David De Hannay is a multidisciplinary artist—painter, photographer, filmmaker, author, performer, poet, curator, and human rights activist. He is the founder of the NYC Art Movement, an initiative that documented over 120 mural street artists during COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, organizing one of New York’s largest art shows in 2020.

His conceptual work has been featured on BBC World News, and his films and books explore the intersections of art, cinema, and politics. Recent projects include Libre Monijara (2025), a documentary on Colombian-American artist Monijara; JLG in NYC, a feature inspired by Jean-Luc Godard; and an anthropological documentary on Astor Barbershop, the oldest in New York City.

As an author, De Hannay has published multiple books blending poetry, philosophy, and resistance, including Haikus of the Cock (2025) and Guillotine in NYC (2025). An advocate for human rights for nearly two decades, he has produced documentary anthologies across Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, and the United States. He studied art and psychology at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he earned his degree in Fine Arts.