Taqi Spateen: Smashing the Separation Wall

This Christmas we honour a Bethlehem-born man. No, not Jesus of Nazareth, but the Palestinian street artist Taqi Spateen. MEMO spoke to Taqi as he created an art piece depicting the destruction of the illegal Separation Wall in Bethlehem, his home city. The Israeli-built Separation Wall is a canvas for many graffiti artists in the occupied West Bank, but it also represents the separation of Palestinian culture, identity and heritage, according to Spateen. The Bethlehem artist says he doesn't like direct political art, he prefers metaphors and symbolism. The piece he painted in London shows a concrete structure - representing the Separation Wall or other concrete structures set up by the Israeli occupation - being destroyed by Palestinian birds - representing freedom, fighters and nature - who are breaking through the wall, 'embroidering' it with the keffiyeh.