Artist Mike Marcus, who lives in London:
teachings at an early age, I still didn't know the real history of the
region. For some reason I couldn't just hide from it like most people.
…I started getting very
deeply into activism as a result. It's difficult for me to listen to
what is going on, I feel like a failure because I am unable to stop it….to register my protest, as an ethnic Jew against the injustices carried
out in my name, I exposed myself to CS gas and photographed the results. I had no other way to cry.
HV: You mentioned your were raised by Zionists, so I'm assuming your ethnicity is Jewish?
MM: Ethnically Ashkenazi (the western Jews), religiously, a proud and well-balanced atheist.
HV: I know you've posted a photo of yourself on Flickr with the words "self-hating Jew." Have you ever been called this?
MM: Many times, mostly by Americans, sometimes by my own family or the community where I grew up.
HV: How do you react?
MM: No point reacting to a Zionist, since its adherents are convinced that they hold the secret key to truth.
HV:
What is the one thing that you would like to achieve that would make
your art and life's journey "worth it," in your opinion?
MM: I
would like to have enough cultural influence to be able to convince a
generation of Israeli kids to object to military service. I think that
doing this would have an influence on an international scale.
(Thanks to Sebastian.)
