In 2002, the Israeli government built a wall in the
West Bank of Palestine. The Israelis see the wall as a protection from terrorist attacks, while the Palestinians see it as a land-grab which divides their country, with Palestinian villages on either side of the wall. For Palestinians, the wall is a symbol of oppression that Faris Atouri, co-founder of
send.a.message, calls “the world’s largest open prison.”
But this wall which seems to be the bleakest of symbols has been turned into a canvas, with Palestinian artists painting murals that contain political, religious, and personal messages. Colourful and expressive, this art movement in Palestine (
see Gaza video) has given rise to the non-profit group send.a.message who raises money for community ventures and creates an awareness of Palestine’s every day humanity.
How does send.a.message work?
To put a message on the wall you need about $62 Australian and to enter your message on the website:
http://www.send.a.message.nl/. Any extremist, racist, or pornographic messages will be filtered out, but other than that, anything goes! The most common messages are those of peace and friendship, with marriage proposals and jokes also being very popular. The team of young Palestinian artists paint your message on the wall, and will then take photographs and send them to you. (
See send.a.message video).
The messages are a reminder to the Palestinians that they are not forgotten by the rest of the world, and in turn the Palestinians seek to humanise the West Bank region which is so often viewed in terms of conflict. Money raised by send.a.message goes towards community projects in Palestine. Providing public gardens, cinemas, basketballs courts and laundry services are all on the agenda.
Where did send.a.message come from?
Palestinian artists from the
Palestinian Peace and Freedom Youth Forum, have partnered with Dutch non-profit groups such as the
ICCO,
Feels like Friday, and
Oxfam Netherlands to found send.a.message.
Young People in Palestine:
The Palestinian Peace and Freedom Youth Forum (PFF) is a grassroots organisation that was founded and is run by young people. The PFF lobbies political parties about social issues and supports secular and democratic youth movements. PFF only works with groups who are legal in the Palestine territories and who are allowed to run by the Israeli government.
Send.a.message was the brain child of Faris Atouri, the PFF chairperson. Faris, Yousef, Diana, Sophia and Nora are some of the young graffiti artists who volunteer their time to paint the wall and to enact other PFF initiatives.
A cause that advertises itself:
What’s brilliant about send.a.message is that the product (the art and photos) are self-advertising, and personally involve users in the region. And there’s room for the idea to keep developing. Starting on May 10, 2009,
the world’s longest letter–2625 metres long to be precise–will be written on the wall.
Farid Esack, the prominent human rights activist has written the letter which compares today’s Palestine with South Africa under Appartheid. Send.a.message is asking for sponsors through the website who will have their signatures added to the end of the letter.
Connecting worlds with technology: Send.a.message is publicised on its own website as well as the Feels like Friday website, and through social networking sites such as
Youtube, and
Flickr. Community projects in regions considered remote or in conflict are increasingly finding online spaces an accessible means of promotion. Send.a.message has also received coverage as a human interest story from major media outlets such as
CNN.
How can we do that?
Aside from the political implications of the region in which send.a.message works, the central theme of their idea is in finding a use for an unwanted space. Talk to local councils in your area about making legal graffiti areas for young artists. You could even investigate making a “virtual wall” associated with your website in a program much like
Windows Paint where you showcase your community organisatinon’s ideas and values through web graffiti!
