What's the story behind this street art?

July 6, 2016 8:26 AM

When I was living in Prague / traveling around Europe for the past year, I saw (in a number of cities!) these "j'existe" stickers (here is a photo I found online that shows an example). Does anyone know who makes there or what the story is behind them?
posted by aaanastasia to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

I believe it's from an art piece that plays on Descartes "je pense donc j'existe" transformed to "je resiste donc j'existe" (I rebel therefore I exist) but I'm having trouble tracing the source.
posted by dis_integration at 9:38 AM on July 6, 2016

So on further analysis it seems to be a transformation of Camus' "Je me révolte donc je suis" into "je resiste donc j'existe" as a motto taken up by people interested in the liberation of Palestine. (see here for one of thousands of googleable examples). So those stickers were put up by pro-palestinian activists, is my best guess.
posted by dis_integration at 9:44 AM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Hmm, is there something that makes you think that rather than just the simple "I exist"?
posted by aaanastasia at 2:07 PM on July 6, 2016

Hmm, is there something that makes you think that rather than just the simple "I exist"?

It has that whole OBEY / Banksy-esque vibe to it.

It might also just be a sticker by Thierry Jaspart: stickers.
posted by dis_integration at 2:31 PM on July 6, 2016

is there something that makes you think that

Street art is rarely just aesthetic. It's almost always tied to some sort of political project, even if vaguely defined. It takes work to do and the makers desire both statement and impact. Since "I exist" doesn't mean a lot outside the quotation offered, I'm very swayed that it does reference rebellion.
posted by Miko at 9:52 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]