I recently discovered two very talented female street artists; Shamsia Hassani and Faith47. These two women are from different corners of the globe and have two very different styles, but are equally as talented and powerful as any other artist in the game. Shamsia Hassani is a 25-year old street and digital artist from Kabul, Afghanistan. In regards to her style, she says; “Usually I am painting women with burqas in modernism shape on walls, I want to talk about their life, to find some way to remove them from darkness, to open their mind, to bring some positive changes, trying to remove all bad memories of war from everybody’s mind with covering sad city’s walls with happy colors” (quote from here ). Below are photos of some of Hassani’s incredible work. I love Hassani’s style, which is very modern and almost geometric, as opposed to the very free-styled or cartoonish works of other street artists. I hope that she is recognized on an international scale, because her work is very impressive, and important for the women of Afghanistan. In contrast, Faith47 is a street and multimedia artist from Cape Town, South Africa. According to her website, her career has lasted more than 15 years, and she now has work in many of the major cities around the world. In 2015 alone, she participated in exhibitions in the United States, France, China, Tahiti, Canada, and Mexico. “Through her work, Faith47 attempts to disarm the strategies of global realpolitik, in order to advance the expression of personal truth. In this way, her work is both an internal and spiritual release that speaks to the complexities of the human condition, its deviant histories and existential search” (quote from her biography). Below are some of Faith47’s pieces. I really enjoy Faith47’s work, because it is very realistic and airy. I love the “dripping” effect she has on her pieces, and the animals she often paints. They are very beautiful, and I hope that someday I have the opportunity to see a piece from her in real life.
If you are interested in seeing more work from these two incredible women, I suggest looking more into their work. You can also check out Hassani’s Facebook, and Faith47’s Facebook for more of their work. Note: Both of Hassani’s images were taken from her Facebook, and the three images of Faith47’s work were taken from the following articles in order; here, here, and here. None of the images used in this post are our own, and there is no copyright infringement intended, as we would like to credit (and promote) these wonderful artists as much as we can.
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Photographer Hannah Altman published a fascinating series of photographs on her tumblr http://hannahaltmanphoto.tumblr.com/ a few months ago, entitled “And Everything Nice.” Altman includes a brief explanation of the series: “‘And Everything Nice’ is an unflinching analysis of the standard for female beauty. The ongoing series consists of women in states of affliction; the body fluid of the models have been replaced with glitter to visualize the concept of girls invariably needing to seem attractive regardless of the actual situation” - Altman via her Tumblr post I love this series because it’s very powerful in showing how girls are expected to be “attractive” all the time, as Altman claims above. I like how she replaced the blood and vomit and tears with glitter, which made the statement very poignant. I’ve seen this series floating around Tumblr for a while, and maybe you have too? Feel free to comment with your interpretations and thoughts.
Check out her Tumblr for more of her photography if you’re interested. Note: All images were taken from the original post, and are in no way our own because we’re not that talented. Riikka Hyvönen is an artist from Finland, but is currently based in London. Hyvönen’s most recent exhibition is entitled “Roller Derby Kisses,” and currently on display at the Finnish Institute in London until August 20th.
This exhibit features giant paintings of bruises, or ‘kisses’ as the artist describes them, on roller derby girls. In an interview with the Finnish Institute, Hyvönen stated that, “I painted the bums to capture momentary marks that are seen in a completely different light in the mainstream than inside the subculture of roller derby girls.” Hyvönen also claims that she wanted the viewers to see the beauty in bruises. Personally, I really enjoyed this piece, because I find bruises to be strangely beautiful. In this context, they almost resemble “battle scars” for the derby girls, small discolorations that remind them of victory or defeat. Bruises allow them to show others their hard work, and proudly wear it on their skin. Hyvönen does have a website here, with her contact information. In addition, follow her on Twitter to stay updated. Note: all images were found here. Maryam Ashkanian is an artist of Iranian decent who I recently discovered through Tumblr. Her 'Sleep Series' is a sculptural collection featuring what appears to be pillows and embroidery. Ashkanian's website features more of her work, and you can follow her on Twitter for updates. I see it as a reflection of what we're like as we sleep, the impressions we leave in our pillows, the way we unconsciously move through the night, and ultimately a subtle reminder that there's plenty we don't remember/aren't present for throughout our lives. Note: These lovely photos are definitely not our own and were grabbed from Ashkanian's website
I was recently introduced to Redbubble by a friend of mine (shoutout to you Madison.) It's an online marketplace for print on demand products. This means it hosts artwork from thousands (and thousands) of submissions. Similar to Society6, you can purchase anything from posters, stickers, greeting cards, apparel, decor, canvas wall art, and even phone cases. The site has something for literally everyone, and I highly suggest taking a look around.
Some of my favorite shops include tanyabond, ssananikone, whaili0531, emilybrinkley, papertigressart, and jennyfontana, but I highly suggest just searching around and looking at what's trending. Personally I love the postcard prints as cheap wall art, and the stickers are super fun for laptops, water bottles, notebooks, cars, etc. For my birthday, Anna shipped me a 'cats against cat calls' tank top (which I absolutely adore by the way.) Redbubble had wrapped it really nicely and it came out lovely, but there was a bit of a chemical smell so I suggest washing before wear. Plus, if you buy more than 6 stickers, they all get reduced to half price, and similar deals apply to greeting cards and postcards. |
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September 2017
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