Art from the Israeli-Palestinian divide
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Two artists from either side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came have collaborated on a painting project. Each painted portraits of the other's family members.
Haim Maor and Khader Oshah say their collaboration isn't political. The Jew and the Muslim have been painting each other's family members for four years. They say they do this because they are friends.
But politics lurks just below the surface of their work. Oshah, who grew up in Gaza, painted ink-wash portraits of Maor's Jewish family on top of maps of Israel circa 1948, the year Israel became a state.
Haim Maor, in turn, painted a portrait of Oshah's Palestinian son wearing a t-shirt.
"In the t-shirt are three colors: Red, white and black," Maor said. "I make him a frame in green. Green and red, black and white – these four colors are the colors of the Palestinian flag. Is it a t-shirt, or is it a flag of a Palestinian?"
The show at the Slought Foundation, near Penn, is the first time the paintings have been seen outside of Israel.
thts agood work & angreat show