Venting anger through art

Feb 19 2009 By The Stirrer

COLOURFUL murals drawing attention to the plight of the people of Gaza have started cropping up in inner city Birmingham recently – and not everyone is impressed.

Certainly not the police, who ordered the council to obliterate an impressive pro-Palestinian spray painting in Alum Rock this week.

These certainly aren’t ordinary graffiti, and although they have unwelcome echoes of Northern Ireland’s politically charged sectarian ghettoes, I confess I admire them.

They are drawn with skill and purpose by artist Mohammed Ali, who won a much-coveted South Bank Show award last year. His work prompts the thought that it’s better for people to vent their anger through art, rather than violence.