She should always feel this happy

The answer to any question about why we do what we do.

Out of Order

I know this is out of order. Today is Wednesday. I think. We walked around the Old City of Jerusalem after 3 days kissing the residents of Sderot with art and beauty. Visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and matched the ancient art with the beautiful, beating sun of a Jerusalem morning. Collectively, we inhaled 10,000 years of belief. 10,000 more of hope to follow. I opened my computer so full of kitty whiskers, sunflowers and rainbows that I could barely maintain the excitement. Turned to the news. In a world where there is Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and falafel and hummus and Kinder chocolate, there should only be good news. Perhaps today was the day we cured cancer or something. Mockingly - not so. It turns out that today is the day after yesterday. Yesterday was the day a Gaza terrorist approached the Israeli border threatening and waving a weapon. That man got shot - a case of suicide by cop. He was there when we were there. He attacked the border as we stood directly next to it. He got shot as we took cover. This was a day ago. Took my time mentioning it because I know that parents and wives and children of our artists are reading this and did not want to alarm them. We are not by that border anymore. It is wrong and out of order when art can be threatened in this nature. It is out of order when the young men and women of the IDF (the only army in the world to have "Defense" in their very name) who had been painting with us and laughing like the children they are must become adults so quickly. It is out of order when the jolly and folly of life must be sacrificed to the defense and protection of innocents. Innocents should be left innocent. Artists should paint. 18 year olds should dance or sing or do anything but defend themselves and their fellow countrymen from terrorists.

But, when the order is reversed. When it is your father or daughter standing by that border, you are happy that when the world is so out of order, someone is there to protect them and maintain the order where innocents live and bad men are stopped.

Israel: Day One

Sarah Brega displays a welcome sign from Ame72. What a beautiful, welcoming sight.



And, here we have Tara Gordon's carry-on luggage.



Graffiti artists across the world just got happy.



Sderot's Young Leaders tell the artists what it is like growing up in bomb shelters.



13 hour flight. 3 hour meet and greet session. 2 hour car-ride. What would you do? Paint, of course! We asked and the Mayor's Office responded. The artists are shown the Jewish National Fund's Sderot Indoor Recreational Facility by Shalom Ha'Levy.



AFK prepares to shock.



And awe.



Belin and SUE respond with their own masterpiece.

Press: Ynet Video

CLICK HERE AND WATCH VIDEO

Press: JPost

CLICK RIGHT HERE

Press: Yahoo

Press: Wall Street Journal

Press: Israel National News

CLICK HERE CLICK HERE CLICK HERE

We Never Sleep

It is 4:33 in the morning. Seth and I are sitting in a parked car outside of the Sderot Media Center, stealing their wi-fi. Across the street is a bomb shelter painted by GUEST on one side, JOIST on the other. CYCLE has a huge piece on the the back. Roy Orbinson is on the radio. He is crying over someone. She must have been very special. We just left EAC doing a mural at the Police Station. Yes, graffiti, inside a Police Station. There are feral cats and angry dogs. We are supposed to wake up at 6:15 tomorrow to go take pictures of every bomb shelter we painted. We've lost count. We are too tired right now to try and remember. Maybe it is better that way. Art should be unexpected. Right? We don't know where they all are. We don't. At 8:00, the artists wake up and drive an untied shoelace length from the Gaza Border. While we stare down their guns - we have weapons of mass creation in our hands. We will paint the army base tomorrow. Then, we will hug the last few people in Sderot that we have not yet hugged. Then, we go to Tel Aviv. I assume there will be more wireless internet there. I'd say there will be far less sleeping but what is less then nothing. This is everything. Everything that matters. It matters because when the innocent children of Sderot went to sleep last night, they did so hidden and frightened of the large, ominous bomb shelters. Today, they awoke to beauty and hope. We can not wait until tomorrow.

That being said, we are going to be updating this blog as much as possible once we make it to Tel Aviv. Enjoy.

Graffiti For Israel from Jared Levy on Vimeo.

Thank you, Unique Photo

For donating Fuji Instax cameras and film so our artists and the children they are painting bomb shelters for can instantly share their memories from our journey.

Ynet? Ynot

HEREHEREHERE

GRADIENT Magazine

ARTICLE HERE

FABRIC of our Lives

ARTICLE HERE

Meital Dohan Commits a Crime

Ynet Loves A4I

Amazing video on Ynet HERE

Meet us in ISRAEL

SUEWORKS: From MTV to ISRAEL

MTV filmed a commercial about graffiti. And, guess who they featured. The incredible, globe-trotting, A4I - repping SUEWORKS.

More information HEREHEREHERE