Joel Bergner

Joel Bergner ( Joel Artista) is an American muralist, street artist, and educator who creates large-scale works of art with the participation of young people and communities around the world. Bergner is the co-founder and co-director of the non-profit organization Artolution, which organizes community-based public art initiatives with those who have experienced armed conflict, trauma and social marginalization. He has led such projects with incarcerated teenagers, Syrian refugees, youth from slum areas, the mentally and physically disabled, young people with substance abuse issues, orphans and street children.

Art activism Bergner has led multiple projects in Jordan with Syrian children in the Za’atari refugee camp and other communities in partnership with UNICEF, aptART, ACTED and Mercy Corps, in collaboration with local Syrian artists and educators. Cuba, Kenya, Estonia, South Africa, Mexico, Norway, Israel and the Palestinian territories, These projects often feature collaborations with human rights and youth organizations as well as companies, government agencies and educational institutions, most notably the International Rescue Committee, the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the Boys & Girls Club, UNICEF, Mercy Corps, Park Inn by Radisson Hotels, The initiative included a collaboration with local graffiti artists for the "Peace Train," in which the artists and youth participants painted a 10-car passenger train with art aimed at easing ethnic tensions as the election approached.

Bergner’s art-based social projects have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and in the books Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo and Mural Art Volume 3. He has been featured on the international news networks Al Jazeera English, CNN, and BBC World News.

Jedrus center building,mural designed (2016) by Joel Bergner,6a osiedle Centrum A, Nowa Huta, Krakow, Poland.