Worthy Of Art - Picasso in Palestine (Worthiness Wednesday on a Sunday)

I've not posted many responses to Kat's Worthiness Wednesday prompts lately, I've been journalling the responses instead of blogging them. However this morning I read a newspaper article, from yesterday's Guardian and it just seemed to fit with Kat's prompt for this week, Worthy of Art. Well in my mind it seemed to fit, in a sort of twisty, turney, "I'm going to make it fit" kind of way! ;) 

Kat's recent visit to an art gallery had reminded her of something she had forgotten...that art can heal. She reminded us that... we "are worthy of breathtaking art and it's power to heal".

She asked us to revisit an artist who really speaks to us, or work of art that is our favourite. Well, people who stop by here regularly might have noticed that I quite often do this. After a long time of neglecting this love of mine, I am more often visiting galleries, watching TV documentaries, listening to podcasts and radio shows, and reading books about artists I love, and whose work/life speaks to me. I am also wanting to look more deeply at art that is new to me. This has been, and will continue to be part of the healing process for me, the rediscovery of all of the places I left my heart. I will be continuing to post more about all of this I am sure, hopefully more and more often. So I know that Kat will be happy for me to spend today sharing about others instead of about myself.

The article I found was about the coming to fruition, of an idea to bring an art masterpiece to be exhibited at a small art school in Ramallah. Ramallah is in the occupied Palestinian territory. What's remarkable about that - a painting to be exhibited in the West Bank? It's not something I would normally think about in relation to Palestine. Art? That's not a priority, I would probably think. What good will that do for people, when their homes are being stolen and destroyed, when in Gaza they are unable to get access to basic supplies and are still living in camps? When they are unable to move freely and are denied basic human rights? 

As I read on, I was reminded of Kat's post about us being worthy of art and about it's power to heal.

I was reminded that the Palestinian occupied territory is not a state, and does not have a recognised museum to which other, internationally recognised museums, could easily loan a work of art. Just this one fact brings home just how much the people in the occupied territory have had taken from them. We so take for granted our galleries and museums here in the UK, many of which are largely free to visitors. Plus it is no more than a financial consideration for me, to hop on a plane to Paris and visit the Louvre, or to Malaga, in Spain, to visit the home of Piccasso.

Then as I read further, it became clear just how the struggle to make this idea possible and the journey of the Piccasso painting from Eindhoven to Ramallah, reminds us, lest we forget, about the realities of life  in the Palestinian occupied territories.

It reminds us, not just about this struggle and unjust situation, but about each and every war-torn place, where people are physically and emotionally wounded, and where the very fabric of their lives is torn apart, daily, weekly, yearly. Until loss and brutality becomes normal. Beauty, art, love....how do these survive?

The painting chosen is Picasso's "Buste de Femme," which he painted in 1943 when he lived in Nazi-occupied Paris. The newspaper article quotes Khaled Hourani, the director of the International Art Academy in Ramallah, and the man behind the whole project. He talks about the choice of artwork, the symbolism of the journey, and the possible interpretations of the painting by Palestinian visitors to the school.

"Hourani said that the Picasso was chosen by the art students and his mother. "I want this to appeal to people like my mother and art students. Picasso remains inspirational because his work is related to war, peace and freedom."
Hourani hopes that Buste de Femme will not be the last masterpiece to be exhibited in the territory.
"We want this to become a normality but it is the last time I will do it. It has taken two years to bring one painting but the taboo has been broken and it will be easier for someone else to do it," he said.
"The journey here adds meaning to the painting. It highlights issues of the freedom of movement and political agreement."
The painting will be on display for a month before returning to Eindhoven, but not everyone likes it.
Fatima Abdul Karim, the project co-ordinator, said: "I don't think it's a nice painting but it is a dream come true to have it here. Everyone has a different opinion about what the painting means.
"I overheard the security guards discussing it and they came to the conclusion that it was a woman cradling her child in time of war as she has one eye on the child and one eye on the surrounding danger."

In the same newspaper was this article about how Alice Walker, the author of The Colour Purple, is joining the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. Like Michelle Obama in her speech in South Africa last week, Alice speaks about the ripples of hope, of how people far removed from a particular struggle, often reach out to help and to stand by their fellow human beings. She points to Jewish civil rights activists in the sixties, who stood shoulder to shoulder with black people in the American south in their time of need.  She explains why she now wants to do the same for the Palestinians. Alice speaks particularly of the children. She says, "What else would I do?"

Worthy of Art. Worthy of love. Worthy of support. Worthy of hope. Worthy of freedom. Worthy of peace.