Becoming Human: Artists’ Pilgrimage to Palestine/Israel to Accompany the Creative Resistance for Peace & Human Dignity
We are a team of creatives – a photographer and a visual artist collaborating with local Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers and artists. We will travel to Israel/Palestine March 2-30 to learn from the perspective of the diverse peoples of the land with a focus on the hope and beauty of the creative resistance to end all forms of violence and oppression. We will live and work directly with families and communities who are courageously and creatively working to build mutual trust and respect towards a non-violent movement of peacemaking and reconciliation.
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This project is part pilgrimage and part artist residency. We will be partnering with the Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts & Culture and the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem. We aim to engage with the everyday lived experience of Israelis and Palestinians to create and share stories of hope found in the struggle for human dignity through creative writing, photography and visual art. We believe that by exploring the intersections between our stories and those of "the other" through art, we will be able to look critically at our own roles in creating a shared future of human dignity, peace and justice.
At the culmination of this art pilgrimage we will publish a book and show curated art exhibits in venues throughout North America. The book and exhibits will include photography, printmaking, textiles/embroidery and installation artwork. The art project as a whole will point us towards movements of hope, peace and human dignity.
Your generous contributions will pay for the cost of round-trip airfare to Jerusalem, one month of accommodations with local families, food and transportation. Any funds raised beyond our costs for this project will be shared with our hosts in Palestine and Israel. The artwork created from this project is slated for public release in September 2016.
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'Bottled Up' ($25 perk) 'Rough-Hew', artist's proof, (half of the dyptich)
To become human means to remain connected to our humanness and to the reality of the universe. It means to abandon the loneliness of being closed up in illusions, dreams and ideologies, frightened of reality, and to choose to move towards connectedness. To become human is to accept ourselves as we are, with our own history, and to accept others as they are.
– Jean Vanier, Becoming Human
Steve Pavey is a documentary photographer, applied anthropologist and contemplative activist, all of which come together in the vocation of cultivating a way to see, in order to bear witness to the world both as it is, and as it could be. His visual storytelling process is deeply shaped by accompanying and being accompanied by humanity living on the margins of empire, documenting and making art with those shrouded in “otherness” towards the goal of collective action and mutual liberation. Steve’s photography focuses on hope – hope found in the struggle and dignity of becoming more human. He has worked in nearly 30 countries around the world, most recently in Honduras and Mexico. He is co-author of the visual ethnography Shadows then Lightand of the soon to be released book, The Eclipse of Dreams: The Undocumented Led Struggle for Freedom in the United States (2016). www.stevepavey.com
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Jenny Hawkinson is a visual artist based in Vancouver, BC. Over the years, her studio practice has developed from exploring her personal experience of family and childhood, to a more general and inclusive experience of "home." Her most current exhibition is called "Homeward"; this show speaks to the paradoxical transience and stability of small towns. At the most basic level, this trip is a pilgrimage for Jenny--a journey that will draw her closer to the memory of her great grandmother and to the physical geography of her Christian faith. Exploring the connections between her personal story and that of "the other," she hopes to create art inspired by the experiences and people she encounters in Israel/Palestine. jennyhawkinson.com
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Other Ways You Can Help
Some people just cannot contribute financially, but that doesn't mean you cannot help:
● Ask folks to get the word out and make some noise about our campaign.
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