Published: 16 November 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
PERCHED HIGH ON A platform overlooking the hip Florentin neighbourhood of south Tel Aviv, Mexican street artist Libre is hard at work on what is said to be the city’s largest graffiti project ever – a five-story-tall mural on a dilapidated former clothing factory.
Libre (full name Alfredo Libre Gutierrez) is an internationally known street artist whose work often deals with refugees and migrants, themes linked to his Mexican hometown of Tijuana.
“I have friends, neighbors and family members who crossed legally or illegally to the United States; wonderful people who just wanted to live a better life,” the 36-year-old says. He had no problem linking these themes to the local Israeli environment, he says.
Now a resident of Mexico City, Libre travels the world creating socially conscious art projects. He has worked with UNESCO, painted on the Athens subway, with children in South Africa, and created artworks that help aid migrants traveling through Mexico.
The mural on the walls of the old Honigman factory on Salameh Street is part of a project that partners real-estate groups, Tel Aviv City Council and artists, turning this abandoned building into a public art space.
FULL STORY The Mexican street artist behind Tel Aviv’s 'largest ever' graffiti project (Haaretz)
Photo: Libre creating his five-story mural on the side of a former clothing factory in south Tel Aviv, November 11 (Ray Lesel)
