Dove's Eye View

Art against the Iraq war - Bitter Fruits

Laura McCallum, a sculptor and teacher in Brooklyn, NY, began a project six years ago to draw a tiny image in honor of each American killed in the Iraq war. The scroll now has 4,259 images on it, and takes up an enormous hallway.

Laura stood up with me at my marriage to David MacLeod, and more recently traveled with me to Lebanon and Syria in 2008.

Caryl Churchill: Gaza crisis play

Royal Court acts fast with Gaza crisis play | Stage | The Guardian.

By any theatrical standards the latest play by Caryl Churchill has been remarkably speedy, going from pen to performance on a London stage in under a month.

The reason for the speed is Gaza. Churchill was so appalled by events there that she felt compelled to write, and the Royal Court theatre in London felt a duty to quickly produce her play, titled Seven Jewish Children - A Play for Gaza. Churchill, one of the titans of British theatre, said: "Israel has done lots of terrible things in the past, but what happened in Gaza seemed particularly extreme."

The play will be performed for free with a collection afterwards for the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. After the London run Churchill will publish it online and allow anyone, anywhere to download it. "Anyone can perform it without acquiring the rights, as long as they do a collection for people in Gaza at the end of it."

Hat tip Lutfi Husseini of RAWI, and Dalia Basiouny who sent it to him.

Offering Reconciliation

Ceramic art for peace: Bellevue Arts Museum: Offering Reconciliation.

The exhibition features 135 ceramic bowls by top Israeli and Palestinian painters, sculptors and photographers. Each artist received the same plain ceramic form, the “Bowl of Reconciliation,” to work from. This large fragile clay bowl designed by Orna Tamir-Schestowits, symbolizes the fragility of the relationships of the two cultures. In its conception, the bowl represents the connection between art and life, bringing to mind the act of serving an offering or preparing a feast to gather people together. Once Offering Reconciliation reaches its final destination, the bowls will be sold and all revenues will be used to finance the ongoing educational activities in Israeli and Palestinian schools with the goal of educating the youngest generations to bring peace to the region.

The Dove can't help but say - it will take the next generation demanding that our governments support peace. The people will have to lead on this, because our leaders are still delusional, and the delusions of our leaders mean the spilled blood of our children.

This project is lovely, however, and I thank Eric Alterman for alerting us to it. Generals and diplomats and presidents fail us, but artists keep making beauty that reaches toward what really matters.