Emmalene Blake has been painting large-scale public portraits of children and women murdered in Palestine in the last year. Not new to the social justice scene, the Dublin-based mural artist, teacher, and activist has used portraiture to memorialize the dead and sound a wake-up call to the rest of us. Born and raised in the neighborhood of Tallaght in Dublin, Blake was interested in street art from a very young age. They went on to pursue a degree in Fine Arts, but the lecturers did not show any interest in street art, which has never been considered the most valued or legitimate art form. From the very start, however, Blake’s art was always political: when they felt strongly about an issue, they felt compelled to paint about it. Over the years, Blake has received national attention for murals that expose both local and international injustice. War, hunger, poverty, homelessness, racism,…

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