offthebeatenpath
Building A Bridge In A Divided Community Amid Spike In Tourism Industry
Mural festivals are a powerful force in today’s artistic era. They can be divisive or unifying, because street art is a facet of placemaking, a sort of ‘face’ each community presents to its residents and visitors. As such, concrete mission statements from festivals must guide this force, and those missions determine a community’s tone. Akumal …
REWILD By Escif: A Rewind Symbol To Reconnect With And Respect The Earth
Spanish artist ESCIF has teamed up with cultural initiative Splash and Burn, curated by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic and coordinated by Charlotte Pyatt, for their latest endeavor, titled REWILD. This ambitious, multifaceted project is centered around a stunning land intervention, supplemented by murals, and culminating with a short film. The entire project is inspired by …
Opening Lines: Connecting 2 Groups Of 5th Graders Living 7000 Miles Apart
One Blue Sky, a new educational project launched by Laura Rodgers of The Good Works Foundation, has officially completed its first endeavor, titled “Opening Lines” with the help of Michigan-based street artist Pat Perry and Samantha Robinson of aptART. As we reported in May, a statement from the One Blue Sky staff explains that “through the …
Conflicting Forces Within A Rapidly Changing Lynn
In January 2019, we ran an article highlighting the role that street art can play in aiding the nefarious forces of gentrification, oftentimes set into action by greedy corporate land developers. We told this story specifically through a lens focused on the role that the new Beyond Walls mural festival has played in a rapidly transforming …
Kindness Through Greenery: Street Artists Icy & Sot Aid Asylum Seekers at Moira Refugee Camp
The story of refugees in the Greek islands has faded from headline news, yet the humanitarian crisis is far from over. The underlying factors that led to more than 1.8 million people to come to Europe since 2014 are still very much a reality, and unless the conditions in their home countries improve, people will …
One Blue Sky: An Art Intervention That Aims To Instill Within Children A Shared Humanity
Later this month, the end of May will not only usher in the summer season, but also the beginning of a new educational art endeavor brought to fruition with help from Samantha Robison, founder and director of aptART. One Blue Sky is a new project by Laura Rodgers, Director of The Good Works Foundation. The …
The Lost Art Of Caring
The story of refugees in the Greek islands has faded from headline news, yet the struggle and suffering continues. Mainstream Europe have stopped caring about the crisis and in effect have stopped caring for their fellow humans. In an effort to revive the art of caring and improve the environment where children seek mental and …
Marhaba, welcome!
There she sat right across the table from me in Arafat’s old soap factory wearing her black hijab and dress bursting out with absolutely no hesitation at all “I’m tired of life”, it’s clear to me that it’s something that’s been on her mind for a while. I freeze, can’t speak, the only thing in …
Remembering The Nakba: Because Every Voice Counts
After decades of resistance, 2018 marks 70 years since the Nakba. Palestinian and international voices echoed across countless media outlets and public gatherings all over the globe calling for a right oppressed for 7 decades in the most barbarian of approaches and atrocities, the Right to Return. Knowing the recklessness of the occupier and the …
Insights Into Lebanon’s 2018 Elections: What the polls failed to say
Lebanon’s electoral farce of 2018 has as usual put forth the major candidates that have been in the parliament since the establishment of the country under the umbrella of democracy of course. Some other names have been glued in their parliamentary seats since the civil war and few others have joined this eternal mission couple …
Killing Gaza: A documentary film about life under siege
Independent journalists Max Blumenthal and Dan Cohen documented Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza during the war, and chronicled its horrific aftermath. As they waded through the rubble of Gaza’s destroyed border regions, they turned a camera onto the survivors of the slaughter and let them speak for themselves. While giving voice to the pain of …
Those Who Remain: The Heavy Burden of Leading a Life in Post Civil War Lebanon
Humans have identified with war and conflict since the dawn of time more than they have ever tried to identify with each other. This is particularly the case of the Lebanese post-civil war scene, where the discourse of war and sectarian hostility still floats at the surface of everyday interactions among people. In the region …