Ilana Zeffren | Animal City

Comic artist Ilana Zeffren is known for her blend of poignant humor and critical observations of sociopolitical issues in her illustrations. In her latest work,”Animal City,” the largest illustration she has created to date, Zeffren charts out the map of Tel Aviv as a “protest map” of the city’s non-human residents. Cockroaches, owls, horses, bats, alley cats, and many others speak up and voice their grievances in it. Through their eyes, the map unfolds problems that we humans are very familiar with, e.g. housing shortages, noise, environmental pollution, and the soaring cost of living.
In her witty and poetic style, Zeffren reinterprets the term coined by Henri Lefebvre, “the right to the city.” This right includes the opportunity to take an active part in shaping the urban space, the right to difference and visibility, and the ability to appropriate: To use the urban space as part of everyday life and to reshape it to benefit those who live and work in the city. Zeffren extends this definition to the animal kingdom – and calls on us to imagine a polyphonic city, where animals also have a vision, demands, and rights.