Gaza Graffiti: Messages of Love and Politics

by Mia Gröndahl

Graffiti began in Gaza in 1987, during the first Intifada, when there was no Palestinian television or radio in the Gaza Strip, and no the messages that spread along the walls became an important means of communication. Over the years, all political groups have had their own graffiti artists. Scrawl is not tolerated―it has to look good. Hamas even offers evening classes in graffiti. Documenting the writings on the walls of Gaza over a period of seven years, celebrated Swedish photojournalist Mia Gröndahl lays before us the many roles that they perform, the colorful and surprising range of their artistic expression, and their reflection of the changing political situation. And apart from political slogans, the walls bear witness too to joy and the wedding celebrations, the many victims of the conflict, and the ever present hope of peace and freedom. For us on the outside, Mia Gröndahl’s photographs offer an exciting and unexpected view of life in Gaza.

Genres: Art, History, Middle East

152 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

Reviews

[Dorthe Svendsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dro med meg naboen til den forrige også. Det var en bok med mer tekst en. Jeg tenkte meg. Så her er det mulighet å få en del kulturell informasjon gjennom fokuset på gatekunst, en fin måte å gjøre det på. Ikke mye profft, men mye viktig finner du i denne boka, under veldig fin inndelig.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gets three stars since it is the first book I found to reproduce really lush images of graffiti in Palestine. The book is mostly full color photos that nicely document at least a subsection of graffiti in Gaza. However, I found the author's introduction and text trite and a surface-level reading of the graffiti and mural's purpose in Palestine.

This book would have been MUCH better if she had gotten into graffiti on the Israel-Palestine wall, talked in more depth about the risks taken by the artists in light of changing Israeli occupation conditions, and generally interrogated how murals become stand-ins for other media outlets.

If you want images this book is great, but for a scholarly analysis look elsewhere. There are some much better journal articles available.