While social media is primarily used as a tool for keeping updated on the lives of friends, acquaintances, and your favorite celebrities, it can also be an impressive device for keeping yourself updated on social issues. Platforms like Instagram offer the opportunity of an intersection of art and activism. Check out these pages which use the power of representation to advance compelling advocacy. C.hromaSalomée, who runs the C.hroma account, describes herself on her Patreon as “creating murals and art for the revolution.” On her Instagram account,...

There are certain people who live their lives naked. We have all met someone like this, or maybe we wish that we could live our own lives this way. They carry a willingness to open themselves up to the world, to find connection wherever they go. Catherine Cohen is one of these people. Cohen, who is 29-years-old, is best known for her candid comedy. In 2017, she began hosting Cabernet Cabaret at Club Cumming in the East Village with musician Henry Koperski. She brought her show,...

Gwen Smith enters her New York City studio, takes a near full body selfie, finds a reference photo of a Black woman she admires, and then gets to painting. The result of this continued studio practice of two and a half years are two, 240-page hardcover books entitled The Black Women Project (Vol. 1 & 2) available for purchase at gwensmithprojects.com. These pages are a documentation of the impact and influence of the Black women that Smith admires in her artistic practice and her definition...

Martha Haversham will forever change how you see street trash—the U.K. artist designs high-fashion outfit collages using litter. With the help of scissors, paper, glue, and staples, a cupcake wrapper becomes a pleated skirt, sugar packets are made into cropped pants, and a wilted strawberry top is transformed into a delightful fascinator. She works on the floor while listening to music, then captures her work as a still-life photograph. “The found object always dictates the outfit,” Haversham explains of her series called “Smallditch” (also her...

Legendary cartoonist and author of bestselling graphic memoir, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me, Ellen Forney is using her latest comic to inform readers about the importance of voting in the upcoming election. Along with championing voting, Forney's work has given voice to other important issues such as mental health in her graphic memoir, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life.  Check out Forney's comic below to stay informed and get excited about voting!      -Comic by Ellen Forney To see more of Forney's work, visit www.ellenforney.com More from BUST Book Review: Marbles: Mania,...

"What started as an annual public exhibition of womxn-made art films in storefront windows is now a mission to support global cross-cultural dialogue," says Zehra Ahmed, the curator behind "Womxn in Windows," a new exhibit on Canal Street in New York City. The show is part of a multi-city screening series in New York, Los Angeles, London, and Shanghai. In New York, "Womxn in Windows" is now showcasing the films of Rémie Akl and Sylvie Weber in the storefront window of 321 Canal Street in...

In a place like the U.S., where the stories of queer people of color are continually erased, 30-year-old artist Johanna Toruño aims to center and celebrate them. Born in El Salvador, Toruño was displaced by war and migrated to the U.S. at age 10. After being incarcerated as a teen and spending three years on probation, she began searching for ways to express herself and connect with others. “Having these experiences of displacement and not speaking the language, and then having the experience [of] living...

Medusa’s origin story is varied. Yet, the most widely recognized comes from Ovid’s Metamorphosis, in which Medusa was a mortal maiden in the temple of Athena, where she was raped by Poseidon. Soon after, Athena banished and cursed Medusa with a head of snakes and a gaze that turned men to stone. As the story goes, she was eventually beheaded by the epic hero Perseus, who used her head as a weapon before gifting it to Athena. Yesterday in New York City, a seven-foot-tall sculpture...

Isolation. Police brutality. Violence. Quarantine. A global pandemic. Wildfires. COVID-19. These are some of the words that have been ringing through our ears since the start of 2020. It feels very much the meme of the dog in a hat, sitting in the kitchen while flames burn all around, saying “I’m fine.” But we are not fine. Very much not fine. While the world is on fire both literally and figuratively, we have adapted. Adapted to Zoom University, six feet apart dinner dates, distanced learning, sourdough...

Latin-Canadian artist Claudia Gutierrez feels there's a strong connection between her print, paintings, and textile pieces and her heritage. Gutierrez finds inspiration for her work in literature, poetry, culture, and her memories of life in Canada and her visits to Latin America, and has woven together a beautifully winding path towards her present work in the studio, which she now does full-time. With years of working at the grassroots level, Claudia brings a thorough and thoughtful understanding to the arts community. Below, she shares with...