Graffiti

Abstract

A political opponent assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel, in 1995. The event was a macro-level collective trauma during which youth had to confront and contend with the symptoms of trauma and grief and their interactions. One unique reaction of youth was to write graffiti on the walls of Tel Aviv's city hall. The texts and symbols of the graffiti were examined and studied. Overall, the graffiti was found to represent spontaneous and authentic feelings of loss and “spontaneous memorization.” Beyond this, content analysis of the graffiti revealed that many youth were addressing the social, political, and cultural aspects of the tragedy. The uniqueness of the graffiti symbols is also discussed.