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FROM SWITZERLAND, MEXICO & US: Muralist and photographer Lucienne Bloch was a close friend of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, which allowed her to produce, among other work, the only surviving photographs of the “Man at the Crossroads” mural destroyed for a portrait of Lenin.

FROM IRELAND: Thin Lizzy, led by the inimitable Phil Lynett, might be the music dads listen to, but it holds up perfectly for the new generations: after all, working class stories inspired by Celtic culture are an endlessly fresh, necessary concept. youtube.com/watch?v=5_xqb416…

FROM CZECHIA: Jaroslav Hašek’s acerbic wit made it easy for him to poke fun at the world order, whether in his brilliant “The Good Soldier Švejk” or when he founded the Party of Moderate Progress Within the Bounds of the Law. However, Hašek took factual revolutions seriously

FROM RUSSIA: Most people are probably familiar with Mikhail Romadin’s works without knowing him by name: he was the production designer for some of the finest Soviet films, including Tarkovsky’s Solaris. Here are some of his paintings.

FROM BEDOUIN PEOPLE, SAUDI ARABIA & EGYPT: Of Bedouin heritage, Etab had to leave her home in Saudi Arabia because the authorities deemed her concerts too daring. Her career as one of the very first Saudi female singers was able to really kick off in Egypt youtube.com/watch?v=MZvEfwcC…

FROM KOREA: It’s still not clear how exactly Yung Dong-ju died in a Japanese prison, through biological experiments or other atrocity, but one thing is clear: the legacy of this brave fighter with colonialism lives on with his honorable name.

FROM RUSSIA: Vladimir Favorsky was Soviet Union’s foremost graphic artist, book illustrator and art educator. He was best known for his woodcuts, that he perfectly adapted to depict the realities of Russian and Soviet life.

FROM RUSSIA: Yevgeny Vuchetich’s monumental sculptures, including the spectacular Motherland Calls in Volgograd (ex-Stalingrad) and “Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares” are lasting memorials to the peace hard-won in WWII.

FROM ECUADOR: A co-founder of Tzantzismo, a revolutionary poetic movement whose members wore beards in honor of Fidel Castro, Ulises Estrella also became an important man for Ecuadorian cinema, and a prominent figure in the country’s labor politics.

FROM GREECE: Haris Alexiou is a legend of Greek song with passion as powerful as her voice, whether she advocates for workers’ rights at a protest, wearing red rubber gloves, or sings the songs of her beloved composer Manos Loïzos youtube.com/watch?v=9Nt4Rb2W…

FROM GERMANY: Max Beckmann depicted the anxieties and the contradictions of the Weimar Germany, and obviously, none of that could be allowed under the Nazi rule: he escaped to cement his role as a prophetic, influential modernist.

FROM ARGENTINA: After a childhood full of hardships and excruciating work, Tita Morello became a singer because it was a way to put food on the table and turned out to be one of Argentina’s biggest superstars youtube.com/watch?v=x9fVFf0X…

FROM CUBA: Alicia Alonzo became partially blind when she was 19, so she had to use lights to guide herself on stage, but this did not deter her from becoming an international superstar and the founder of Ballet Nacional de Cuba. youtube.com/watch?v=krcmx4vd…

FROM INDIA: U. R. Ananthamurthy was born into a Brahmin family, but his first novel became a scathing critique of the entitlement and hypocrisy of the class he sought to betray. He bravely stood against fascism rising in India, too, despite threats from the Modi government.

FROM INDONESIA & BATAK PEOPLE: Sitor Situmorang grew up under colonial rule, & studying Dutch and European literature only led him to dig deeper into his national pride & become one of the most prominent authors of Indonesian independence who was then harassed by anti-communists

FROM MEXICO: No better way to celebrate Mexican music and culture than to listen to Alondra de la Parra conduct Arturo Márquez’s powerful “Danzón No. 2” inspired by the Zapatista Uprising. youtube.com/watch?v=G945MQ1d…

FROM RUSSIA: Perfect Soviet bodies: Matvey Manizer’s sculptures, many of which grace the metro stations in Moscow, of war heroes and athletes, reimagine the ancient ideals for the Soviet era.

FROM RUSSIA: Nikolay Kasatkin was one of the founders of socialist realism, creating stark depictions of inequality and labor in Tsarist Russia, for which he was much lauded after the Revolution.

FROM GREECE: The teacher and poet Kostas Varnalis became interested in Marxism and socialist themes while in Paris, as he observed the Russian Revolution and his country’s defeat in the Greco-Turkish War. He remained a true people’s poet till his death.

FROM RUSSIA, GERMANY & FRANCE: Our favorite creator of abstract worlds and the supreme leader of delightful microbes, Wassily Kandinsky was born on this day 155 years ago, and remains an inspiration for those who see differently, yet meaningfully.