artist
Written on the Walls
Through graffiti, political expression has slipped out of gilded frames and onto concrete and stone. Modern murals in Cairo, Bethlehem and Amman show how the measure of a civilization lies not in its monuments, but in people insisting on being seen, claiming space and painting themselves back into the landscape.
‘Shut Up and Play Your Guitar’
Alex Skolnick is a virtuoso musician best known as the lead guitarist for thrash legends Testament and his own jazz trio. When he started weighing in on politics, he was told to “shut up and play your guitar.” In an essay for Newlines, he writes about the responsibility of artists in a time of political turmoil.