Street Art in the Middle East

Hunting for street art is one of our favorite things to do in any city we visit. There’s no denying it - street art creates the urban aesthetic. Tall buildings and throngs of people don’t give off that lived-in city feel unless there are colorful murals, paintings and graffiti hidden down alleyways and along sidewalks. We love street art both for this reason, and for the way it gives living artists a platform. In most cases, street artists aren’t rich and famous. They don’t have the connections to get themselves in museums, or to see their work selling for thousands of dollars. Street art is the platform of the everyday artist. Anyone can participate - all they need is talent, vision and guts. There are no rules. In fact, in many cases, street art breaks rules. And we love it for that.

But perhaps the number one reason we love street art is because of the way it can be used to spotlight injustices and spurn on change. If you study the way movements for societal change come about throughout the course of history, it is artists that lead the charge. And one of the specific ways they do that in these postmodern times is through street art.

The Middle East was decorated with some of the most beautiful street art we’ve ever seen. Whether it was carefully commissioned like in Dubai, plastered across every wall like in Tel Aviv, or used to tell the stories of forgotten people like in the West Bank - we were overwhelmed by the powerful street art we experienced. Even years later, many of these murals still take up space in my mind the way all good art does.