NFTY-EIE Tel Aviv Graffiti Tour

by Nathan Apel,         11^th grade,    Ontario Canada

April 11, 2016

Welcome to your own personal simulation of NFTY-EIE’s Graffiti Tour through the neighbourhood of Florentine, Tel Aviv. Your guide, and resident of Florentine, EIE Jewish history teacher Aaron Gertz, has immense knowledge on the topic of graffiti. Florentine is currently undergoing a process known as gentrification (the process of renewing/ rebuilding deteriorating areas). A common product of gentrification is artists moving in, followed by the gay community, then students, then couples, and conclusively, the settling of families. Florentine is presently in the first part of this process, therefore LGBTQ flags and Israeli flags are common spectacles that are often promptly placed upon balconies and windows.

The tour commences with an introduction of our first graffiti artist of the day, “Kislev”. Kislev is the most highly acclaimed graffiti artist in Tel Aviv, and has been given the moniker of the “Israeli Banksy” (Banksy is a world famous graffiti artist who focuses on political/social issues). The following painting illustrates an elf (Kislev) with spray can in hand, floating towards another elf (Banksy) while being carried via balloons of love. The works of Kislev are easily identified by his signature logo of an elf.

 

Gigantic Tel Aviv street mural painted by graffiti artist "Kislev" paying tribute to "Banksy"

An interesting phenomenon in the graffiti community is prominent artists working together. An example of this is BabyK who is a Frenchmen, but his works are frequently found across Florentine. Likewise, there is a Polish group who painted a sickly looking animal to spell out “ospa” (plague). Tel Aviv is an attractive destination for groups of graffiti artists because there are no strict graffiti laws. Small fines are issued when caught and sometimes police officers will not even punish the artists. Here, Aaron told a story of an artist, whom when caught, simply explained to the authorities the art he was creating and was left in peace for its completion. As a result, other than New York City, Berlin, and London, Tel Aviv has become one of the most pursued canvases for graffiti in the world.

Baby K graffiti

Tel Aviv street art by Polish graffiti artists OSPA

During the remainder of the tour I will be guiding you through eight significant pieces of graffiti and some of their respective artists. Firstly, there is an artist that goes by the name Dede who did a collaborative piece with his friend Wonky. Wonky is known for his depictions of strange looking monkeys and Dede is known for using Band-Aids; these Band-Aids are a metaphor for not being able to completely fix emotional scars. Dede’s service in the combat unit of the Israeli army, where he had to deal with difficult situations, lead to this re-occurring theme in his artwork.

Dede and Wonky collaborated on this mural in Tel Aviv's Florentine neighborhood

A unique graffiti style is that of Vered Dror, who uses braille. This type of artwork originated from when Vered was in Zagreb, Croatia for a graffiti competition. After days of planning her masterpiece for the competition, she noticed public places vandalized with swastikas painted on them. Vered Dror asked several locals why nobody was cleaning these horrific symbols up and everyone answered by simply saying “I didn’t notice”. Outraged, she abandoned her previous plan for the graffiti competition and placed all around the city a single statement in braille: “I didn’t notice, I didn’t see a thing”. Vered went on to unanimously win the competition.

braille graffiti created by Tel Aviv street artist Vered Dror

 Graffiti artists in Tel Aviv are very proud of their city. As a result, an artist’s pride is often reflected in one’s art work. For example, MAS972 is a graffiti artist whose name (972) is the country code dialed when calling Israel. Also, 035 (either 03 or 05) is the landline number for Tel Aviv whose work can be easily spotted all around the city.

"035" standing for the two telephone area codes of the Tel Aviv area

On a side note, due to the large gay community in Tel Aviv, graffiti expressing gay pride is not an unusual sight. One of the wittier pieces is an image depicting Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street embracing each other saying “Hi kids, we are getting married!”

Arik and Bentz (the Israeli Bert and Ernie) appear in graffiti announcing they are getting married

           

MAS972 takes his name from the country code for dialing Israel

           As we approach the conclusion of the graffiti tour there is a focus on political art. Firstly, is the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the fifth and ninth Prime Minister of Israel. The image depicts Yitzhak’s assassination illustrating the crosshairs of the sniper on his head. The painting was created in Yitzhak’s honour and commemoration. Secondly, there is a slogan relating to conflict between Jews and Arabs. When first sprayed, the slogan translated to “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies” יהודים וערבים מסרבים להיות אויבים, However, someone vandalized it to say “Jews and Arabs are enemies” יהודים וערבים בטח אויבים. Later, one of EIE’s Jewish History teachers, Evan, changed it again to say “Jews and Arabs are not enemies” יהודים וערבים לא אויבי.  Good job Evan!

street art in Florentine neighborhood depicting the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin on Nov. 4, 1995

         

The slogan "Jews and Arabs Refuse to be Enemies" graffitied on a wall in Tel Aviv

   

         The remainder of the day was spent learning about cultural Zionism, the revival of Hebrew, and Jewish identity in Israel through viewing giant mosaics, a model of Tel Aviv, and doing a street survey. My friend Ben Adler writes about these topics in his blog. Tel Aviv is a beautiful city and I thank you for joining us on our graffiti tour!

Nathan Apel,  NFTY-EIE Spring 2016