3 Street Artist Activists You Should Follow on Instagram

Looking for street art with a message? Check out how these outstanding artists bring relevant issues to city streets around the world!

1.) Shamsia Hassani @shamsiahassani

(Photo courtesy of Hassani’s Official Facebook page)
Shamisa is recognized as the first female, Afghan graffiti street artist to hit the scene. She lives in Kabul, a college town in Afghanistan. Shamsia literally paints the town with her art. In an interview about the Kabul Art Project Shamsia said, “Usually when I paint women with burqas in modernism shape on the walls, I want to talk about their life, to find someway to remove them from darkness, to open their mind, to bring some positive changes, trying to remove all bad memories of war from everybody’s mind with covering sad city’s walls with happy colors.” Shamsia uses her artwork to add positivity and freedom back into Afghanistan. Although much of her work serves as a commentary on women in Afghanistan, her main focus is bringing about peace. “Freedom is not to remove the Burqa, it is to have peace.”

2.) Fauxreel (Dan Bergeron) @iamfauxreel

(Photo courtesy of Fauxreel Official website)

Canadian street artist Dan Bergeron, AKA Fauxreel, spreads the themes of his work out through projects that address a variety of topics. One titled “The Unaddressed” focused on the under-housed and homeless of Toronto Canada. Through this project, his homeless subjects were given a platform to voice their opinions and thoughts on homelessness through the cardboard signs they often hold up asking for help. These cardboard photographs where places throughout the city showing people the homeless in a new light. Although it received some negative feedback that Fauxreel wasn’t ashamed to post, he pointedly advocated for systematic change on this issue.

3.) Dan Witz @danwitzstreetart

(Photo courtesy of  Dan Witz official website)
New York street artist Dan Witz has been doing art since the 1970’s. This old pro has pioneered the road to street art activism through his work with Amnesty International, a global human rights advocacy organization, called “Wailing Walls.” This series originated in Frankfurt, Germany and was later duplicated around the world. Witz created paintings of eight real prisoners, currently in jail, in eight different countries for having political views that differed from those held by the majority in their countries. He put these paintings behind physical bars and screwed them to walls throughout Frankfort for people to see.Viewers could even scan QR codes or URL’s found next to the work to learn more about that prisoner. Additionally, they could leave comments in regards to that prisoner that were then compiled in a petition that was sent to the appropriate government official in that country. This is an ongoing process where Witz is addressing the lack of freedom of expression around the world through his artwork.

Go follow these inspirational artists and their work on Instagram now! But don’t forget to follow us too @theexpressionistluc! Tweet @ExpressLoyola or comment your thoughts below!