Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Through ethnographic and online research, this paper explores graffiti as a tool for resistance and social change in Palestine, specifically offering an analysis of Palestinian reactions to the West Bank Barrier’s graffiti and graffiti tourism through the lens of poiesis, the active shaping of the environment to create meaning. For many Palestinians, making art on the wall is a form of resistance to not only Israeli occupation, but to graffiti by internationals which often overshadow Palestinian art in media coverage. Placing graffiti directly on this wall meant to silence them allows Palestinians to assert their own narrative by actively shaping and reshaping the wall’s appearance. This creative shaping is a framework in the field of expressive arts referred to as poiesis, which means to create sense of the world through art-making. Using graffiti on the West Bank Barrier is a prime example of this phenomenon. Defacing gives Palestinians the power to destroy international graffiti that they feel is toxic or categorizes them as violent (i.e. anti-Semitic or racist graffiti). Alternatively, some artists target specific tourists via graffiti to shape the wall into a tool for direct communication with social movements, Americans, and Christians, who have power to change public attitudes in their home countries towards the Palestinian cause. Though the wall continues to devastate Palestinian lives, graffiti allows them to express their own narrative and project their stories into public view, and potentially strengthen the message of resistance by shaping the wall into a global call for justice and solidarity.