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Walls of Hope

Bazooka Joe, Gangster of Art. Public work, 2018.

Walls of Hope by Bazooka Joe, Gangster of Art, seen from across the road, the artist standing in front
Walls of Hope, 2018, seen from across the road, with the artist in front for scale. Photo: Aloni Mor, Maariv

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A permanent mural, about 197 by 30 feet, on the outer wall of the prison that once held him. The prison service asked him to paint it, and he worked on it for about three months in 2018. At the public unveiling that August, attended by a deputy mayor, the prison service’s commissioner presented him with a certificate of appreciation.

Across the wall, a figure holds a skull in one hand and a heart in the other, beneath the words TO BE OR NOT 2 BE. It is what he calls “the prisoner’s dilemma”: the choice, after release, between reoffending and going straight.

Size
About 197 × 30 ft (60 × 9 m)
Type
Permanent mural, exterior wall
Unveiled
August 2018, at a public ceremony
Owner
The prison service
Made with
66 gallons of paint and 190 spray cans, painted without preliminary sketches
Detail of Walls of Hope: a heart with crossbones, a crowned figure and a skull, beneath the words TO BE OR NOT 2 BE
Detail: the heart, the figure and the skull, beneath TO BE OR NOT 2 BE. Photo: Moshe Cohen, Maariv

Photographs

Looking along Walls of Hope, the watchtower behind
Walls of Hope, looking along the wall, the watchtower behind. Photo: Moshe Cohen, Maariv
Bazooka Joe outlining the pink field of Walls of Hope with a brush
Work in progress, 2018: outlining by hand with a brush
Bazooka Joe painting Walls of Hope from the scaffold
Work in progress, 2018, from the scaffold

On record

A plaque beside the wall gives, in the prison service’s own words, the reason this wall was chosen: “every prisoner has a release date,” and the wall stands for keeping the bond with the community outside. As of 2025, the prison service still describes the mural on its website, and a national survey of wall art lists it.

Sources for every fact on this page are available on request.

In his words

“I felt my whole life had shrunk down into this wall.”

Maariv, 2018

Quotations on this page are translated from the original.

In the film

Bazooka Joe painting his name on the wall, a still from Gangster of Art
Still from Gangster of Art, directed by Liran Shabtai. © Liran Shabtai.

Near its end, Gangster of Art, Liran Shabtai’s documentary, follows him painting this wall from spring to summer. The film closes on him riding past the finished mural, and on one line:

“The gangster behind the wall became an art gangster outside of it.”

Closing card, Gangster of Art
Watch the wall chapterAbout the film

Commissions

Bazooka Joe, Gangster of Art, takes on commissions for exterior walls and public sites. Tell us about the wall, its size and the community around it.

Inquire about a commissionSee the works