Jorit
Jorit Ciro Cerullo (born 24 November 1990[1]) is an Italian street artist.
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Biography
Jorit was born in Naples of mixed descent, his father, Luigi Cerullo,[2] being a Neapolitan, his mother Jeannina,[3] Dutch. He grew up in Quarto, on the northern perimeter of the city. After studying at the scientific lyceum Galileo Galilei in Naples, he attended the Neapolitan Academy of Fine Arts,[4] obtaining a first class degree.[5]
His interest in street art was sparked off when he was 13 years old. Jorit has defined his approach as one of picking out ordinary faces from the working class to embody famous people, in the style of Caravaggio. Thus, his depiction at Forcella, Naples of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, draws on features of a 35-year-old friend who is a factory worker.[6]
Notable street murals
In August 2019, Jorit paints the face of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, on the facade of a twenty-story building in the district of Odintsovo, Russia. At the base of the mural is the acronym "СССР", Cyrillic abbreviation, transliterated SSSR, which stands for Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик), in English: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).[7][8][9][10] It is the largest portrait of Gagarin in the world.[11]
Painting in the West Bank and expulsion from Israel

Jorit was put into detention and detained three days after painting a mural depicting a Palestinian adolescent activist, Ahed Tamimi, who had become an iconic figure among Palestinians after slapping the face of an Israeli soldier outside her home in the West Bank village of Nabi Salih. The mural – whose completion was scheduled to coincide with Tamimi's release from an 8-month prison sentence – was set on the Bethlehem side of Israel's Separation Barrier.[12][13] On arriving back in Naples on 30 July, his family, awaiting him at the airport, asked that no photos be taken, since he wished to retain his anonymity.[14]
References
- "Napoli - Jorit Agoch racconta su Instagram la sua odissea in Israele". Monitore Napolitano (in Italian). 2 August 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
- Del Porto 2018.
- TG 2018.
- Guida 2016.
- Maselli 2016.
- de Rosa 2015.
- "There's a secret message in Russia's largest mural of Gagarin; want to know what it says?". rt.com. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- "Jorit, il Bansky italiano approda in Russia: a Mosca un suo murales gigante dedicato a Gagarin". it.rbth.com. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- "Jorit, la sua arte approda in Russia: un murale dedicato a Jurij Gagarin". 2anews.it. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- "La nuova opera di Jorit è in Russia: un murale dedicato a Yuri Gagarin". bonculture.it. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- "AUTHOR OF LARGEST GAGARIN GRAFFITI VISITED STAR CITY". russkiymir.ru. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- Ma'an 2018.
- Reuters 2018.
- La Stampa 2018.
Sources
- "Betlemme, rilasciati i due street artist italiani". TgCom24. 29 July 2018.
- Del Porto, Dario (30 July 2018). "Liberato Jorit, lo street artist Napolitano arrestato a Betlemme". La Repubblica.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- "Graffiti artists detained for giant mural of al-Tamimi". Ma'an News Agency. 29 July 2018.
- Guida, Felicia (23 May 2016). "Fedez e San Gennaro nei graffiti iperrealisti di Jorit Agoch". ArtSpecialDay.com.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Maselli, Angela (24 November 2016). "Intervista a Jorit Agoch. Il racconto del sogno americano". Arts Life.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Reuters (28 July 2018). "Israel Arrests Italian Artists Who Painted a West Bank Mural of Ahed Tamimi". Haaretz.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- de Rosa, Anna Laura (16 September 2015). "Il San Gennaro operaio di Jorit per far rinascere Forcella". La Repubblica.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- "Torna a casa Jorit Agoch, lo street artist arrestato a Betlemme". La Stampa. 30 July 2018.