(At the following of what we did last time)

People were shocked and surprised by this action.

The journalist even said that people at the auction got “Banksy-ed”. It means that they got pranked by Banksy’s action as they were unaware of what would happen to the piece of art.

Afterwards, Banksy posted a video of himself on Instagram revealing how he elaborated his prank. He even quoted Picasso: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge”. In fact, he booby-trapped (a hidden prank) a painting frame in case one of his piece of art would be sold at an auction.

Through this action, Banksy wanted to denounce social injustice and consumerism in the world of art.

As a result, the final price of this stunt could bring him a minimum of 5 million dollars and it can even go up to 7 million dollars.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Meghan Markle’s Speech at the United Nations Conference (March 2015)

We can hear the famous African-American actress Meghan Markle giving a speech at the UN conference. She shares an experience she went through when she was 11 years old. She saw a commercial for a dishwashing soap with a tagline that said: “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans”. Afterwards, 2 boys in her class agreed with the tagline saying that women belonged to the kitchen. M. Markle was shocked, upset and hurt by this comment.

Her father encouraged her to write letters to women in powerful positions such as the First the Lady at the time: Hilary Clinton, and another female figure who was the Powerhouse attorney for the state of California at the time. Eventually, she wrote to the manufacturer of the soap company.

As a consequence, she received answers to her letters and on top of that, the tagline of the commercial for the product was changed to “people all over America”.

Through this action and by sharing her testimony, she wanted to encourage everyone, even young girls to stand up and fight for gender parity in all the social spheres.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Banksy’s shredded piece of art

The document under study is a video published in 2018 by Good Morning America. It deals with an artwork made by Banksy that self-destructed during an auction art in London. It was sold to private collector for $1.4 million. However, the canvas shredded in tiny strips.

Banksy’s aim through this action was to denounce social injustice and consumerism in the world of art. It was an organized prank orchestrated by Banksy himself. Moreover, he also wanted to mock the art world by making his own piece a satirical one.  People were shocked by this action.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Underground Art – Banksy

The document under study is the trailer for a documentary about Banksy, a famous British anonymous street artist. It was released in 2019. We have learned that Banksy created a global movement through his outlaw art. It is interesting to note that any movements have in common the fact that they came out of poverty, of struggle and a hunger and a thrust people felt for something to happen and to move.

Banksy is seen as an outsider. Besides, through his art, he is seen as a social activist as he likes to denounce political facts. Moreover, he is seen as the leader of an artistic revolution: every place he chooses to expose his graffiti is chosen in purpose. In fact, he wishes not to be seen, not to be arrested and to keep in identity private. But still, the way he does it is illegal because he has no authorization to paint where he wants to. Therefore, he is depicted as an outsider and a “Maverick” (someone who has an independent mind, seen as a non-conformist).

To conclude, according to Banksy, the goal of art is to change the world.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Ketanji Brown Jackson breaking glass-ceiling.

Ketanji Brown Jackson made history by being the first black woman nominated to the Supreme Court. Indeed, she is one of the only judges that is not a white man. In fact, throughout the years, there have been 150 supreme court judges and 108 of them were white men.

She was nominated by Biden in June 2021 and had the support of three Republican judges. At the time, she was 51 years. She graduated from Harvard Law School. She has been known for being a public defender. Now, with her new position she is considered as a stepping stone for the black community as she is paving the way to other women and people of color to access this position or any other powerful positions someday.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

The Power of Fire and Ice

The document under study is news report from PBS News Hour, published in 2019. It deals with two American eco-artists. The first one is Jeff Frost, who is seen as an alarmist because his goal is to warn people about the danger of global warming on forests. Indeed, there are more and more fires in forests that destroy the wildlife and people’s houses. This artist creates time-lapse video art with images shot in California, to show how a fire can destroy everything.

The second artist is Zaria Forman, she uses art because, according to her, art is able to have an impact on people’s emotions, thus their emotions could lead them to act against global warming. She creates drawing with pastels. She represents vanishing ice.

Both artists are dealing with global warming issues, however, they focus on different aspects of the impact of climate change. Besides, they are not using the same method to create their arts. One is directing videos and another one is drawing. As opposed to Jeff Frost who is making people scared and worried by displaying the destruction of nature with fire, Zaria Forman is showing the beauty of these places to make people want to protect and preserve them.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 The Blue Whale

The document under study is an article extracted from Albuquerque Journal, published in 2019. It is about a piece of art made out of plastic from two eco-artists from California.

This sculpture was created with polyethylene. This sculpture has the same weight and height as an adult blue whale. Indeed, the artists wanted people to be aware of the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean by creating a whale in plastic that represents the exact weight of used plastic found in the ocean every nine minutes.

The piece of art was exhibited for 6 months in San Francisco 2019, then, it would be exhibited in Santa Fe in 2020.

The name of this artwork is “Ethyl” because it comes from the material used to make it. The message is that this sculpture is considered as a real animal to be taken care of, it is referred to with the pronoun “she” in the whole article.  

This artwork was made by two artists who picked out and sorted recycled bottles, bags, milk jugs. They washed them and they melted them into tiles that they placed on a life-size whale frame.

The article suggests that art can share a message of anti-pollution and make people aware of environmental issues caused by plastic. People and companies should stop using single-use plastic but items made in recycled plastic that can last longer.

To conclude, the journalist’s tone seems to be a positive one towards the artwork as he is very supportive of the artists and their work.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Kamala Harris, First Female Vice President of the USA: She Put another crack in that glass-ceiling”

The document under study is a video from ABC News published 2021.  It deals with the new vice president at the time who was the first black female vice president and first of Asian Indian descent.

We have learned that she was 56 at the time of the video. She is a wife and a step-mother. She is the daughter of immigrants: a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. Her mother gave her many words advice to help her succeed.

On top of that, Kamala is known as a person who broke barriers because she was the first in many things: she was the first black female district attorney of San Francisco, the first female and the first black attorney general of the state of California. She was the second black female to become a US Senator.

It is important to see someone who looks like you in position of power because it will encourage young girls and women to achieve their dreams as they have a role model. Moreover, it shows that this position is accessible to everyone.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

She could reconcile both her private life and professional career by having the support of her family and mainly her husband. Indeed, her husband decided to stay at home to take care of their baby. Moreover, she also decide to take her baby with her for professional traveling but also in her office some time to time. She is adjusting her life.

Furthermore, when she says that her husband is “a parent too and not a babysitter”, she means that most of the men think that when they take care of their children, it is a task as a favor they are doing to their partners. However, through this sentence, she highlights the fact that it is the roe of a parent to take care of their child no matter their gender.

To conclude, when Jacinda says “we’ll make it work”, it shows that she feels very confident, lucky, thankful and privileged to benefit from such help. She has a partner who takes full responsibility of his role as a father.

 Homework: Learn the lesson.