The Wall

http://www.mideastyouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/pal04.jpg
his image from the Cultural Anthropology website (http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/can.1996.11.2.02a00010)  really stood out to me.  The amount of detail and the size of the mural, or graffiti, is amazing!

It is interesting that a city can be called 'open' and yet have so many barriers running throughout it.  However, these walls, although hard to pass through, are not completely impossible to pass by.  I like how there are some areas of life that a wall just cannot prevent cross over interaction.  The labor market and the health services provide a platform where the two sides come together.  While this 'togetherness' does not mean that everything is fine, it does mean that each side needs each other.   It would be interesting to see what an average day is like for a taxi driver who may have to pass through the gates multiple times in a day.  The other area where the two sides interact is in the health care.  I found it interesting how Israelis would go to see Palestinian doctors and vise versa.  If people from either side can come together to work, as well as to provide care, it makes a unified city seem possible.  However, it seems like it is cumbersome to return to one's side because you did not want to stay overnight in the other side's hospital.  Perhaps it is through the labor and health care services that there is hope for a truly 'open' city to be realized.  It is on this platform that people who live in a severely divided place cross the lines.

The second article about the graffiti is quite interesting.  I liked how the author put it in that it is a 'game of cat and mouse for the final word'.  The messages are painted on the wall by night, and by the next day are covered up.  Images and powerful.  The race to capture the images is important for those who wish to spread the graffitied messages.  Once the image is preserved, it can be spread throughout the people.  However, if the message can be blacked out before cameras or onlookers can see, the message is lost behind the paint.  Since the soldiers are so quick to cover up graffiti, I wonder if the cost of paint is particularly high, or if it is in any way difficult to purchase spray paint.  Also, from reading this article, it would be interesting to look into if there are graffitied images from the settlement side of the walls.

There is that saying that a picture speaks a thousand words.  Even though I have not seen this wall in its entirety, nor even decent amount of images of the graffiti, I still get the sense that there are several stories left upon that wall.  Over time they have been influenced by that day's politics, the difficult present, and an unseen future are displayed for those to see.  Images send a message whether or not the onlooker wants to communicate with the artist.  It would be a very intriguing project to look into how the graffiti has changed over the years and what has remained the same.  Even though there is some interaction between people on either side of the divide, I wonder how much people really know about the life and people of the other side.  Would feelings change if both sides were to circulate images about how they feel in their current situation and their hopes or discouragements towards the future?   would like to see how people would communicate only in images with the wall as its canvas for both sides to see.