Artists around the world are using creative expression to address social issues, preserve cultural heritage, and transform urban environments, according to recent reports from various publications. From mosaic installations filling city potholes to the preservation of endangered cultural artifacts, these stories highlight the vital role of art in contemporary society.
Mosaic artists in London are bringing unexpected bursts of color to urban landscapes by filling potholes, sidewalk cracks, and other city imperfections with vibrant artwork. Tessa Hunkin, who leads the Hackney Mosaic Project, has been organizing collaborative mural projects in east London since 2012, specifically working with people struggling with mental health and addiction issues. The 71-year-old artist explains that many participants "carry a huge burden of shame" and "feel they've messed up their lives," making it particularly meaningful for them to create something they can be proud of and show their families.
Hunkin's new book, "Tessa Hunkin's Hackney Mosaic Project," showcases these colorful installations, which often feature detailed motifs of plants, animals, and historical figures. She believes that "walking through the city is endlessly interesting, and the more interesting things that you can add, the more fun the city becomes." Another London-based mosaic artist known as "Florist" has found redemption through art after receiving 300 hours of community service for graffiti as a teenager. Nine months ago, he began creating pixelated designs on buildings he considers eyesores, using glass materials "because it dances in the sunlight." For him, returning to art represents coming "full circle," as he was always "obsessed with color and shapes."
Meanwhile, religious sites in India face increasing threats from growing Hindu nationalist movements, with these attacks extending into diaspora communities worldwide. In March 2022, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's tomb in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar required heavy security after Hindu organizations including Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal threatened a "Babri Masjid-like fate" if the state government didn't remove the structure. The groups staged protests at the Nagpur District Collector's office, which led to clashes and stone-pelting when rumors spread that a cloth bearing the Islamic declaration of faith had been burned during demonstrations. Approximately 100 people were arrested, including several Muslims.
The pattern of mosque and shrine demolitions across India in early 2023 affected locations from Bet Dwarka and Ujjain to Bahraich and Dibrugarh, with religious structures being systematically targeted through encroachment drives. While concrete data on mosque demolition incidents remains unavailable, The Polis Project documented 15 cases from media reports within the first six months of 2023 alone.
In a more positive development for cultural preservation, nearly 300 photographs of Iraqi Yazidi communities from the 1930s have been rediscovered after 90 years, offering significant meaning for Yazidi cultural reclamation amid ongoing persecution. The Sersal Project, which showcases these images, works to counter the dehumanization that often accompanies genocide. As Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, who escaped Islamic State slavery, recently observed, "genocide reduces human beings to lists and numbers."
Marin Webb, involved with the exhibition, explained that the project raises awareness about the precarious situation of Yazidis while celebrating "their cause and their identity." One Yazidi contact celebrated that the photographs "show who we are," contributing to a broader embrace of Yazidi traditions among younger generations. While modern life's fast pace had previously led young Yazidis to distance themselves from their folklore, music, and history, there has been a notable reversal since 2014, with growing appreciation for traditional ways of life.
The arts community mourns the loss of disability justice advocate Alice Wong, who passed away at age 51 this week. As her disability progressed, Wong embraced her identity as a "disabled cyborg," viewing the advancement of her condition as "cyborg turning points" in her 2022 memoir "The Year of the Tiger." She told The Guardian earlier this year, "I am a disabled cyborg that has gone through another series of augmentations that extended her life until another system fails." After losing her ability to speak, Wong became an advocate for people using augmentative and alternative communication, serving on the advisory council for CommunicationFirst, a nonprofit protecting the rights of nonspeakers.
With the Epstein Files returning to public attention, critics are examining Jeffrey Epstein's troubling influence on foreign policy and global affairs. Writing in The Nation, Jeet Heer argues that "the Jeffrey Epstein story makes no sense unless you realize that he was deeply entrenched in the foreign policy elite," which provided much of his lifelong impunity. Epstein shared the neoliberal worldview dominating the US elite since the Cold War's end, supporting the Washington Consensus, US military hegemony, Israeli alliance in the Middle East, globalization, government privatization, STEM education, and what Heer describes as "male-centered sexual hedonism" taken to "sickening extremes."
In linguistic and cultural commentary, YouTuber Maia Wyman, known as Broey Deschanel, has written about vocal fry and its connection to misogyny. She notes that vocal fry is typically not "put on at all, but rather one of many vocal registers slipped into, unknowingly, at different moments in time." The podcast "This American Life" dedicated an entire episode to vocal fry after receiving angry feedback about host Hannah Joffe-Walt's voice, much to her surprise. Comedian Delaney Rowe faces similar reactions on TikTok, where viewers praise her "accurate" vocal fry portrayal of characters, prompting her response: "That's just my voice."
Finally, in scientific discoveries related to human behavior, a new study has traced the origins of kissing back 21 million years. BBC's Victoria Gill reports that researchers found kissing behavior matching their scientific definition in wolves, prairie dogs, polar bears, and even albatrosses. The study focused on primates and apes to build an evolutionary picture of human kissing origins, concluding that Neanderthals, our closest ancient human relatives who died out around 40,000 years ago, also engaged in kissing behavior. These findings provide yet another compelling reason to protect and study both queer art and diverse expressions of human and animal behavior.
