The one topic I know you never bring up in conversation is the Middle East, specifically Israel, without expecting things to get heated, and quickly. So I’m not about to touch on my personal convictions on the Israel-Palestine conflict or any solutions to it. Instead, with this post, I would like to highlight the beautiful and poignant art on both sides of the Separation Wall between Israel and the West Bank.
Banksy's Piece on The Seperation Wall
For the most part, this “wall” is simply a ditch, fence and barbed wire. However there are also points at which the barrier becomes a grey concrete beast that chars the beautiful landscape it slices in two. Though graffiti and wheat-pastes are strictly forbidden, this spot has become something of a Mecca for street artists, with some of the most innovative and expressive projects splattered along it.
Artwork Along The Seperation Wall - Unknown Author
Take, for example, Banksy, whose highly symbolic piece is above. To him, “[This wall is the] ultimate graffiti artists’ holiday destination.” And indeed, many non-locals target the wall with their conceptual art. FACE2FACE, created by a German/Tunisian artist duo, seeks to explore the causes behind tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and ultimately break through any religious differences via the human element.
This is a holy place for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is a tiny area where you can see mountains, sea, deserts and lakes, love and hate, hope and despair embedded together. After a week, we had a conclusion with the same words: these people look the same; they speak almost the same language, like twin brothers raised in different families. The Face2Face project is to make portraits of Palestinians and Israelis doing the same job and to post them face to face, in huge formats, in unavoidable places, on the Israeli and the Palestinian sides.
FACE2FACE Breaks The Conflict Down to The Human Element
By showing Israelis and Palestinians at their most goofy and candid, FACE2FACE hopes to prove that, in the end, we’re all human beings on this earth together – why should we make this harder for each other? To further their point, the duo intends to return within the year to start HANDINHAND, a similar study of the transcendent quality of humanity.
A similar, yet more home-grown project is Faris Aruri’s sendamessage, which functions via a Dutch website. Submit a message and Faris and his colleagues spray it along the wall, take some photos and send them as e-postcards to their customers. In theory it’s a political statement against the barrier, though sometimes the messages are far from that. But even when they’re not political, they are still providing the world with information and views not necessarily expressed by the mass-media giants around the world – and with each e-postcard the customer is supplied with fresh on-the-ground information from the region.
If anything, this wall is living proof that Street Art can be about much more than just pure Art. It is a quick and direct link with the public – something that in today’s day and age is increasingly rare. It is provocative, political, and poignant. It is there to hold forth for as long as you are willing to let it – a powerful medium that can be a force for change. And in the end, it is yours to make of it what you will.
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