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Perched high above the streets of Paris, Portuguese artist and artivist Bordalo II has unveiled a mural that speaks through silence. Titled Sensitive Content, the work features just three elements: a blurred Palestinian flag, the phrase “Sensitive Content”, and the familiar mute icon. Deceptively minimal, the piece forces us to consider who decides what is too “sensitive” to be seen.
Bordalo II Sensitive Content, the work features just three elements: a blurred Palestinian flag, the phrase “Sensitive Content”, and the familiar mute icon. Image copyright Bordalo II
Internationally acclaimed for his Trash Animals, sculptural portraits of endangered species made from salvaged materials, Bordalo II has long transformed waste into a critique of ecological collapse. Yet in Sensitive Content, he pivots from the material to the immaterial, addressing instead the mechanics of digital erasure. Here, it is not environmental degradation that takes centre stage, but the systemic silencing of human suffering, particularly that of Palestinians, whose realities are increasingly muted, flagged, or rendered invisible.
Bordalo II Sensitive Content, the work features just three elements: a blurred Palestinian flag, the phrase “Sensitive Content”, and the familiar mute icon. Image copyright Bordalo II
The mural also follows a now-flagged Instagram reel from 2023, in which Bordalo II shared a work from his provocative series War Children, a haunting assemblage of teddy bears and toys with amputated limbs and red paint symbolising blood. Created as a tribute to children affected by war, the piece was intended to confront viewers with the innocence lost in violent conflict. Instead, the reel is currently behind a “sensitive content” warning wall, ironically mirroring the very erasure it aimed to resist. What was meant to highlight unseen suffering is, once again, concealed from view.
Bordalo II’s ‘War children’ Sensitive content 28th November 2023 instagram
But the implications go beyond the screen. Today, foreign media are barred from entering Gaza, preventing the independent documentation of its ongoing humanitarian crisis. In this context, Sensitive Content becomes more than a visual metaphor… it echoes the strategic silencing so central to modern warfare and media control, and is a demand for the right to witness.
Bordalo II Sensitive Content, the work features just three elements: a blurred Palestinian flag, the phrase “Sensitive Content”, and the familiar mute icon. Image copyright Bordalo II
Sensitive Content is a critique of platforms; as much as it is a critique of us, the viewers, the scrollers, the ones who decide what we can or cannot bear to see. In muting conflict, we erase its victims. Bordalo II refuses that erasure.
Bordalo II Sensitive Content, the work features just three elements: a blurred Palestinian flag, the phrase “Sensitive Content”, and the familiar mute icon. Image copyright Bordalo II
Art into Action: Bordalo II’s Sensitive Content Print released
Bordalo II is now releasing Sensitive Content as a limited edition of 140 prints and hand finished 10 AP’s. The edition is a direct act of humanitarian support: 100% of proceeds will go to SafeBow, a grassroots coalition of international and local aid workers operating in some of the world’s most dangerous zones.
SafeBow provides food, shelter, transport, pet rescue, and evacuation assistance to civilians navigating or fleeing armed conflict. Today, they are active across Egypt working with displaced communities and in select areas of Gaza, where independent humanitarian access remains critically limited.
The print release transforms the mural’s quiet resistance into tangible relief. It allows supporters to engage with Bordalo II’s message, and to amplify its impact in real time. In a world where imagery is often muted, this edition ensures action speaks just as loudly.
AP Print of Bordalo II’s ‘Sensitive Content’
Release date 29th July 2025 6PM GMT London. Purchase print here.