Subway ads replaced by posters protesting war in Gaza in stealth campaign by artists
Artists protesting the war in Gaza replaced ads on a New York City subway train with posters like this. Photo by Adlan Jackson/Hell Gate
By Beth Harpaz March 6, 2024
A dozen artists protesting the war in Gaza replaced ads on a subway train with images of rubble, a poem by a Palestinian and a quote from the man who immolated himself outside the Israeli embassy.
Adlan Jackson, a reporter for the New York City news website Hell Gate, witnessed and photographed the activity by a dozen people wearing masks and hoodies early Tuesday on a No. 4 train.
The rogue crew used screwdrivers and ratchets to remove the metal and plastic casing in which ads are typically displayed, according to Hell Gate. Ads for products and services like Tinder were then papered over.
One image showed rubble in Gaza and the words: “250 people killed each day. This is genocide. Gaza.”
Another poster offered this quote: “All my beloved ones are gone,” attributed to a “mother from Gaza.”
A Facebook post made by Aaron Bushnell, the protester who self-immolated Feb. 25 outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., was featured as well: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”
A poster from the subway’s “Poetry in Motion” series, which is sometimes criticized for showcasing bland, inoffensive verses, was replaced with an emotional poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. It read, in part: “And they searched his heart / But could only find his people / And they searched his voice / But could only find his grief.”
A contact for the artists did not immediately respond to an email from the Forward. But an unnamed organizer told Hell Gate: “Ads as a medium have been weaponized in the last four or five months. We’re fighting back for our own public space. We’re a bunch of New Yorkers trying to take back this public space and make a message.”
The organizer added: “Our politicians aren’t doing anything, our leaders aren’t doing anything, celebrities aren’t doing anything. But when you ask most people, they’re on our side. So we’re trying to do something symbolic, and we also want to get people involved, ultimately.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subway system, said the agency was “currently checking on the removal of those posters.”
Spokesperson Joana Flores added: “The MTA does not permit political ads and has not sanctioned the images in question for placement in the New York City Transit system.”
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