St. Laurent native Muriel Cohen (no relation) and her family were living a happy life in Israel until the October 7 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas. War broke out and given the fact she was living at Moshav Gea (a small village) only kilometers away from the Gaza Strip, her husband, musician Elran Dekel, and two of her children (the eldest is doing army duty) returned to Quebec. With the assistance of Ometz, they settled in NDG.
Now Muriel is prepared to make her presence felt here by showcasing Faces of Israel, a captivating video series set to unfold across social media platforms. She will be inviting people to join as she shines a spotlight on the genuine beauty of human connections through the eyes of the warm-hearted and open-minded people of Israel.
Murielle’s polar bear mural.
Murielle has gained a forte of skillfully crafting 30-second portraits that capture the essence of Israel’s unique spirit. Her series aims to showcase the kindness, generosity, and authentic human connections found on the streets of Israel…and now Montreal. “I never went to art school,” she told me. “I am self taught with the portraits and graffiti.”
Murielle moved to Paris in her teens and later to New York where she would spend the next 11 years. Days after witnessing the September 11 attack, she felt the need to document life and bought her first paper block and charcoal and started drawing strangers on the streets. Remarkably, without looking on to the page, a sentence crosses her subconscious and she jots it down right beside the portrait. I witnessed it myself as she drew me. She channels her inner thoughts and leaves a short sentence describing the hidden secrets of each soul that she draws.
From the portraits, Murielle turned to making street art, or murals , on urban walls in Tel Aviv.
Murielle has also become somewhat of an anti-bullying advocate. “Another street artist in Israel was not happy to see me as competition so he went about destroying everything I had done,” she says. “I’d go fix it and he’d destroy them again. That is when I started working on a documentary to recount what happened. And do you know what? The perpetrator befriended me and he might even appear in my documentary.”
Now Murielle is excited to rebuild her life in Montreal where the door is wide open to take on new clients for murals. Don’t be surprised to see her pop up in happening parts of town when the weather gets better doing her portraits.
Noted Montreal publicist Katia Dahan is helping spread the word for Murielle. She is meeting others from the artistic community like Ezra Soiferman.
You can watch her to a 30-second portrait here.
Murielle does a portrait.
For more details go to https://www.muriellestreetart.com.