Nitzan Mintz

Nitzan Mintz’s practice is rooted in language and poetic words, coming  to life  on streets, walls and canvases. Nitzan Mintz  is a “visual poet” who merges the power of words with   a variety of materials and media.

Mintz began writing poetry during her service in the army. Back in Tel Aviv, she studied at Minshar School of Art. Triggered by a broken heart and inspired by lost love, Mintz started writing her prose with a marker all over the city’s public walls. Since then, the city –  its beauty and its failures – remain her main source of inspiration.

For her, and her partner and collaborator Dede Bandaid, working in the streets and sharing street art is a way of expressing themselves freely.  Although they work independently they also cooperate on specific projects where they blend both of their distinct visual languages. Through site-specific art — outdoors and indoors — Nitzan Mintz explores personal difficulty, such as  childhood trauma and ideas surrounding the family. Her words speak of love and loss on one hand and social and political hopes and dreams on the other.

The creation of public poetry offers a peaceful break in the bustling city. Mintz’s specific and recognizable letter stencils  transform into murals that aim at becoming meaningful to local communities. The works become a gift to surrounding inhabitants –  a voice for the voiceless . When projects are led outside of Israel, Nitzan Mintz researches the area, the neighbourhood, its people, and its history or recent events. The poem is then translated in Hebrew and the local language; translation becomes a graphic tool for the artist.

Back in her studio, Nitzan Mintz also creates works on paper, cardboard and found wood; she also collects paper and recycles them to make collages. Mintz has a mixed media practice in which abstract, layered, and textured backgrounds — inspired by urban landscapes’ stories blend in with her own biography. Mintz describes it as an “aesthetic of decay”.