Living on both sides of the Wall, I noticed an irony of artistic expression.
On the Israeli side, the art is encased in ancient walls, windows, and ceilings. The story told is an ancient story of a God who lovingly led His people. Artistic expressions of the extent of this God's love draw Christian pilgrims from around the globe. We travel to the other side of the planet to see paintings and sculptures of Jesus who lived in a real time and a real place. We see his teachings calcified in stained-glass, in chiseled words, and in bronze statues.
In Palestinian territory, the art is displayed on a contemporary wall with no windows and no ceiling. The story told is an ancient/future story of a people who long for the very things that Jesus lived, taught, brought, and accomplished. The art on these walls cry out for Jesus to be unlocked from the prison of windows, walls, and ceilings and to be made real in this place again.
3 comments:
I do not think that all art is seen.
This contrast you point out makes me wonder how much has been destroyed within the Palestinian territory? If the only visual art is on contemporary structures I think it points to a systematic destruction of their cultural history.
Did you notice a lack of contemporary artistic expression on the Israeli side? I think that much of the art on the Israeli side was produced by people crying out for Jesus, trying to share his story within their everyday context. But that was then.
Hmmm. Interesting question. Rather than the contemporary art taking the more traditional mediums, I think it plays out in your line of work: architecture. The face life of Israel of most overtly seen in its modernized architecture that communicates: "we're here!" I point out architecture as an artistic medium because it is the very thing that most sticks out in what seems to be an intentionally adversarial way within the West Bank. The Settlements of contemporary works of art adorned with orange roofs that, like in the Israeli side, communicate the same thing: "we are here!"
As to the wiping out of the Palestinian cultural history, I think we could reference the bull-dozing of the 12th Century Muslim Cemetery as evidence for this very thing. Destroying a graveyard (beautiful art in its own right) communicates the desire to wipe out the memory of an entire people from from the land.
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