Artwork: Banksy mural at Royal Court of Justice, London, 2025
Well, it didn’t take long for Banksy’s mural at the Royal Court of Justice in London to be scrubbed. Its removal is a powerful statement in itself.
The Sleep of Reason
Artwork: Francisco Goya, The sleep of reason produces monsters (El sueño de la razon produce monstruos), plate from Los Caprichos, 1793-9
Today I heard someone recite the first stanza of William Butler Yeats’s poem, The Second Coming, and it resonated. When reason, the rule of law, common sense, freedom of speech, humanity and compassion are lost, chaos, violence and heinous crimes ensue:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and
everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack conviction, while the
worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Justice
Artwork by Banksy, Royal Courts of Justice, London, 2025
New work by Banksy at Royal Courts of Justice in London. No words needed.
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!
A Yoshitomo Nara Day
Artwork: Yoshitomo Nara, Traveling with Hazy Humid Day, 2025
Been feeling a bit stuck…
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.