Ain’t I A Woman?

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Mary C

This mural can be seen in Kingston NY.

Written in circles around the woman on the left are lines of poetry by Mahogany L. Browne

“you black girl magic
you black girl flyy
you black girl brilliance
you black girl wonder
you black girl shine
you black girl bloom
And you turning into a
beautiful black woman
right before they eyes”

The screen on the phone shows the portrait of another Black Woman, Sojourner Truth. The words written around her head are from a speech that she gave at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851. Over one hundred and fifty years ago. Sojourner Truth was calling on Black women, and all women, to fight for the right to vote. The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women that right but that didn’t come into being until 1920.

In a lot of ways, Sojourner Truth’s words ring true today. Has there ever been a time when women weren’t fighting for their rights in one way or another? The text:

“that man over there said women need to be helped into carriages and carried over ditches.
nobody ever helped me over a ditch or lifted me into a carriage
AND AIN’T I A WOMAN?
look at me! look at my arm!
I have ploughed, harvested and sowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me!
AND AIN’T I A WOMAN?
I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear trash as well.
AND AIN’T I A WOMAN?
I have born thirteen children, seen most all off to slavery and when I cried in my mothers grief no one but jesus heard me!
AND AIN’T I A WOMAN?
the first woman god ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn back and get right back up again!”

The mural was painted by Jess Snow and jetsonorama as part of the O+ Festival

Photos taken in July 2022

Let Lebanon Live

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Mary C

… Before I Die

Back in late October and early November 2019, one of the walls surrounding the Beiruti ESCWA (a United Nations building, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia) building was transformed with graffiti and street art into a “Revolution Wall”. It coincided with protests against bad governance, corruption and social injustice in Lebanon. The Art of Change movement was involved in painting the wall… along with many Lebanese artist. This is only one of such walls.

below: Caricatures of Lebanese officials along with two posters. The one on the far left is by sumerziady

below: A mouse wearing a hard hat and brandishing a sword.

below: A wonderful black and rust coloured bird, by RenoZ, It doesn’t seem fazed by the mouse with the sword.

below: A monkey-faced man by Zein, a clenched fist rising out of the ground, and two green fighters in a no entry zone (or is it the Lebanese flag?).

below: Freedom, loud and clear.

below: Another Renoz painting, a skull on a chair from which a red rose is rising.

below: The man in the megaphone is signed Dewdle, the mark of Ali Kadado, a Lebanese artist. Resist.

below: I am now feeling that my lack of Arabic means that I am missing a lot of what these mean. For instance, the purple guy by Weesdom is saying something but I don’t know what. I also suspect that the words written on the tap over the young man’s mouth are important, perhaps “Revolution even if you try to silence us”? (artwork by Roula Abdo). The last one is in English but now some knowledge of Lebanese politics would be helpful – a phone screenshot by phat2tg (ot the tg posse)

below: Stencil by markghsoub aka Markus – a larger than life man standing in a shallow boat.

below: Title section, “Revolution Wall” featuring a clown with dollar signs flashing in his eyes by Ivan Debs.

below: Caricature mugshots. Lebanese government officials as Jokers as they go off to jail.

below: Another markghsoub stencil

below: Dancing while the bombs fall by Zein.

below: Giving the peace sign, a man in a red and white shirt by fasewho aka Oliver Matar (He also painted the large word ‘Freedom’ a few pictures back). The head with all the people as hair is another painting by Roula Abdo.

below: A bunch of balloons, most in the colours of the Lebanese flag by ilatk aka Ilat Knayzeh on one side, and on the right is a woman stenciled on top of a circular pattern by ZaFeelz aka Zayna Ayyad

below: Among the profanity, two calligraphy pieces by Ghaleb Hawila

below: An intricate and detailed black and white drawing by @rasharahal

below: A closer look at the top part

There is an Instagram page devoted to collecting the 2019 Lebanese Art of Revolution, or Art of Thawra. Check it out if you are interested seeing more of this type of art.

Athenian stencils

Posted on October 9, 2018 by Mary C

below: A television family. The rabbit ears are quaint.

little black stencil of a family, parents have televisions for heads, standing in a row, all holding hands. seen in Athens Greece

below: Crying eyes

black stencil of a woman's face, just the features, she is crying and black tears are running down her face

line drawing, in black, stencil, woman's head with face partially obscured by a red bandana over her mouth and nose

below: Throwing each other away. Are any of us really disposable?

small black stencil of a person throwing a smaller person into a garbage can

below: A more positive message – butterflies and love

two metal boxes on the street with stencil graffiti, both with red background, one has many black butterflies and the other has a boy giving a flower to a girl, in silhouette

below: I suspect that it’s a protest that is political in nature but because of my lack of Greek I’m not sure.

stencil graffiti, circle with a pair of scissors diagonally across it, with words R.A.W. cuts and then some Greek words below it. seen in Athens Greece

below: I think that this is the face that is stenciled the most. Che Guevara may have died in 1967 but his face lives on.

black stencil, che

Athens has lots of concrete pillars on its streets and many have graffiti on them. The next few photos are some of those pillars.

stencil on a concrete pole with two people walking past it. stencil is a woman. seen in Athens Greece

two stencils of women, the top has covering over mouth and nose, the other is a line drawing of a woman's head and shoulders in profile

black stencil of a woman on a concrete pole

Yerevan Armenia

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Mary C

black stencil of a man holding a megaphone in one hand and with the other hand raised in a fist, words in Armenian written below it.

Street Art in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

word stencils on top of each other on a wall, one in black says Government is not a mafia, red words in Armenian

three faces partially merged together in a mural

mother and daughter figures in black on a wall, mother is guiding daughter forward, standing on lines that are either heart beats or a chasm

yerevan street art, man's head, black hair and beard

large man in blue and white, older man, small black stencil beside it of another man's head

yerevan street art, man's head, black hair and moustache, red shirt, black bird on top of his head

stencil of a rifle with the words defend yerevan around it, also a sticker of a man's face in pink and orange that says with Pavel on it.

yerevan street art, man's head, black hair and beard, red bow tie, on yellow wall

yerevan street art, man's head, black hair and beard and moustache, wild eyes, on concrete that is crumbling a bit

pasteup on a sun shape with long rays, a black and white creature in the center

paste up of a person in black and white, hood and mask, yellow background

colourful mural of soldier's head, with uniform and hat

yerevan street art, man's head, in profile, black hair, beard, with yellowish face, words say Yerevan World Book Capital 2012

ice cream cone line drawing in blue and a yellow bumble bee sticker

pink stencil written on the sidewalk (pavement) that say Make Moves

people on Bristol streets

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Mary C

People in murals and other street art seen in Bristol earlier in 2017.

below: A mural in shades of yellow by tattoo and street artist Sepr (instagram) . These aren’t blackbirds baked in a pie, instead they are blackbirds in a cup and saucer. Let’s have tea!

mural, yellow and grey on black background, car parked in front. Mural is a man holding a tea cup in one hand and a small plate in the other. Two blackbirds in the cup and one on the plate.

below: Jesus Break Dance by Cosmo Sarson

large mural of a man upside down on one hand, only a loincloth on, no other clothes

below: A large mural of a woman’s face in yellow and black, by Stinkfish, Stokes Croft, 2012

large mural of a yellow woman's face, long black hair, on the side of a building, blue and red text graffiti along the bottom

below: The Coat of Arms by Nick Walker

mural on a wall, figure with many arms, wrds that say the coat of arms

below: On the left is ‘Afrika en la casa’ by Feo Flip (Basura Visual) and on the right is a cracked face by LAIC.

two large faces, one man , one woman, with a door covered with posters between them

below: Another piece by LAIC. Most of his street art involves distorted faces,

below: Street art by Dr. Love from Tbilisi Georgia, love holds you up. Girl on swing. Red balloons.

street art piece of s girl sitting on a swing that is being held up by two red balloons

below: Welcome to St. Pauls mural

mural on a wall, city scene

street art, 3 pieces,painting of woman's head in grey and purple, graffiti in pink and green shapes, plus drawing on a door in the middle

below: Alice in Wasteland.

stencil graffiti

below: A little line drawing wonderfully placed around the chain.

small drawing on a wall, man with scowling face, large head and small body,

below: Boxing dog-faced men with bright red gloves.

mural of naked men with red boxing gloves

below: DENX ’09

street art painting of a man with blue face, black hat and jacket and green pants

mural of a witch with wizard hat on blue with yellow stars

under a barred window, a painting of two faces on blue background

resist graffiti words

parking meter man as a monkey, sneering, and pointing, beside a sign that says no parking, words on street art say put the oney in the meter

words that say think local boycott tesco, picture of a man holding a protest sign and a megaphone

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Tag Archives: protest