Reading Response: Art Divide

Like many people, the first thing to jump out at me when researching the separation barrier was the art. I have always loved all forms of public art, especially murals. They are, to me, a literal image of the people in that place, a physical marker of a thought or feeling. If this is true anywhere, it is certainly true of the art on the separation barrier in the West Bank.

The murals on the wall show love. They show hatred. They show pain and sadness and reality, and beauty and victory and joy. More than anything though, they represent everyday life. The wall did not stop time. Daily tasks must be completed. Tests must be studied for, bills must be paid, and life must go on. The only difference is that the wall serves as a constant remind that just because this is real life, it does not mean it is normal life, acceptable life, or good life.

I do not believe that art can still be created in a world devoid of a possibility of a better future. While the wall exists today, dividing town, neighborhoods, and families, it would not be covered in art, hopeful, cacophonous, passionate art, were a permanent structure. When the separation barrier is gone, the art will remain-- in the minds of the people, their thoughts yet to be imprinted on a slab of concrete. That will be the day there is peace.