The Israeli culture, in my experience, is all about getting your message out there, getting your voice heard. There are many way the people here do it; some through their voice, some through their car horn, other silently through a simple hand gesture. What better way to do this than leaving a permanent mark on someone else garage door, wall or body.
Tattoo culture is getting really big. A girl I worked with got her grandfather’s number tattooed on her arm. I think that’s a bit far, but I wasn’t going to mess with a survivor wannabe.
As well as tattoos street art is also becoming popular. I’m not talking about some punk kid with one hand holding a joint and the other on a spray can attempting to write his name on a wall like COPE2 on crack. I’m talking about artists who are turning the museum inside out, tacking the art to the streets.
There’s heaps around Jerusalem, in the back streets where the cats chill with the people who jabber like prophets. But I spent the last week in Tel Aviv (with my mum) and saw a bunch of cool stuff. Not sure who the artist is or what the meaning is behind it, all I know is it makes the city more aesthetically pleasing. These are some of the shots I took:
