1.       How did you get your start as a street artist?

I have been making art all my life but when I started doing stuff on the streets, it broke the levee. It changed the way I understood the creative process—how art can be made, what can be done with it. I could take everything I made until that point and make it part of a larger reality, part of everyday life. [Street art] allows for a greater dialogue. It transforms an environment into a picture of the city. It opened a lot of new possibilities; I noticed the type of work I made changed a lot.

2.       How did you get involved with the Living Walls Conference?

I have been involved with them since the first conference in 2010. I couldn’t make it out here, so I was just part of their exhibition. I was able to come for the first time two years ago, after collaborating on a mural project in Miami in 2011. I like what they’re trying to do. I like the emphasis on how a mural can affect the community it is placed in. It’s about making art more accessible, a grassroots approach. It comes from a good place.

3.       Is there any specific message you hope to share through your work?

I try to create work with universal appeal. I mostly deal with different issues of political topics: flags, borders, fences, walls. I examine them as if they were an emotional mechanism, creating parallels between political and emotional situations. That is the mindset I have been working in for the past year or two.

4.       Do you think your Israeli background influences the art that you create?

It is impossible to separate [oneself] from the place you come from.  I don’t deliberately channel a specific allegiance, but it does have to do with the reality of where I live. It is not something I can notice about myself. I’m sure it does in some way.​

​The Living Walls Conference runs from August 14-18. Know Hope will be a featured panelist in the Living Walls Lecture Series​ taking place on August 16. Click here for the full schedule.