Creative Coexistence or Creative Co-resistance? Transcultural Complexity in the Work of Street Artist ‘Combo’

This chapter explores the work of Paris-based street artist ‘Combo Culture Kidnapper’ with a particular focus on the way in which his work challenges the rise of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in our contemporary period. In particular, Combo’s work appears to challenge the polarizing narratives surrounding Jewish-Muslim relations in contemporary France and Israel, against the backdrop of renewed concerns regarding anti-Semitism in France and the recent wave of attacks in Paris from 2015 onwards. I argue that Combo’s artistic practice is of particular significance because of the multiple ways in which it places emphasis on transcultural creative production, co-production and interaction. Transcultural creative production is understood here as a mode of artistic practice which combines cultural repertoires, such as symbols, languages or cultural reference points which are transnational in nature, i.e. which cannot be contained within the space of one national context. Co-production and interaction refer to the ways in which Combo works with other street artists and members of the general public in order to create his works of art.