Grandma's travel and art review.

There it is.

In the original Portuguese:
“Florencia é lindo! Vais ver os Michelangelos! O David com a sua pombinha de fora!"


In English:
"Florence is beautiful! You're going to see the Michelangelos! The David with his little weiner hanging out!"

Ah, the internet.

Artist Ahmad Sabbagh has his own take on Muammar Qaddafi's claim that he and Queen Elizabeth II are just two peas in a pod.

"To avoid complications, she never kept the same address. In conversation, she spoke just like a baroness." (incidentally, Queen was the first rock band whose music was permitted in Iran. Sometimes the world just hands it to you [and yes, I just put a link in a caption {and a set of brackets inside of parentheses}. What of it?], you know?)

The writing on the wall.

Traveling around Portugal and southern Spain this past summer was at times like wandering around an open-air live-in art gallery. In some areas, entire neighborhoods were covered in elaborate graffiti by world-renowned artists splashing color on Porto's urban decay or providing some sardonic commentary on the state of Sevillan culture.

Some of my favorite pieces, though, weren't really full pieces at all. Small stenciled messages on national monuments in Lisbon caught my eye throughout my time in the city. Some are especially resonant with the current state of events around the world.

“Nem todos que vão à guerra são soldados.”

 “Not all who go to war are soldiers.”

Castelo de São Jorge.

“A fome faz sair o lobo do mato.”

“Hunger brings the wolf out of the forest.”

Parliament building.

"A fome faz sair o lobo do mato."

This wall in Granada--apparently a giant notepad for anarchists--gets honorable mention for its rumination on revolutionary aesthetics.

"Simulacrum in Slow Motion"

By Wesam Nassar:


Simulacrum in Slow Motion from Wesam Nassar on Vimeo.