We Paint! Jaffa Gate, Old City of Jerusalem, Israel

Site: Jaffa Gate of the Old City, Jerusalem
Time: 2 pm- 4 pm
Contributors: Jackie, Andrew, Chaya, Smen, Yischar, Daniel, Yitzchak Meir, Alyatt, Mohammad, Andrew, Audrey Thomas, Dominique Young, Harel Gabai, Paul Sass, Maya Tobias, Rachel Ellison and other anonymous artists

More Photos

Today "We Paint" went to the Old City of Jerusalem, a holy site for monotheists everywhere, to add a little more color to an already vibrant place.
On the technical side of things I decided to take some good advice (thanks, Tuvs) and made a wash of color over the white canvas before starting both "We Paint" projects set in Jerusalem. In my opinion the results were most definitely favorable. Artists were much more daring with their approach to the canvas, were more willing to layer their color over previous works, and were not reluctant to paint to the edge of the canvas.
Above: Before participants began

The crowd today was a great mix of locals and tourists, children and adults of all ages, and believers of various religions. While the Jaffa Gate is typically the main gate Jews use to enter the city, it is used by people of all faiths and backgrounds. The project is now able to attract a good variation of people with invitation signs in 3 languages (English, Hebrew, and Arabic). I am hoping to have more as time goes on. One challenge that comes with the language barrier becomes evident when artists paint words on the canvas that I cannot read. Jerusalem is obviously a highly political atmosphere with a population of Palestinian/Arab and Israeli/Jewish civilians living side-by-side in apprehensive peace.
Though the nature of "We Paint" is peaceful and good-hearted, it is also open-ended to the point that it can be manipulated in negative ways. One man emphatically explained that he painted "Palestine" in Arabic. Then later on when a religious Jewish teenage girl painted the words "מוות לערבים’, meaning "death to Arabs", I was able to decipher the Hebrew completely. Feelings of shock and even embarrassment fell over me for a moment, knowing that someone from my culture would make such a mark on our shared canvas. This, however, is a part of the process of the work. Everyone is able to make their own touch. Such is art. Nonetheless, Maya's turn to paint came conveniently after this hateful marking, and she healed it up with colorful green and purple stitches of paint (see photo above). Overall the project was a success today. Thank you to all who took a moment to make a difference. Special thanks to Maya Tobias and Paul Sass, who joined me on the trip to make the "We Paint" Jerusalem tour!

Above: the final product
More photos coming soon!