SEBS Skewers Seductive Techniques of Consumer Ad Language in Portugal

SEBS Skewers Seductive Techniques of Consumer Ad Language in Portugal

August 8, 2018

Whether it’s the sarcastic stickers from MAD Magazine for Snarlamint cigarettes, Wacky Package trading cards for Crust toothpaste, or that first Saturday Night Live ad for Loggs, the pantyhose for tree-stumps, artists have been lampooning the misleading advertising culture that has fed rampant mindless consumerism for decades.

Early Street Art activists like the Billboard Liberation Front skewered cigarette makers for tying rustic masculinity to cancer-causing tobacco and Ron English liberated a number of billboards by making a humorous and direct link between fast food, children’s morning cereal and chronic obesity – eventually producing toys of commercial mascots in porcine proportions.

SEBS. Amadora, Portugal. July 2018. (photo © SEBS)

In the same spirit we find a few new satiric advertisements today by Street Artist SEBS, who created these colorful attacks on city walls in Loures City and Amodora City not far from Lisbon, Portugal.

“This work is a continuation of the ‘Slaves ‘R’ Us’ campaign that I have been doing,” he tells us. His particular targets this time are fat-free potato chips, the slowly creeping practice of the implantation of RFID electronic chips in people, and a slot machine where you play to win a disease.

SEBS. Loures, Portugal. July 2018. (photo © SEBS)

SEBS. Loures, Portugal. July 2018. (photo © SEBS)

SEBS. Amadora, Portugal. July 2018. (photo © SEBS)

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“RUN” Plunders Subtle Summer Bourgeoisie Hypocrisies at the Beach

“RUN” Plunders Subtle Summer Bourgeoisie Hypocrisies at the Beach

August 7, 2018

You’ve packed your sandwiches, rolled out your tropically themed beach towel on the sand, applied sun block liberally, sipped your margarita from your thermos, and are finally laying down to daze at the seagulls circling in the blue sky.

RUN. Detail. Hackney, London. July 2018. (photo © RUN)

Suddenly someone spots with their binoculars the sight of refugees swimming toward shore from their overburdened, partially submerged boat, escaping from an oil war that has devastated their home.

Italian Street Artist and muralist RUN shares with BSA readers his new beach reverie painted in Hackney, and with some closer inspection you’ll see that the politically charged scene is rather dark for a sunny day.

RUN. Detail. Hackney, London. July 2018. (photo © RUN)

“I wanted to represent a normal, crowded beach-side scene where joyful people who suddenly witness a boat of immigrants in the distance,” he explains.

“They are trying to reach the shore. Some of them make it some others don’t. It is sad but it’s the daily reality.”

He plays with that normality of his figures behaviors and gestures among a privileged society, whose casual gaze out to sea at first only catches view what they must think is an athletic diver enjoying their leisure.

RUN. Detail. Hackney, London. July 2018. (photo © RUN)

This is the second of two recent murals, and he has something to say in each.

“I have given a political edge to both of my recent murals,” RUN says, as he shows you a busy character who is checking his clock and going through some sort of chaotic time machine.

The artists dim view of the human race at the moment is reflected in the scene of gradual devolution. “The figure is going back to the sapiens and monkey stages,” he says, “caged in a small space, hypnotized by an electronic device.”

Present company not included, of course!

RUN. Detail. Hackney, London. July 2018. (photo © RUN)

RUN. Detail. De-Evolution. Hackney, London. July 2018. (photo © RUN)

RUN. De-Evolution. Hackney, London. July 2018. (photo © RUN)

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Charlie Ahearn and Crew LIVE this Week in NYC for “Wild Style” Reunion in the Park

Charlie Ahearn and Crew LIVE this Week in NYC for “Wild Style” Reunion in the Park

August 6, 2018

Only in New York baby, the 35th Anniversary celebration of “Wild Style,” out in the open amphitheater of East River Park will be jamming this Thursday. And its free. Yes Yes Ya’ll.

The seminal quasi-documentary of early hip-hop and graffiti culture in New York synthesized the elements of style that were all convening on the streets at that moment.

The moment passed but the movie remained, a document and a springboard for all sorts of self-invented personalities – indeed one of the springboards for the very practice of self-invention in the culture – and intervening years have made it required viewing to understand what came next. As time passes, you know that opportunities to see this movie and connect with community like this are becoming fewer, so we recommend you check this event.

Many try to claim the label of legendary and you know when its hyperbole. “Wild Style” is said to have been called a “visual Bible of hip-hop” by NAS, and that sounds right.

The director Charlie Ahearn will reign over the party and screening in the park along with headliner DJ Funk Flex and special guests will make eyes bug, jaws drop, and black books fly – like Almighty Kay Gee, Busy Bee, DJ Grand Wizzard Theodore, DJ Tony Crush, Eclipse, EZ AD, Grand Master Caz, Patti Astor, and Rodney C. Look up the after-party in a hotel with The Fantastic Five, Cold Crush Brothers, Busy Bee, Double Trouble, Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quinones, Lady Pink and other invited cast and crew- that one requires a ticket.

Check out the FB page for more and follow them on Instagram @wildstylethemovie

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.05.18

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.05.18

August 5, 2018 ,

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring AJ LaVilla, Boy Kong, BunnyM, ColpOne, Cycle, Haculla, Jappy Lemon, JR, Lungebox, Raddington Falls, RX Skulls, SacSix, SAMO, Sheryo, The Yok and Winstont Seng.

Our top image: The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cycle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cycle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cycle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Winstont Seng (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SAMO©4 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This is the same newsstand…not sure about the artist… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This is the same newsstand…not sure about the artist…but it looks like RX Skulls… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“…but no one was interested in the facts. They preferred the invention because this invention expressed and corroborated their hates and fears so perfectly.” ~ James Baldwin, from Notes of a Native Son.

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RX Skulls (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An old Haculla gate… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jappy Lemon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Boy Kong (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lungebox (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Street Terror”, ColpOne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pussy Power Chocho with ColpOne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

AJ LaVilla (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist’s hand drawing. Original. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’ll go with just RAD this time… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix takes on a classic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix takes on a master… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Tristan Eaton “Intermission” Video Debuts

Tristan Eaton “Intermission” Video Debuts

August 4, 2018

Tristan Eaton completed his turn at the famed Houston/Bowery Wall in Manhattan back in July…he wanted an Intermission from the noise, the bad news, the stress, the BS and the haters, he says.

So he regaled us and the city with a burst of color and old Hollywood nostalgia. We wrote about the mural HERE and now Zane from Chop ’em Down Films just sent us his video of his capture of the artist and mural. Since we are all mid-summer here in NYC  we’d like to take Tristan’s intermission further and give it some love once more…

Zane caught in the action. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zane catching the action with Tristan and Sheryo’s happy encounter and Martha Cooper doing what she was born to do… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tristan Eaton. Intermission. Houston Bowery Wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Film Friday: 08.03.18

BSA Film Friday: 08.03.18

August 3, 2018

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. Cheryl Dunn Walk The Streets Of NYC
2. Studio Visit With Bordalo II in Lisbon
3. Good Guy Boris “TOYS ARE BETTER PEOPLE” / Part I and II

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: Cheryl Dunn Walk The Streets Of NYC

“Go there and go deep,” says street photographer and filmmaker Cheryl Dunn in this new brand sponsored content video that takes you through mainly Chinatown/Wall Street area and allows you to hear her story and perspectives briefly.

Director of a highly-praised documentary called “Everybody Street” and many others of high quality, Dunn is more than familiar with the ethos of observing life in the chaos-metropolis and hoping to capture a moment that sticks out as a clarion yell. It’s about an approach that is only yours, and only possible through your vision, and luck.

Studio Visit With Bordalo II in Lisbon

Literally garbage. But you knew that.

But did you know the level of detail and minute mechanical manipulation that goes into a piece by Street Artist/fine artist Bordallo II ? Straight from Lisbon, where he propagates grandly forward from a curiously ornate studio spot.

Good Guy Boris “TOYS ARE BETTER PEOPLE” / Part I

Bad Boy Boris is not good at math or certain mechanical/technical matters but he’s good at persistence. Which is why he’ll succeed.

The graffiti writer is an authority on sniffing out opportunity and his hand-made and witty vlog allows you to tag along as he looks for the perfect spot by the beach outside of Athens to put up his piece.

“Toys are humble people, cool people, chill people,” coos the suddenly philosophical Boris as he strides victoriously from his freshly painted pat on the back for that much maligned population. Ah, but everyone is a rookie as some point right?

“Just another obsessed vlogger risking his life for the sake of YouTube because YouTube is more important than life,” he says in one more pearl of wisdom that will surely entice viewers to follow this guy until he works out all the kinks.

 

Good Guy Boris TOYS ARE BETTER PEOPLE / Part II

 

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The “Delusional” Winners…and Honorable Mentions

The “Delusional” Winners…and Honorable Mentions

August 2, 2018

It was a genuine pleasure to meet so many of the artists last night at Jonathan Levine Gallery for the opening of the Delusional Art Competition. Not surprisingly, the art works were stellar and in many cases exceptional – narrowed down from a field of 1700 or so competitors and selected by Jonathan and a jury of artists and professionals in the field (full disclosure: BSA was on the jury).

About 150 people crowded the gallery space and looked at the 40 finalists, shook hands with artists and posed with them, each making their own assessments about what works were resonating strongest for them and considering the quality of the field in general. There is a great deal to be learned from how artists are seeing things at this moment and about how we all are responding to this work.

First Prize : Win Wallace

Win Wallace. Dancer #5 , 2018. Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JURY’S CHOICE
1st Place – Win Wallace
2nd Place – Tina Lugo
3rd Place – Susannah Martin

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Carly Slade
Rick Newton
Anthony Solano

We are excited to share with you artworks by the winners and honorable mentions from this years’ Delusional Art Competition and to share with you some reactions from the visionary at the vortex, Jonathan Levine.

Second Prize – Tina Lugo

Tina Lugo. I See Myself with You 2016. Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: How was the competition this year compared to last year when you had to do the jury duties all yourself?
Jonathan LeVine: The interesting thing is I was trying to make it this very democratic process and so every year the show is different. So some of the choices that other jurors made I thought, “Oh that makes sense” and with some of the others I thought, “really they chose that?”

But then it just made me realize how different everyone’s tastes are. It was an interesting thing to see. You know I did it last year and I’ve juried stuff before, but because it was my competition I felt differently. It really made me think this year about perceptions, what people like, and what kind of tastes people have.

Third Prize – Susannah Martin

Susannah Martin. Reservoir 2018. Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: What surprised you?
Jonathan LeVine: A lot of people liked stuff I didn’t like.

BSA: Are there trends that you would like to see evaporate?
Jonathan LeVine: I always like to see people not imitating so much from other people. It’s one thing if you see it a little bit. But it is another thing if you see 50 artists doing the same thing, or see blatant rip-offs of other artists. I realize those people probably think that it is okay, or they don’t even realize that they are doing it, or it is flattery, but it is not unique.

Great art to me is unique. It doesn’t have to be fine art, but it needs to be authentic. That really speaks to me. So maybe that is sometimes more challenging to people and its not always necessarily the prettiest. As I continue to do this competition, it’s going to change my perspective I think.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Carly Slade

Carly Slade. 2046 W Diamond St, Philadelphia, PA 2018 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carly Slade. 2046 W Diamond St, Philadelphia, PA 2018 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carly Slade. 2046 W Diamond St, Philadelphia, PA 2018 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rick Newton

Rick Newton. Christopher Columbus Discovering the New World 2016 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rick Newton. Christopher Columbus Discovering the New World 2016 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Solano

Anthony Solano. Enough 2017 Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Solano. Urban Arc 2017 (far left), Room to Grow 2017 (bottom) Jonathan LeVine Projects. Delusional. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

Following are short bios for each of the winners and honorable mentions:

Win Wallace was born in South Carolina and is currently based in Austin, Texas. His recent practice focuses on conte and charcoal portraits, as well as ink drawings. Since high school, Wallace has played in bands and has made posters for bands like the Melvins, Neurosis, Sleep, Helios Creed, Alice Donut, DMBQ, Animal Collective, Scratch Acid, The Dicks and many others. He moved to Austin in the mid 1990’s to study drawing at the University of Texas. His drawings are influenced by history, art history, dreams, nature and pathos.  His works have been exhibited extensively in Texas, throughout the United States and internationally.

Tina Lugo was born and raised in The Bronx, New York.  She studied at the School of Visual Arts where she obtained her BFA and worked with fellow artist, Nicolas Touron.  She’s currently based in Portland, Oregon where she continues to make glass paintings in her Pacific Northwest studio.  Lugo lists as her biggest influence, the Ero Guru Nansensu art movement of Japan—a name comprised of fractions of the English words erotic, grotesque, and nonsense.  The movement focuses on eroticism, sexual corruption, and decadence, all themes salient in Lugo’s work.

Susannah Martin was born in 1964 in New York City.  She studied at New York University and received a SEHNAP scholarship for painting.  Among her most notable teachers there were; John Kacere, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine and Peter Campus.  Following her studies she was self-employed as a muralist and painter of sets for film and photography in New York, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, where she is currently based.  In 2004, she returned to fine art and is interested in contemporizing the classical subject of the nude in landscape.  Avoiding a falsely idyllic scenario, she focuses on mans´ estrangement from nature. The figures may appear absurd, stripped of all social indicators and possessions, or ecstatic in unexpected reunification with their natural selves.  Her work creates a stage in which mans´ struggle between the two poles of his identity, the natural and the synthetic, may be contemplated.  She’s exhibited throughout Europe and the United States of America.

Carly Slade grew up in “Big sky Alberta”, Canada.  She received her MFA from San Jose State University and her BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design.  Her work is influenced by her blue-collar roots and plagued by a concern for the precarious nature of the working class.  Using a mix of materials (most often including clay, embroidery, and building supplies), Slade creates dioramas of real places in an unreal perspective.  Slade is currently the Artist in Resident and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA.

Rick Newton was born in West Palm Beach Florida and received a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art.  Stylistically inspired by scientific textbook illustrations, her presents his personal mythology concerning the future of our world.  By incorporating Cold War imagery interacting with animal life set in surreal landscapes, he supposes a world where there has been a shift in hierarchy.

Anthony Solano was born in Hayward CA, then spent the majority of his childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico.  When he returned to the Bay Area at the age of 13, art became a source of escape and comfort.  In high school he was exposed to painting for the first time, sparking what would become his life’s passion.  Anthony, a self-taught painter, now resides in Portland, Oregon and credits the local landscape for a major creative shift, from abstract painting to the surreal genre that he currently practices.  His work explores today’s environmental conflicts, communicated with vibrant hyper-realistic imagery and thought-provoking storytelling.  A sense of optimism and hope within his work allows the viewer to experience a complex, emotional response.

2nd Annual Delusional Art Competition

Group Exhibition will run from
August 1 – 25, 2018

For more information please go to Jonathan Levine Projects.

 

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Borondo Finds Community on The Island Of Utsira in Norway

Borondo Finds Community on The Island Of Utsira in Norway

August 1, 2018

Today we revisit Utsira, the tiny island in Norway that has hosted a few Street Artists over the last couple of years, like Ella & Pitr and Icy & Sot. This year the fine artist and Street Artist Gonzalo Borondo blended into the hills and the forest and the lapping waves, making his spirit dissipate into the community and into a boat.

Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo courtesy of the organizers)

His philosophical take on the outer world here, with its strength in its small close knit numbers, its seafaring economy and traditions, its physical realities transcended by metaphysical ones… lead him to this new mural and his renewed hope in communal strength.

Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo courtesy of the organizers)

See here in these images the process of staging the scene, the models, the central organizing boat and its associations – now transformed to a door when centered as it is on this building. Of equal importance is the circle of hands that surround it, grasp it, hold it, support it, keep it on course.

“There’s a strong sense of community,” he says as he reflects on the metaphor he has chosen to represent his time here on an island of only 420 people, “There is a mutual support among citizens and a common feeling of enjoying the same unique condition.”

Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo © Borondo)

Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo courtesy of the organizers)

Borondo. Utsira. Viking graffiti. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo © Borondo)

Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo © Borondo)

Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo courtesy of the organizers)

Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo courtesy of the organizers)

Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo courtesy of the organizers)

 

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Artist 0907 Pays Tribute to Hongshen Jia in Beijing, China.

Artist 0907 Pays Tribute to Hongshen Jia in Beijing, China.

July 31, 2018

Wandering along a footpath under the elevated street in Beijing these days you are likely to find the same sort of graffiti tags, wildstyle burners and stenciled celebrities that you discover in so-called Western city graffiti/Street Art scenes.

Of course the language and tags are likely in Chinese and the honored pop culture figures are more likely to be Chinese film stars, like this new digitized stencil by Street Artist 0907 of Hongshen Jia (贾宏声).

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

“He is my favorite Chinese film actor and he is a legendary actor in China,” the artist tells us. On the Wikipedia page about the actor it says, “His performances were praised by critics and he developed a rebellious image that made him popular among artistic youth and the “Sixth Generation” of Chinese directors.[1][2]” Struggling with addiction many times, he took his own life in 2010 and he is also slowly transforming into a kind of folk hero for some.

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

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INO Mural Buffed in Belarus. A Natural Death or a Penalty in Minsk?

INO Mural Buffed in Belarus. A Natural Death or a Penalty in Minsk?

July 30, 2018

“I think it is interesting how a society reacts to an intense form of public art like this – a large scale mural with a message,” says Greek Street Artist INO when discussing the recent decision to buff his multi-story 2015 mural in Minsk, Belarus.

Workers beginning the yellow buff of INO’s anti-death penalty mural in Minsk. (Photo © realt.onliner.by)

A mystery figure cloaked in a hoody with his face replaced by a burning candle flame, the image on the high-rise building on Voroniansky Street became quite recognizeable, with or without viewer’s knowledge that it was essentially a critique against the country’s death penalty. At the time he painted it with the “Urban Myths” project he said, “It is dedicated to all those who were executed and after some time, it was proved that they were innocent.”

The sentiment would not have been explicit to the average viewer, but local website Onliner says that the eight-story piece was not accepted well by some the neighborhood, and that it even sparked petitions by those who found the mural objectionable, as well as those who supported it.


INO peaking through the curtains in Minsk. (Photo © Yevgeny Yurchak and TUT.BY)

“I know that some people have curtained their curtains with curtains – so that even accidentally their eyes don’t fall upon a ghost angel,” says a resident who lives across from it, according to our translation of the Onliner’s July 27 article about the freshly painted “Man Without a Name.”

City officials and the administration of the Oktyabrsky district have so far avoided the controversial nature of the mural, according to the artist, by focusing on a necessity to install new thermal insulation, but INO appears to doubt it.

INO’s original “Man Without a Name” made the neighbors feel gloomy in Minsk. (Photo © the artist)

Many observers of the Street Art scene might suggest that a (nearly) three year “run” by a mural piece is quite respectable and the artist should be pleased, especially when you consider the nature of the illegal and ephemeral Street Art scene where a new artwork is not guaranteed to remain for even one day.

INO says he appreciates that, if this was in fact a form of censorship, it was done by official proclamation and without contentious attitude. “They were quite conservative and were fighting this in such a diplomatic way.”

Only a day after the piece was buffed, the local paper took a rather lighthearted approach by publishing Photoshopped options to replace the mural, which they dubbed “Angel of Death”. One suggestion from readers was for a mural of The Simpsons and the exhortation to “Be Happy.”

(Photo © realt.onliner.by)

Below is a video of the original INO mural when it first appeared.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 07.29.18

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.29.18

July 29, 2018 ,

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring 1UP Crew, Amanda Browder, Antennae, City Kitty, Dirt Worship, Dragon76, Jason Naylor, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Makatron, Sheyro, The Yok, and Trap.

Amanda Browder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amanda Browder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jason Naylor (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dragon76 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dragon76 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dragon76 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dragon76 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Antennae (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Trap (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentied artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Makatron for JMZ Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dirt Worship (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. July 2018 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Destroying Desert Water Bottles; Chip Thomas’ New Work in AJO, Arizona

Destroying Desert Water Bottles; Chip Thomas’ New Work in AJO, Arizona

July 28, 2018

“To raise the call of our faith traditions as an act of resistance against the cruelty and violence that dominate US policy and actions,” says Street Artist and social activist Chip Thomas (aka Jetsonorama) about this new project of wheat-pasting his photographs that feature jugs of water in the Arizona desert.

Sorry. What?

Yes, jugs of water.

Chip Thomas. AJO, Arizona. July. 2018. (photo © Chip Thomas)

Yes, it has come to this, in a nation that often proudly brays sanctimoniously about its Christian traditions and of being full of good God-fearing people. Somehow we think that its perfectly acceptable to go around destroying jugs of water in the desert because people who are thirsty might drink it.

So this is what Jesus would do, right? The Lord and Savior, who in the Bible actually multiplied fish and loaves of bread to feed people – would approve of us stomping among the cacti and tumbleweeds under the punishing hot sun in the desert and dumping on the sand jugs of water that were left for poor desperate Christians (~80 percent of Mexicans are Catholic), some of whom are possibly even named Jesus?

Chip Thomas. AJO, Arizona. July. 2018. (photo © Chip Thomas)

No More Deaths is a bluntly stark name for a humanitarian group, but there’s little room for romantic or cleverly turned phrases when you are talking about a grassroots organization that is helping people to stay alive.

“This last year has been rough for humanitarian aid workers in Ajo with No More Deaths volunteers charged with misdemeanors and fined for leaving water for migrants out on the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge,” writes volunteer Maria Singleton in a letter to Chip that helped inspire this new public work. “In order to get a permit to go on the wildlife refuge they are requiring people to sign a form that says they will not leave water, socks or first aid items out.”

Chip Thomas. AJO, Arizona. July. 2018. (photo © Chip Thomas)

According to the Bible in the book of Matthew 15:32, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way,” which leads you to believe that Jesus would have condemned the actions and the people who destroy water and food supplies here if he were to, say, pass judgment on them.

The new art installation is directly across from the entrance to Cabeza Prieta which is the national wildlife refuge near the border of the US and Mexico and in a region that has the highest migrant death rate due to the brutality of the desert crossing. “Some 32 sets of human remains were found there last year, according to the Pima County office of the medical examiner, making it one of the region’s deadliest crossing routes,” says an article in The Guardian earlier this year.

Chip Thomas. AJO, Arizona. July. 2018. (photo © Chip Thomas)

The Street Artist, who has used his own photographs to wheatpaste for on walls for a decade or so, says that a member of the humanitarian/religious group called Ajo Samaritans offered to him and his small team to create his new artwork on the walls of the ironically named “ice house” in the town of Ajo.

Ajo Samaritans describe themselves and their mission on their website like this; “Samaritans are people of faith and conscience who are responding directly, practically, and passionately to the crisis at the US/ Mexico border. We are a diverse group of volunteers around Ajo that are united in our desire to relieve suffering among our brothers and sisters and to honor  human dignity. Prompted by the mounting deaths among border crossers, we came together to provide food and water, and emergency medical assistance to people crossing the Sonoran Desert.”

“We were welcomed warmly by the Ajo activist community to whom I’d like to recognize for their expression of shared humanity and for their bravery,” says Chip. “Shout out to my crew as well – Justin Clifton, Drew Ludwig, Stash Wislocki and Jerrel Singer.”

Chip Thomas. AJO, Arizona. July. 2018. (photo © Chip Thomas)

 

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