ISSA / ISA — The Birth of the Heart Movement
Once again, synchronicity does what it does best: it arrives quietly, precisely, and rearranges meaning.
I am in Palestine, in Bethlehem—the place where Jesus was born. I am here working on a project called MADOA 154 (ISA) & M4RY4M (MARYAM) Art Residency, and already the names themselves are speaking before any image appears on the wall.
The first mural came into being almost without permission. In the process of painting it, I covered an old piece of signage on the wall. Only later did I realize that the name I painted over was ISSA.
ISSA.
In Arabic, Isa means Jesus.
It can be written with a single s or a double s—Isa / Issa—like a breath repeated, like a heartbeat. Suddenly, the location, the timing, and the gesture aligned. This is Bethlehem. This is the birthplace. And this work is about birth—not of a body, but of the HEART MOVEMENT.
The residency is named MADOA 154 & M4RY4M. Isa, the person, couldn’t physically make it here. But the strange truth is: he did make it. Because Isa is not only a man’s name. Isa is a frequency. Isa is heart waves in motion. Isa is the name carried by Jesus in this land.
The first piece gave birth to the second. The wall itself initiated the next work. Painting ISA now feels less like choosing a name and more like responding to something already alive.
At the same time, I am creating a piece for ISSA—the man who sells coffee under the Banksy angels. A daily, grounded presence beneath images of conflict and innocence. His name, again, anchors the work in reality. Heaven and street level touching.
So ISSA becomes a name that travels:
• a person
• a place
• a word
• a heart wave
Putting ISSA up on the wall now feels like a declaration, but also like a birth certificate. The heart movement is born here, where the heart has always been tested, broken, and reborn.
From this moment on, ISSA becomes my artist name.
I will start writing ISSA.
Not as ego.
Not as branding.
But as a pulse.
Heart waves.
Born in Bethlehem.
Again.
— Dr. Anna Biela, Bethlehem, Palestina
26.12.2025, 19:19