As a painter, I’m inspired by the activism I photograph as a photojournalist. In my painting below, I use a mix of my original photos and acrylic paint on canvas to tell the stories of key figures in popular protest movements. The painting pictured below titled “The Revolution Seen Around the World” features photos from the Mahsa Amini protests in Washington D.C. in 2022 and 2023. Mahsa Amini was a Kurdish-Iranian woman who died while in custody of Iran’s morality police. Amini’s death launched massive protests in Iran and across the world. Protesters called out the harsh policing of the Iranian government and demanded more freedoms and equal rights for all. I painted Amini as the center subject of the painting. The rallying cry among the protests is “women, life, freedom,” which is why I decided to include these words at the top of the painting.

The painting pictured below is titled: “Black Lives Mattered Always, Black Lives Matter Forever.” I used my photos from multiple cities across the U.S. during Black Lives Matter protests from 2016-2020. This painting was featured in the 2021 political art exhibit at the Houston Holocaust Museum called, “Withstand: Latinx Art in Times of Conflict.” The main subject of the painting is activist Sandra Bland (her face painted with acrylic in the middle). Sandra Bland died in police custody in Texas in 2015 and her death sparked mass protests nationwide. Most of the photos I used in this piece are from a protest on the 2nd anniversary of Sandra’s death, where her mother (pictured in the white hat and long dress) was the main speaker and led the march to the Texas Capitol in Austin. The banner underneath Sandra’s face says “Martyr of Freedom” in Spanish and Arabic, and the banner below the photo of Sandra’s mom says “tears of a mother” in Spanish and Arabic.

Political Street Theatre & Protest Art

I’m always active in community organizing and the activist scene in my city. I often volunteer my artistic skills to make banners, props and art installations for protests in Washington D.C. All of my props are made from recycled or repurposed materials. The art pieces include: a large puppet and bloody hands depicting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, a puppet of former U.S. Secretary State Antony Blinken, bloody press helmets and badges depicting state violence against journalists, a life-sized burger bun used for a boycott campaign of fast food franchises invested in weapons companies, and a large paper mache “peace bomb” topped with a poppy flower used in an antiwar display outside the U.S. Capitol. The fake rubble used in some of these displays is made of cardboard and paint mixed with cat litter. The Netanyahu puppet was used in multiple protests, including a die-in outside the Israeli embassy where activists poured fake blood on themselves to symbolize the growing number of civilian deaths in Gaza. Below is a gallery of some of my artwork used in protests and political street theatre.

Painting a large puppet of Netanyahu for an antiwar protest during his visit to the White House.

The puppet is made of wood, chicken wire and paper machete.

Bloody press helmets for a protest on journalists killed in Gaza and Lebanon.

The helmets are repurposed from resale shops and painted with handmade patches.

fake rubble made from cardboard and cat litter mixed with gray paint.

A giant poppy flower for an anti war display on the National Mall in D.C.

I helped design the concept and paint this anti war display.

Fake rubble made out of cardboard and cat litter mixed with gray paint.

I painted this puppet of former Secretary of State Antony Blinker for an antiwar protest outside the state department.

I made the giant burger prop for a protest about boycotting McDonalds over their involvement with companies committing human rights violations.

The burger bun was made with an old bed sheet that I painted and constructed to be 3-dimensional.

Glitter and Mixed Media Acrylic Art

I incorporate an array of materials into my acrylic paintings to give them a 3-dimensional effect. Pictured below are my interpretations of religious pop art using acrylic paint and glitter and small pieces of mirror and glass. Also pictured is a free hand acrylic painting I did based off of a graphic I saw in a news article about Che Guevarra in Palestine. The final photo is my interpretation of my friend’s short story he wrote about being the only black family on a trip to Disney World in the 1970s. You can see how I used a clipping of a photo he took on his family trip glued onto the sunglasses to represent what his perspective was that day.

As a visual storyteller, the ability to research and bring important data to life in the digital media landscape is a very important aspect to my work. Below are examples of my research and infographic designs I created for Wishbox Media based in Amman, Jordan. At the bottom of the page is an interactive map I produced on media outlets in Jordan. This project gives background information on some of the country’s most popular media outlets – including independently owned media and government-controlled.