| Artists Vent Anger at Israeli Bombs |
|
| The Sydney
Morning Herald |
| Tuesday, September
12, 2006 |
|
|
|
Raw response … artist Rana Bazzi,
with her work Dear God , is
participating in an exhibition by
Arabic artists opposed to the recent
bombing of Lebanon. (Photo: Steven
Siewert) |
|
|
|
|
A provocative
Arabic art exhibition organised in response to the
conflict in Lebanon last month, includes a painting of
Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, with a skewer
through his head.
The work, titled Ehud Olmert Kebab, which has four
images of the Israeli leader's head skewered with
capsicum, has outraged Sydney's Jewish community, which
says it has "overstepped the mark of decency".
But its creator, the young Lebanon-born, South
Korea-based artist Habib Zeitouneh, retorts: "Paintings
do not leave families destitute, fathers without wives
or children, children without fathers or mothers. I have
a right to express my anger over the deaths of over 1000
Lebanese, as do the Israelis mourning the deaths of
their own. I'm using satire, not bombs."
The confronting exhibition is called t'fouh, an Arabic
expression that translates as "spit on you". It was
suggested by Stephen Mori - owner of the Mori Gallery in
Day Street in the Sydney CBD where the works are on
display - halfway through the conflict because he
"couldn't condone people being killed for war".
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies' chief executive, Vic
Alhadeff, condemns the painting of Olmert, describing it
as "beyond the realm of acceptable political comment".
"Political and artistic expression are an integral part
of public debate, but in our society freedom of
expression only goes so far. Artists, too, have
responsibilities," Alhadeff says.
The exhibition, which opened last Wednesday, also
includes the controversial body bags work that was
installed at Martin Place three weeks ago, and a mixed
sculpture-painting with dismembered limbs that calls for
the boycott of brand names such as Calvin Klein and
Estee Lauder because they "supported Israel".
An interactive work titled Return to Sender invites the
audience to write on leaflets similar to those dropped
by Israeli aircraft prior to bombing raids, with the
messages to be sent to Israel. One of the messages in
the return box states: "I once heard a rabbi say that
nothing is more sacred in Judaism than human life. Can
you see why this seems pretty hollow? F--- you."
Mori asked an Arabic curator, Alissar Chidiac, to put
together the exhibition after seeing one of her shows in
Auburn as part of a cultural development project.
Chidiac managed to involve
45 artists of Arabic background. She said all of the
works were a reflection of "what we all felt in the last
six weeks, watching what happened to our homeland and
families".
The exhibition, t'fouh, will be open to the public until
September 30. |
|
