Santas Ghetto In Bethlehem
December 20th, 2007
I know this news is a bit late but had to post it nevertheless. Santas Ghetto, the annual supermarket-art show created by Banksy and selling the works of fellow graffiti artists. The artists have set up shop in a former chicken shop on Manger Square in Bethlehem opposite the Church of the Nativity, and along the way have used the dividing West Bank security wall as an 8 meter high blank canvas which they have decorated with highly symbolical and provocative images. When I first heard the news I couldn’t believe. It was a fucking brilliant and brave idea. There was a lot of mixed feeling about it, but when you go aganist the grain there normally is.
The ghetto extends over three floors and incorporates the work of more than 30 artists. Among them Souleiman Mansour, Abed al Rohan Mousain, Sam 3, Ron English and Sir Peter Blake. Artists from Ramallah, Gaza and Bethlehem’s Dehaisha refugee camp are well represented. Others have come from as far afield as Washington DC, Madrid and East Sussex.
A message from Santas Ghetto: ‘We would like to make it very clear Santa’s Ghetto is not allied to ANY race, creed, religion, political organization or lobby group. As an organisation the only thing we’ll say on behalf of our artists is that we don’t speak on behalf of our artists. This show simply offers the ink-stained hand of friendship to ordinary people in an extraordinary situation’.
More pics after the jump
T.Magic
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