ISTANBUL — ‘Look at all the things a few trees can do!’ reads this graffitti near Tünel on Istiklal Boulevard. Erdoğan infamously dismissed the protests in a speech where he said ‘This is all too much for a few little trees.’ Of course, the trees were symbols of the general policy of the AKP government of sellling public land to private coorporations without public consent.
Jeffrey Gibbs
I am a writer and teacher from Florida, but many places have become a part of me since I left twenty years ago — Tokyo, Boston,Tucson. I have traveled all over the world, finally settling down in Istanbul almost six years ago. I am ceaselessly inspired by the richness and diversity of the culture here and by the warmth of the people.
Posted inArt
Reading the Writing on the Wall at #OccupyGezi, Part 1
ISTANBUL — The graffitti that now covers the streets of Istanbul cannot be called ‘art.’ It was put there by people on the run from tear gas and billy clubs. It was done quickly and secretly, at night or in flight. It is a reflection of the social media that inspired it — pithy, angry, quick, and short. The grafitti are spray paint tweets on brick and mortar. And they tell a story — they reveal the hows and whys of this mass, varied uprising against an increasingly arrogant ruler.
