry in the two lands. It was during this time that Kahlo met and became friends with Imogen Cunningham, Ansel Adams, and Edward Weston. She also met Dr. Leo Eloesser while in San Francisco, the surgeon who would become her closest medical advisor until her death.

Soon after the unveiling of a large and controversial mural that Rivera had made for the Rockefeller Centre in New York (1933), the couple returned to Mexico as Kahlo was feeling particularly homesick. They moved into a new house in the wealthy neighborhood of San Angel. The house was made up of two separate parts joined by a bridge. This set up was appropriate as their relationship was undergoing immense strain. Kahlo had numerous health issues while Rivera, although he had been previously unfaithful, at this time had an affair with Kahlo's younger sister Cristina which understandably hurt Kahlo more than her husband's other infidelities. Kahlo too started to have her own extramarital affairs at this point. Not long after returning to Mexico from the States, she met the Hungarian photographer Nickolas Muray, who was on holiday in Mexico. The two began an on-and-off romantic affair that lasted 10 years, and it is Muray who is credited as the man who captured Kahlo most colorfully on camera.

While briefly separated from Diego following the affair with her sister and living in her own flat away from San Angel, Kahlo also had a short affair with the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. The two highly politically and socially conscious artists remained friends until Kahlo's death.

In 1936, Kahlo joined the Fourth International (a Communist organization) and often used La Casa Azul as a meeting point for international intellectuals, artists, and activists. She also offered the house where the exiled Russian Communist leader Leon Trotsky and his wife, Natalia Sedova, could take up residence once they were granted asylum in Mexico. In 1937, as well as helping Trotsky, Kahlo and the political icon embarked on a short love affair. Trotsky and his wife remained in La Casa Azul until mid-1939.

During a visit to Mexico City in 1938, the founder of Surrealism, André Breton, was enchanted with Kahlo's painting, and wrote to his friend and art dealer, Julien Levy, who quickly invited Kahlo to hold her first solo show at his gallery in New York. This time round, Kahlo traveled to the States without Rivera and upon arrival caused a huge media sensation. People were attracted to her colorful and exotic (but actually traditional) Mexican costumes and her exhibition was a success. Georgia O'Keeffe was one of the notable guests to attend Kahlo's opening. Kahlo enjoyed some months socializing in New York and then sailed to Paris in early 1939 to exhibit with the Surrealists there. That exhibition was not as successful and she became quickly tired of the over-intellectualism of the Surrealist group. Kahlo returned to New York hoping to continue her love affair with Muray, but he broke off the relationship as he had recently met somebody else. Thus Kahlo traveled back to Mexico City and upon her return Rivera requested a divorce.

Later Years and Death

Following her divorce, Kahlo moved back to La Casa Azul. She moved away from her smaller paintings and began to work on much larger canvases. In 1940 Kahlo and Rivera remarried and their relationship became less turbulent as Kahlo's health deteriorated. Between the years of 1940-1956, the suffering artist often had to wear supportive back corsets to help her spinal problems, she also had an infectious skin condition, along with syphilis. When her father died in 1941, this exacerbated both her depression and her health. She again was often housebound and found simple pleasure in surrounding herself by animals and in tending to the garden at La Casa Azul.

Meanwhile, throughout the 1940s, Kahlo's work grew in notoriety and acclaim from international collectors, and was included in several group shows both in the United States and in Mexico. In 1943, her work was included in Women Artists at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery in New York. In this same year, Kahlo accepted a teaching position at a painting school in Mexico City (the school known as La Esmeralda), and acquired some highly devoted students with whom she undertook some mural commissions. She struggled to continue making a living from her art, never accommodating to clients' wishes if she did not like them, but luckily received a national prize for her painting Moses (1945) and then The Two Fridas painting was bought by the Museo de Arte Moderno in 1947. Meanwhile, the artist grew progressively ill. She had a complicated operation to try and straighten her spine, but it failed and from 1950 onwards, she was often confined to a wheelchair.

She continued to paint relatively prolifically in her final years while also maintaining her political activism, and protesting nuclear testing by Western powers. Kahlo exhibited one last time in Mexico in 1953 at Lola Alvarez Bravo's gallery, her first and only solo show in Mexico. She was brought to the event in an ambulance, with her four-poster bed following on the back of a truck. The bed was then placed in the center of the gallery so that she could lie there for the duration of the opening. Kahlo died in 1954 at La Casa Azul. While the official cause of death was given as pulmonary embolism, questions have been raised about suicide - either deliberate of accidental. She was 47 years old.

The Legacy of Frida Kahlo

As an individualist who was disengaged from any official artistic movement, Kahlo's artwork has been associated with Primitivism, Indigenism, Magic Realism, and Surrealism. Posthumously, Kahlo's artwork has grown profoundly influential for feminist studies and postcolonial debates, while Kahlo has become an international cultural icon. The artist's celebrity status for mass audiences has at times resulted in the compartmentalization of the artist's work as representative of interwar Latin American artwork at large, distanced from the complexities of Kahlo's deeply personal subject matter. Recent exhibitions, such as Unbound: Contemporary Art After Frida Kahlo (2014) at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago have attempted to reframe Kahlo's cultural significance by underscoring her lasting impact on the politics of the body and Kahlo's challenge to mainstream aesthetics of representation. Dreamers Awake (2017) held at The White Cube Gallery in London further illustrated the huge influence that Frida Kahlo and a handful of other early female Surrealists have had on the development and progression of female art.

The legacy of Kahlo cannot be underestimated or exaggerated. Not only is it likely that every female artist making art since the 1950s will quote her as an influence, but it is not only artists and those who are interested in art that she inspires. Her art also supports people who suffer as result of accident, as result of miscarriage, and as result of failed marriage. Through imagery, Kahlo articulated experiences so complex, making them more manageable and giving viewers hope that they can endure, recover, and start again.

Influences and Connections

Useful Resources on Frida Kahlo

Similar Art

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Frida Kahlo's highly imaginative, brooding, introspective paintings are emblematic of her struggle with a crippling accident and tense marriage to Diego Rivera.

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The painter and the content are an important part of my culture. Orozco is a giant of Mexican modern art, and here he depicts the Mexican revolution in all of its brutality. In a way, like Picasso's Guernica, it's an anti-war piece that highlights the violent nature of fighting in a war. Many of the leading artists often glamorized the idea of the working class taking up arms and joining the revolution, here we see a more grounded and first hand account of the horrors of war. I chose this artwork because of it's expressionistic style, composition, and balance. The warm colors work to balance out the heavy content.

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/orozco-jose-clemente/

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Artist:  nazreennizam // Title: My Body My Choice // Poster

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https://society6.com/product/my-body-my-choice2008702_poster

One out of every ten girls under the age of 18 has been forced to engage in sexual activity. It's possible that the genuine figure is greater. In nations where abortion is prohibited, limited, or unavailable, 40% of women of reproductive age live. Despite their desire to avoid or postpone having kids, 215 million women do not use contraception. SILENCE IS BROKEN!
Whenever it came to our body and partnerships, we tend to have the most spontaneous discussions in our brains. These ideas are frequently hidden. Why? Maybe it's because the society we live in determines what we feel we may express freely. Our governments, communities, and even our family all have a say in these societal standards. We feel guilty and humiliated when we defy such rules. We are afraid of being labeled and possibly imprisoned. We remain mute as a result of this. We want to help break the silence through My Body My Rights since many of us are unaware of our rights and hence unable to assert them.

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This image piece was a response to a police raid that happened in Oakland and left a man in a coma.
I choose this piece because it's nonviolent and gets its message out loudly. This piece speaks to me because it took me back to protest in 2020. I saw people getting teargassed and rubber bullets attacked for standing up for something we believed in.

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Days of Corona Photo by Rachel Banai picture #95

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Days of Corona Photo by Rachel Banai picture #95

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The main reason I choose this artwork, the elements of art the colors, lines, and shapes attracted me. Also, this artwork reminds me how these two years were difficult for everyone because the pandemic limited and changed our lifestyle. For most of us, it taught us how life can be changed instantly. I remember in summer 2020 unlike any summer everything was closed in the bay area, there was not any school, restaurant, moles, even the beach were closed, and everyone needed to stay home and work from home, sadly many lifestyles were lost. So, when I see this photo/ artwork it remind how our lifestyle get limited and changed because of the pandemic.
https://www.puffinculturalforum.org/camera-club-in-corona-times/

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Artists: Borislava Willnevermadeit, STALKERSINCE 1993 || Storybook Project

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I chose this artwork because I was fascinated by the title alone. As I looked into the meaning behind this artwork, I felt more interested into it overall. I love that this project's motive is to give girls this storybook to know more about themselves as they grow up. It can be confusing for growing girls who are experiencing so much change within their bodies during puberty. I would have definitely appreciated having a storybook like this available to me back when I was little. I feel like Sex Ed classes are not informative and just barely graze over the topic. Having information given to you that goes deep into the experiences you have been through is a great support into realizing this process is normal.

Link: https://vaginamatters.org/eng

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I chose this artwork because stopping climate change and protecting the environment is a very important issue to me. As soon as I saw this piece I was struck by it and how quickly it conveys its message. To me this artwork represents the destructive consequences of unbridled greed on the environment despite the mountains of evidence and research that scientists have produced showing the irreversible damages of climate change to the planet. Taylor very accurately captures this idea with man in a suit sticking his head in the sand representing the way many large corporations, financial institutions and politicians blatantly ignore the obvious effects of climate change to the point that its as comical as someone sticking their head in the sand.

https://www.activistart.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/jdt_banker.jpg

Jason deCaires Taylor, Banker

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The reason I chose this piece was that in this culture socially, politically and environmentally, we need to look forward to the future. Often times we look to place blame rather than fix the issue, even putting a major issue further into a problem out of spite. We could do great things in the future if we choose to, but at the end of the day if our leaders do not try to join us together then we will always have a divide.

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My Body My choice, nazreen nizam, Poster

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https://society6.com/product/my-body-my-choice2008702_poster?sku=s6-10841322p66a213v756
When it comes to our body and partnerships, we tend to have the most spontaneous discussions in our brains. These ideas are frequently hidden. Why?
Maybe it's because the society we live in determines what we feel we may express freely. Our governments, communities, and even our family all have a say in these societal standards. We feel guilty and humiliated when we defy such conventions. We're afraid of being judged and even imprisoned. We remain quiet as a result of this. I hope to shatter the silence through My Body My Rights since many of us are unaware of our rights and hence unable to assert them.

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I felt like the reason I picked this artwork was due to me supporting recycling and feel like it'll save the world by cleaning up our mess. The way the artwork represents someone finding it maybe in a lake when someone could of easily just tossed it into a recycling bin.

Here is the link where I found this art work from Joséko from Mexico.The title of the artwork is "There is power in caring", it was created for the SPRINTS of climate.https://thegreats.co/artworks/there-is-power-in-caring