Joel Bergner

Joel Bergner is a community artist whose large-scale murals can be found in 30 countries across 5 continents, painted in his signature style combining intimate portraits of local residents, vibrant color palettes and small details created by dozens of participants. His work weaves smoothly between realism with an urban art sensibility and the raw expressions of children’s art. Joel leads social projects in world’s most vulnerable communities, from Syrian refugee camps to American prisons; the favelas of Brazil to an orphanage in South Africa. In each project, he guides participants through the process of exploring critical issues they face through collaborative art-making.

Joel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Artolution, a non-profit organization that supports artists in refugee camps and marginalized communities across the world to lead their own arts programs with youth. In this role, he travels the world mentoring young artists and collaborating on humanitarian art programs, partnering with UN agencies and NGOs. Joel and his work have been featured on the NBC Nightly News, CBS This Morning, NPR, Al Jazeera, Reuters and more. He currently lives in Washington, DC.