John Kiss

John Kiss was born in 1985 in Mishmar Ayalon

John Kiss was born Jonathan Kis-Lev on September 12, 1985, to Soviet Jewish immigrants. Her grandparents survived the Holocaust, and this family history shapes her work. As a child she appeared on Israeli television and stage, and she hosted the children's show Balbalev from 1998 to 2000.

She studied at the Thelma Yellin arts high school and at Pearson College of the United World Colleges in Canada, where she took visual arts and peace and conflict studies. She later earned a bachelor's degree from the Open University of Israel in art and psychology.

Her first solo show opened in Tel Aviv in 2007, and her naive style paintings were later shown in Miami and New York. She uses graffiti to address social issues, and in 2014 she painted the 27 Club mural in Tel Aviv. She also made the Peace Kids mural in Bethlehem with Palestinian artist Moodi Abdallah.

In 2011 she co-founded an Israeli and Palestinian artists forum within The Parents Circle, and in 2014 she launched the Hallelujah Dialogue Project. Her 2024 novel Under the Floorboards tells stories of Righteous Among the Nations. She lives in Los Angeles and advocates for refugee rights and LGBTQ+ equality.