Joel Bergner

Who is Joel Bergner?

Joel Bergner is a mural/ street artist and educator whose work focuses on issues of culture, social justice, and telling the stories of those who have been ignored or misunderstood by society. Working primarily in spray paint, acrylic paint, stencil and mosaic, Bergner has created large public murals in US cities such as Washington DC, San Francisco, New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, and Newark, as well in Brazil, Cuba, Kenya, Mozambique, Poland, Cape Verde, El Salvador, and Peru. His mural projects often feature collaborations with human rights and youth-based organizations, most notably the International Rescue Committee, the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the Boys & Girls Club, and Amnesty International, who invited him to be a featured artist at their Human Rights Art Festival in 2010.

Through his "Action Ashé! Global Mural Project," Joel leads workshops with disadvantaged youth around the world, who participate in the creation of public artwork. He has worked with incarcerated teenagers, youth from marginalized communities, the mentally and physically disabled, and street children in Rio de Janeiro. Joel has also created public art projects based on his own research and interviews, including murals about the plight of global refugees, survivors of domestic violence, Afro-Colombians displaced by political violence, the Civil War in El Salvador, Cape Verdean culture and history, and immigration. He was awarded the “Best Public Mural of 2004” by the mural arts organization Precita Eyes in San Francisco.