There are all kinds of fences in Jerusalem. And when looking at them, I am often reminded of the American saying I heard many years ago; a fence makes good neighbors. We have the security fence which has done quite a bit to stop terrorist attacks in our frail neighborhoods. They are often insulted and cursed, but there is no getting around the fact that we had some very violent characters attacking our citizenry.
And then there are fences meant to keep people from walking on the grass, and fences meant to mark property lines, and fences meant to keep children and adults from crossing streets where there are no crosswalks. And there are fences meant to protect passers by from construction sites.
I'm not sure what this fence was made to do. Probably to hide an unsightly industrial property. But maybe it was a construction sight. There are two industrial neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Talpioth and Givaat Shaul. Both of them contain factories and workshops. And since there are workers there, they also have restaurants and simple eateries, and shopping centers and stores. And because no one sleeps there in the middle of the night, there are some night clubs there too, so people can enjoy themselves as noisily as they care to, all the hours of the night.
I was there to visit some of my clients, when I noticed the fence. It was something of a sheet metal fence, that had been put up with posts in the ground, and had been painted in three colors. A few businessmen had put together some money to buy paints, and some students from the Bezalel Art Institute in our fair city had volunteered to decorate the fence. They painted some stick figures. It was on the very edge of graffiti. Minimalist in it's approach, somewhat humorous, and no question about it, it's art. You can see the set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shimonz/sets/72157622487099837/
