Every river, every sea

Artwork: Alice Pasquini, Every river, every sea, 2025

Italian artist Alice Pasquini recently created this painting, Every river, every sea. It’s inspired by the Global Sumud Flotilla which is currently on its way to Gaza. She wrote this about it: “More than 50 ships from 44 countries are about to set sail from the Mediterranean with activists, doctors, artists and parliamentarians on board. The objective: break the blockade, bring food, medicine, milk for children and open a humanitarian corridor by sea.” Let’s hope it sends a message to Palestinians that they are not alone, that millions of people around the world are watching and want desperately to help. Let’s hope the blockade can be broken.

Closer To You

Artwork: Mural by NEAN, Closer To You, Perpignan, France, 2025

Another great mural from NEAN (@nean_kingdom), Closer To You in Perpignan, France, 2025, for Festival Square Up.

Clinamen

Artwork: Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Clinamen, Bourse de Commerce, Paris, 2025

French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s meditative installation Clinamen is currently showing at Bourse de Commerce in Paris until September. I was fortunate enough to see this installation in a previous iteration, and was mesmerised by the pool of water with the porcelain bowls moving to a slight current, producing spontaneous melodic sounds. Part of Boursier-Mougenot’s intention with Clinamen is to allow the viewer a space to slow down, to simply listen and watch the bowls as they gently collide. The Bourse de Commerce version of Clinamen was also inspired by the architectural space designed by Tadeo Ando, with the basin double its usual size, reflecting the sky above visible in the Rotunda’s dome. As Boursier-Mougenot explains: “My approach is largely based on taking into account the places and spaces where I am invited to present my work. I see the architecture of each new exhibition venue as a matrix into which the technical and aesthetic principles of the installation are cast, as if into a mould, resulting in a new version in situ.”  

We Don't Count

Listening to this newly released song on repeat by Yves Tumor and NINA, We Don’t Count. Check it out!

To Breathe the Shadow

Artwork: Giuseppe Penone, Respirare l’ombra (To Breathe the Shadow), Serpentine Gallery, London, 2025

A major exhibition by Italian artist Giuseppe Penone is now showing at the Serpentine Gallery in London, Thoughts in the Roots. Penone is renowned for his connection to the Arte Povera movement of the 1960s, which prioritised simplicity in natural materials and artistic techniques, and for his exploration of the connection of humans and nature, often aligning the tree with the human form. As Penone says: “All my work is a trial to express my adherence and belonging to nature…”

 One significant installation in the exhibition is Respirare l’ombra (To Breathe the Shadow). This installation was first created in 1999, made of a wire mesh grid lining the walls and either laurel or bay leaves placed in the grid, the scent permeating the air. A sculpture of lungs shaped with gold leaf is placed at roughly the height of an adult, representing the process of breathing. From 1978 onwards Penone began creating a series of sculptures Soffi (Breaths) focusing on the breath, the idea of the exhalation of breath being an invisible sculptural presence and the classical idea of humans being created from breath and breath being a vital element. In these early work Penone would visualise the moment of exhalation by creating an imprint of his body in clay and with breath expelled from his lungs. In Respirare l’ombra (To Breathe the Shadow), Penone focuses on the process of inhalation, where the scent of the leaves becomes the presence or conscious reminder to the viewer of the act of breathing in an evocative and poetic imagining.

If I must die

Image: Film still from the Palestinian documentary Flying Paper, Gaza, 2013

Palestinian poet and writer Refaat Alareer was born in Gaza and was killed in Gaza along with his family in an Israeli airstrike in 2023. He was fierce in his advocacy for Palestinian storytelling and the freedom of his people. The following poem by Alareer If I must die, was written in 2011 and speaks of the longing for freedom, but also of hope, even in the face of death.

If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

So that a child, somewhere in Gaza

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—

and bid no one farewell

not even to his flesh

not even to himself—

sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale

Rage Against the Machine

Artwork: Goin, Rage Against the Machine, Jardin du bois d’Arta, Grenoble, 2025

Great stencil artwork from Goin (@goin.art), Rage Against the Machine, at Jardin du bois d’Arta, children’s playground in Grenoble. He said this about the piece: “Breaking toys was cute. Breaking systems is better. Wake up. Smash the screens. Question everything.”

Questions

Artwork: Banksy, Flying Balloon Girl, West Bank Wall, near Qalandia checkpoint

This is heartbreaking. Questions posed by children in Gaza compiled by staff at the Palestine Trauma Centre:

“After we die, will I hear your voice?”

“When I die, will they put me in a grave with my mom and dad?”

“Why do they always bomb us?”

“If they bomb someone while I was walking next to him, would I be martyred?”

“When a missile hits us do we feel pain or die immediately?”

“Do children who have their legs amputated grow new legs?”

“Do the pilots who bomb children have children?”

“Will I die today?”

“Why do they hate us?”

“Can the planes see us when we’re hiding?”

“When will we stop waiting and standing in line for fresh water?”

“When will we go back to school?”

“Will I have a birthday next year?”

“Will I see my friends again?”

“Is it true the world doesn’t care?”

seraphic cat

Artwork: Paste-up by OAKOAK, Seraphic cat, 2025

Another poetic paste-up by French street artist OAKOAK (@oakoak_street_art). His description is lovely:

“Seraphic cat , strange cat,
In whom everything is, as in an angel,
As subtle as it is harmonious!”

Home

Artwork: Emily Jacir, Home, 1998

In 1998 Palestinian artist Emily Jacir did a year-long residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris and started making work using khubz which is a round leavened flatbread from the Middle Eastern region. Recently she commented, “Can't stop thinking about bread and flour and how famine and starvation are being used as weapons of war…” Food is life, and in Gaza the lack of humanitarian aid, including food, coming in since March is an ongoing crisis. When getting a bag of flour can cost you your life, simply to provide food such as bread for your family and those who depend on you, it’s a horror simply to imagine it, let alone live through.

I wrote the following poem, based on the words of a little boy in Gaza trying to get food for his family:

he was crying
a small boy
not just because
the food he’d got,
the one meal
for his family
that day,
had been stolen
but for the pot
that had been taken
as well, without it
he had no
other means
to carry the food

© Angela Jooste

Beneath the Quiet Guardians

Artwork: Installation by SATR, Beneath the Quiet Guardians, Abbaye Saint-Martin, Laon, France, 2025

London-based street artist SATR was recently asked to participate in the Arts Urbains in Laon, France, and created this wonderful installation incorporating her distinctive graphics at Abbaye Saint-Martin. Titled Beneath the Quiet Guardians, SATR wrote this about the work:

“At the centre of four interconnected scrolls hangs the frontal portrait of a gargoyle. Tracing the origin of gargoyles from dragon-slaying myths to their symbolic construction and eventual dissolution, the series explores how society repeatedly imbues objects with mythical purposes, only to forget them again. 

The spatial installation draws upon the structural logic of the Chinese character “回,” which evokes notions of return, enclosure, and cyclical repetition, echoing themes of migration and recurrence.”

Levantarse

Love the minimal vibe of this track by Bambounou Levantarse, released this year on his label Bambe. Check it out!

Stars Over Wars

Artwork: Mural by GOIN, Stars Over Wars, Grenoble, France, 2025

Great mural by GOIN (@goin.art) for the Grenoble Street Art Fest, France, Stars Over Wars. Absolutely agree!

For the Free

A short travel film by Ain Raadik, For the Free. He had this to say about it: “Shot on Super 8 film, For the Free – A Travel Vignette is a 36-second visual journey across Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Brazil, and French Polynesia. This cinematic travel short blends nostalgic textures with a curious, reflective voiceover about the meaning of freedom, exploration, and wanderlust. A poetic glimpse into the beauty of slow travel and the spirit of adventure—raw, real, and for the free.”

STILLLOVEU

Got this track by ZEP on repeat, STILLLOVEU, released this year on the EP, wtfuknow. Love the energy. Check it out!

Take care...

Artwork: Kenny Random, Take care of yourself, Padova, Italy 2025

Sometimes you just need a hug and someone to lean on.

Madleen

Artwork: Sand sculpture by Yazid Abu Jarad (@yazidabujarad), Gaza City, 2025

The freedom flotilla ship, the Madleen, with its crew of twelve people was intercepted and boarded illegally yesterday in international waters by the IOF, the crew taken to Ashod Port to be processed and then handed over into custody by the Israeli authorities to be moved to the Ramleh detention facility, with the possibility they may be permitted to fly out of Tel Aviv. The Madleen crew’s mission to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid may not have been successful, but it was a resounding symbol of solidarity and hope worldwide in its journey to break the humanitarian blockade on Gaza. In many ways it is a spearhead as further humanitarian actions to break the aid blockade by international citizens is happening with the Samud Convory from Tunisia with 7,000 plus people driving to Cairo to meet with thousands from all over the world prepared for the March to Gaza on June 12. For Gazans, the Madleen was a much needed symbol that they were not forgotten, that the world is watching and that people are prepared to act and to help them in whatever way they can to end the genocide. Palestinian artist Yazid Abu Jarad and a group of young people, created an artwork on the beach of Gaza City near the port where the Madleen was supposed to dock. For Abu Jarad the sculpture expressed his solidarity with the activists aboard the ship, a gesture of appreciation and defiance against the ongoing siege and aggression.

S.O.S.

Absolutely brilliant new track from Aaron Hibell, s.o.s. On repeat, check it out!

Watermelon

Artwork: Mural by Alice Pasquini, Molise, Italy 2025

Great new mural by Alice Pasquini for street art festival at Civita Campomarona, Molise, Italy. For Palestine.