Sept. 11, 2005 will mark the four-year anniversary of terrorist
attacks on New York and Washington, but it will also mark a new
beginning in the South Valley. It’s opening day for a nationally
recognized exhibit titled
”
The Piece Process
”
at Gavilan College.
Sept. 11, 2005 will mark the four-year anniversary of terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, but it will also mark a new beginning in the South Valley. It’s opening day for a nationally recognized exhibit titled “The Piece Process” at Gavilan College.
First exhibited at Chicago’s ARC Gallery in September 2002, the exhibit showcases works by Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian, Arab and Israeli artists. All the works were created in response to the stalled Middle East peace process. But this exhibit is more than simple display, according to Gavilan’s gallery director and Fine Arts Chairman r2row (pronounced Arturo).
The exhibit, conceived by artists living in the Middle East and the United States, conveys its messages through an array of media, from photographs to paintings to sculpture and video art. One photograph depicts young children running gleefully into a mosque as an older woman leaves. Another shows a middle-aged woman at Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall.
The artists involved with the show envisioned inspiring dialogue between local Jewish and Muslim communities, but r2row wanted to add something.
“These are ideas, but ultimately, it’s about people talking to people, so we wanted to put it to the test,” said r2row.
The exhibit will be open through Oct. 23, and it coincides with a series of Sunday dialogues on the Middle East, Islam and Judaism arranged by organizers from Gavilan’s art department, history department and Stand Together Group. For this series, “Art for Peace: Dialogues for Change,” college organizers invited the local Jewish and Islamic communities to talk, and it was an opportunity that Hamdy Abbass, a board member of the South Valley Islamic Community, didn’t want to miss.
“I think after 9/11 there is a lot of need for people to understand the Muslim religion and Islam in general,” said Abbass. “I went to schools. I’ve been to community organizations like the Rotary Club, and I thought that this would be a great opportunity for us to prove that we are interested in a dialogue. Through art we can generate communication.”
Abbass hopes to build a friendly dialogue and interconnected community with local Jewish leaders like Rabbi Yitzhak Miller, who said he wants to see increased attention placed on the commonalties of Israelis and Arabs.
“I think this project is very focused on working at the local level, and I hope that it will create stronger interaction between our communities,” said Miller.
Still, the exhibit isn’t just for key religious groups, said Jan Bernstein Chargin, director of public information for the college.
“The Israel-Palestine conflict stirs a lot of thought, and I think a lot of people have opinions,” said Bernstein Chargin. “We see images on the news, and we see the turmoil that’s going on, and we want to talk about it.”
“The Piece Process” is a free exhibit sponsored by South Valley Islamic Community, Congregation Emeth and Gavilan College. It can be viewed at the Gavilan College Art Gallery, located at 5055 Santa Teresa Blvd. in Gilroy. The gallery is open during regular college library hours, and is closed weekends except during the 4pm talks. For a complete listing of these discussions, see box.
