TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Love over hate
Love: A mural by Portuguese street artist Pariz states in one word the meaning and objective behind the initiative in Canggu, Bali. (Artists4Israel/File)
I
nternational visual artists are creating murals in Bali, Kupang and Yogyakarta to promote tolerance in the wake of racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia.
It was an extremely hot Tuesday afternoon in Canggu, Bali, with temperatures hitting well over 30 degrees Celsius.
The scorching heat, however, did not deter scores of visiting international visual artists from creating murals on the walls of local houses and businesses.
“I was so white two days ago,” said Portuguese artist Pariz, whose Instagram handle is @parizone, while spraying his legs with mosquito repellent.
“It’s hot and the mosquitos here have apparently been waiting for us,”
He then fixed his attention to his canvas for that day — a once dull wall that now bears a colorful mural thanks to Pariz’s signature retro-futuristic style. The word “love” was the centerpiece of the mural.
Read also: Bali's unstoppable rise of street art
Just around the corner, another Portuguese artist, known as Mr Dheo (@mrdheo), was painting a depiction of one of the most popular Balinese Hindu deities, Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles, on a store’s roll-up door.
The store’s owner, Sudarma, was leaning on his motorbike while watching Mr Dheo paint.
“He is darn good. He is creating the image without having produced any sketches first,” he said.
Pariz and Mr Dheo are part of the Artists4Israel (@artist4israel) initiative, which organized the collaborative mural event.
The event involved international and Bali-based street artists and took place along Jl. Batu Mejan in the trendy neighborhood of Canggu.
Around 50 meters to the north of the place where Mr Dheo was working, Artists4Israel founder Craig Dershowitz asked Ukrainian street artist Maks (@kuro_neko_tattooer) on the quality of the local spray paints the latter was using.
“There are no bad paints, only bad artists,” Maks quipped while shaking a new spray paint can.
Dershowitz, in his stroll along the narrow road, at one point bantered with a Balinese waiter who wanted to trade his shirt for the Artists4Israel’s “Love Over Hate” T-shirt. Later, Dershowitz took refuge from the merciless sun at a charming cafe.
“I used to paint [graffiti] but then I saw the works of these guys and I don’t want to embarrass myself,” he said.
More than just the initiative’s mastermind, Dershowitz is also an eloquent spokesperson — his sentences, more often than not, are imbued with the charm of poetry.
He founded Artists4Israel in 2009 as an effort to counter negative portrayals of Israel.
The Artists4Israel initiative has triggered and sustained a discussion on tolerance by inviting international street artists to Israel, where they create murals and learn about the country and the people firsthand. It has also organized mural campaigns in the home countries of invitees.
An independent organization that receives no funding from the Israeli government, the initiative places its belief in the solidarity of the artists to achieve its goals.
“When we talk about artists, we are united. We have traveled around the world and everywhere we go we are embraced by our fellow artists and local communities,” Dershowitz said.
Artists from 23 countries have participated in the initiative, which now has evolved into a global cultural campaign against racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
“We trigger dialogue by beautifying the places we visit,” Dershowitz said.
Read also: Street sculpture project takes over Yogyakarta's Kotabaru
Pariz nodded in agreement, adding that the murals were not the most important aspect, but, rather, that it was about the act of creating the artwork.
“Because we are painting live on the street and people gather around us, asking questions and talking with us about the messages of the paintings. That’s a dialogue and that’s actually the main thing,” the artist said.
During their trip last week in Indonesia, the artists also participated in a mural campaign in Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara and Yogyakarta. In both places, they were joined by dozens of young, local street artists.
Their experience in Yogyakarta, a city that has seen a rising tide of intolerance, reminded Dershowitz that building a harmonious world was no easy task.
“I hate to say that I saw a place that had become scared. There were so many loving and kind people, tolerant and hopeful, but they spoke with hushed voices and a look of concern in their eyes,” Dershowitz said.
“We [were] reminded again and again not to use the word Israel and to be careful about our art. Considering all the vibrancy and energy that was still present even under that veneer of worry, I can only imagine what this city was and what it could become again.”
