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Artists turn to walls, internet in war-torn Yemen

Galleries and cultural centers in Yemen have long been a casualty of war. Local artists, however, use walls to express their creativity and anger.
Artist and activist Murad Subai paints graffiti on a wall in Sanaa, Yemen March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah - RC169DE2DB60
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Yemen’s forgotten war, which has killed at least 8,600 Yemenis between March 2015 and September 2017, has, unsurprisingly, also taken its toll on the country’s cultural scene. The galleries in the capital Sanaa have either closed or reduced operations. Consequently, Yemeni artists have turned to two new platforms: the streets and the internet.

Yemeni graffiti artists, both men and women, have been turning the city’s walls into rich canvases, coloring the old gray buildings with splashes of color through various street art projects since 2012, often with pedestrians curiously looking on or joining in. One famous snapshot from 2016 shows a soldier picking up a brush to make his own graffiti: four birds, possibly doves, to extend his own message of peace in the warn-torn city. 

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