WEST BANK: Created in a Palestinian museum, digital collages of biblical paintings and contemporary photographs offer a new viewpoint of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Record ID: 565492

  • Title: WEST BANK: Created in a Palestinian museum, digital collages of biblical paintings and contemporary photographs offer a new viewpoint of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
  • Date: 11th June 2014
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO PALESTINIAN MUSEUM OFFICES SIGN READING IN ARABIC AND ENGLISH 'PALESTINIAN MUSEUM' VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT IMAGES VARIOUS OF IMAGES COMBINING BIBLICAL SCENE AND PALESTINIAN MAN SITTING BY ISRAELI SECURITY WALL DIRECTOR AND HEAD CURATOR OF THE PALESTINIAN MUSEUM, JACK PERSEKIAN, WALKING INTO OFFICE VARIOUS OF PERSEKIAN SITTING AND DISCUSSING WITH HIS TEAM THE IMAGES BEING MADE ON COMPUTER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DIRECTOR AND HEAD CURATOR OF THE PALESTINIAN MUSEUM, JACK PERSEKIAN, SAYING: "I am trying to tell the Palestinian story in a human way, in a way that people can understand. I tried to move from the typical image that is shown by media as a conflict between two nations, and for the world it is like any other case of any tragedy in the world and the two nations should resolve it as a general humanitarian issue." IMAGE OF JESUS FROM PAINTING COMBINED WITH PHOTOGRAPH OF PASSBOOK BEING CHECKED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DIRECTOR AND HEAD CURATOR OF THE PALESTINIAN MUSEUM, JACK PERSEKIAN, SAYING: "The idea started from the Christian history where the pope comes from and which is full of stories that in history took place in Palestine. These stories and all of the Christian teachings have deep meanings like tolerance, love, justice and mercy so we tackled these meanings to deliver a human message about the Palestinian life for the pope, and via him to the world about (Palestinian) life, suffering, occupation and the unsolved case." BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) POPE FRANCIS ARRIVING AT DHEISHEH REFUGEE CAMP AND BEING GREETED BY CHILDREN IMAGE USING ARCHIVE PHOTO OF THE CAMP COMBINED WITH PHOTO OF THE WEST BANK BARRIER POPE LISTENING TO CHILDREN RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) CAMP IMAGE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN FROM JERUSALEM, RANIN KIREESH, SAYING: "It is nice to have such an institute like the Palestinian museum which reflects the Palestinian issue and reality, I was happy to see these paintings combined with photos from the Palestinian reality and the struggle that our nation's experience daily." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT IMAGES IMAGES ON WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN FROM JENIN, OBOUR AL HASHSHASH, SAYING: "In my opinion this art is very nice because it is a new idea that brings a lot of questions to people's minds about why the old, new or classical pictures are combined. So if we know the story behind the classical photo and how it is like the Palestinian reality. This will raise questions and make the art reach people in a different way." VARIOUS OF IMAGES PEOPLE LOOKING AT IMAGES ON WALL
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVA80544QHK7AJF1MS6Y8SE8S79I
  • Story Text: The Palestinian museum team from the West Bank city of Ramallah have created digital collages to show the Palestinian struggle in a new way.
    Collage is a technique that uses images from different sources, juxtaposing them to make a new picture with different meanings to the original.
    Director and head curator of the Palestinian museum, Jack Persekian, came with the idea of combining imagery from old paintings of biblical scenes and archive and contemporary photographs from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to highlight the realities of life for Palestinians today in a different way to is usually presented in the media.
    "I am trying to tell the Palestinian story in a human way, in a way that people can understand. I tried to move from the typical image that is shown by media as a conflict between two nations, and for the world it is like any other case of any tragedy in the world and the two nations should resolve it as a general humanitarian issue," said Persekian.
    Persekian and his team produced 24 images to deliver their message.
    "The idea started from the Christian history where the pope comes from and which is full of stories that in history took place in Palestine. These stories and all of the Christian teachings have deep meanings like tolerance, love, justice and mercy so we tackled these meanings to deliver a human message about the Palestinian life for the pope, and via him to the world about (Palestinian) life, suffering, occupation and the unsolved case," added Persekian.
    The pieces were first shown during Pope's Francis visit to West Bank city of Bethlehem where he met children at a Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday (May 25), advocating for peace and insisting violence would only cause more violence.
    "It is nice to have such an institute like the Palestinian museum which reflects the Palestinian issue and reality, I was happy to see these paintings combined with photos from the Palestinian reality and the struggle that our nation's experience daily," said Ranin Kireesh from Jerusalem.
    The initial images created used archive photographs of refugees from 1948 juxtaposed with present-day photographs of refugees.
    The Nakba is the annual commemoration of what Palestinians term the catastrophe of their displacement when Israel was founded in 1948.
    "In my opinion this art is very nice because it is a new idea that brings a lot of questions to people's minds about why the old, new or classical pictures are combined. So if we know the story behind the classical photo and how it is like the Palestinian reality. This will raise questions and make the art reach people in a different way," said Obour Al Hashshash from the West Bank city of Jenin.
    Some images combine recent photographs of the Palestinian landscape combined with Western paintings of biblical scenes.
    'The paintings interpret episodes from the life of Christ as a means of glorifying God and spreading His teachings, but the photographs glorify nothing,' the museum explains. 'The aim is to bear witness to the often uncomfortable and difficult lives of Palestinians today'.
    'The images are almost comically mismatched, expressing the extraordinary contrasts between the stories that have come from Palestine over the years, and the different ways in which visual art has reacted to them,' the museum states in its accompanying information.
    The museum has also been planning to show the pieces abroad.
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