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2012
Exhibited from 20 April to 10 May 2012
See one review of Manal Deeb's exhibition here.
“FROM THERE” is a portfolio of memories by a Palestinian artist, an attempt to interpret the known versus the unknown of finding home, self, identity, and the challenge it presents in the creation of art. The content and narrative behind each piece explains her Palestinian origin. She uses textured surfaces to convey memory's persistence and perseverance. In some cases she incorporates words from the Quran to capture the wisdom and power of the verses and to communicate their imaginative energy.
Manal Deeb is a Palestinian-American artist born in Ramallah. Having grown up under Israeli occupation, her childhood witnessed the injustices and the hurts of wars, which made her sensitive to all issues of social justice. Her works address issues of identity and memory. Her goal is to bring Palestinian heritage to speak across time and place to convey memory’s persistence and perseverance.
"Thoughts on the Spring"
Exhibited from 9 March to 13 April 2012
Arab Spring 2011, gouache on board by Helen Zughaib
"The spring of 2011 brought 'The Revolutions,' 'The Awakenings,' 'The Arab Spring.' Watching the events unfold, there was a sense of hope and optimism that was infectious world-wide. As the months have gone on, the Arab world continues to change, reflecting a more uncertain outcome. In this exhibit, I look at the 'Arab Spring' as it has evolved over the past year, as well as work based on my trip back to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan."
"Suwarna"
Exhibited from 3 February to 2 March 2012
Suwarna, meaning “our pictures” in Arabic, is
an exhibition of photography taken by the
participants in “Triple Exposure,” a public art
project at Tomorrow’s
Youth Organization (TYO) in Nablus
in the northern West Bank, in which Palestinian
boys and girls, ages 10 to 16, use their
cameras to capture their homes, neighborhoods,
schools, friends, hobbies and daily moments of
beauty.
Tomorrow's
Youth Organization (TYO) is an American,
non-governmental organization that works in
disadvantaged areas of the Middle East,
enabling children, youth and parents to realize
their potential as healthy, active and
responsible family and community
members.
2011
Exhibited from 11 November to 6 December 2011
Jewelry designer Suad Raja will showcase a collection of Yemeni-inspired silver jewelry. Ms. Raja’s contemporary jewelry creations preserve the mystical, spiritual, and social symbolism inherent in Yemeni and Arab art and culture. She has worked to redefine her designs to give them a more contemporary spirit, thereby capturing a sense of continuity between the past and the present. As owner of Sheba Gallery in Cairo, Suad Raja has also exhibited her Sheba jewelry designs in galleries worldwide.
"Of Refuge, Of Home"
Exhibited from 30 September to 28 October 2011
Palestinian-Texan artist Adam Chamy explores identity, myth, and home through a series of family portraits and installation works that weave themes of migration, roots, and belonging. Faces of Texan farmers hang side by side with Jerusalem merchants. One has centuries-old ties to land through frontier settlement of the American South. The other, an enterprising global Levantine merchant family, faces a broken homeland severed by colonization and war. Together these fragmented myths and stories formulate an identity questioning the idea of home and form a story of a bicultural Arab-Americana.
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"Whispers of Palestine"
Exhibited from 12 August to 23 September 2011
The history of Palestine is interwoven with the land and architecture. They are as integral to understanding Palestine, as are the people of this beautiful homeland. Through photo images of the land, architecture and the Palestinian people, Bassima Mustafa presents "Whispers of Palestine." Inspiration for this exhibit came from her travels in Palestine with her mother during the summer of 2004.
This exhibit is dedicated to the memory of her mother, Amnah Mustafa.
"UNconditional"
Exhibited from 8 July to 26 July 2011
In this work, Nadira Araj researched the UN Security Council (SC) resolutions concerning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In her artist statement she explains that she found that the UN resolution numbers come in chronological order. She used playing cards to form the set of each single resolution. On the back of each set are pasted excerpts from the original resolution, the UN attempts for solving this conflict. Between these sets of cards you will find the Joker cards placed randomly to represent the use of the Veto that nullifies some critical issues in the conflict. As you get to the end of the installation the unused cards are put in a random pile to represent the resolutions to be taken in the future, and on the back of each card you will find the most common words used in the UN Security Council.
The length of this installation represents the length of time SC resolutions have not been implemented. The artist states, "From my perspective, I feel as if the members of the UN are 'playing cards with our lives, shuffling us around like a deck of cards.'"
"Olive Leaf Jewelry"
To Palestinians the olive tree is a symbol of freedom and an expression of defiance. It can grow anywhere and survive through very cold winters and very hot and dry summers.
Nadira Araj has created a collection interpreting the olive leaf in jewelry, a wearable symbol of the peace and sovereignty Palestinians strive for.
"Breaching the Wall"
Exhibited from 20 May to 24 June 2011
For millennia, artists have used their talents to express thoughts and emotions deeply personal, as well as reflecting their reactions to the world around them. In light of this, The Jerusalem Fund Gallery invited artists from around the U.S. and Canada, including Rajie Cook, Mona El-Bayoumi, Najat El-Khairy, Elena Farsakh, Adib Fattal, John Halaka, Michael Keating, Ellen O’Grady, Ammar Qusaibaty, Mary Tuma and Helen Zughaib to create a work of art reflecting their perceptions of the separation wall in Palestine. Interpreted in painting, sculpture, video, photography, porcelain and other media, each artist’s work speaks in a unique voice to this issue.
About her piece, porcelain artist Najat El-Khairy states, “The depiction of the Palestinian soul, returning to engrave its identity on the wall, attests that the wall itself was built on Palestinian land. No matter how high, no matter how imposing, this wall will be unable, indeed incapable, to prevent Palestine’s growth. Her flowers rise onto the wall, empowering it with cross-stitched Palestinian designs that graced her beautiful, traditional village dresses for centuries.”
Helen Zughaib creates a wall of beauty, composed of 20 individual 6”x6” canvases, both abstracting and memorializing those most vital signifiers of Palestinian villages now isolated or lost, their unique embroidery patterns.
Mona El-Bayoumi’s painting embodies her thoughts, “For years we have seen how the wall has been used as a canvas for the Palestinian Artist. Art has always superseded history and given us a glimpse of what can be. Daring to dream is the first step to achieving. And like many artists around the world, I dare to dream a more just world, a more just America, a more just Arab world, and a free Palestine with walls of art on the walls that don't separate and humiliate.”
San Diego artist John Halaka says of his painting Apartheid Mind / Divided Heart, “I view this diptych as a double portrait of the hearts and minds of the occupied and their occupiers…To breach the apartheid wall, we must heal the divided hearts of the people with forgiveness.”
"Dreaming of Palestine"
Exhibited from 15 April to 6 May 2011
"Glimpse: 500 children, 500 cameras, 500 moments"
Exhibited from 11 March to 8 April 2011
Photojournalist Ramzi Haidar launched the project Glimpse to bring together photographers, journalists and artists with children ages 5-12 in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The children worked with these volunteers for one year to learn the basics of photography. The images they produced with their cameras are entirely their own, giving them a power to reveal a reality rarely seen. Large scale photos and books about the project are on display at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery.
These photographs and books are available for purchase.
"Woven With Her Brush"
Exhibited from 21 January to 4 March 2011
Tunisian artist Zohra Ben Hamida is Arab and Berber by ancestry. In her paintings she references “the textures and colors that are memories of the domes of mosques that called attention to themselves five times a day, the blazing sun straddling the cool shades over the desert in Saudi Arabia, a country that shaped a good part of [her] young life.” She also paints “memories of the bright garments adorned with gold and silver fibulae [her] Berber grandmother always wore with such pride, the purity of [her] Arab grand-father, a man who could not see with his eyes, so instead saw farther and deeper with his heart, a man who, unbeknown to him, emitted a bright and subtle light each time he knelt in prayer.”
"Art of the Moghuls" Kashmir Shawls
Exhibited from 13 December to 14 January 2011
The Kashmir shawl has been characterized by the boteh (or buta, meaning flower), the principal motif with which the shawl is associated. This repetitive curvilinear shape has been known by many names since its first appearance on shawls in the eighteenth century - most famously called paisley. The development of the Kashmir shawl is closely related to the development of the boteh motif; the motif’s different forms express different periods in the shawl’s development. It began in the Moghul period as the flowering plant and by the middle of the nineteenth century it had developed into an extremely stylized form of sweeping sinuous curves far removed from any resemblance of nature’s flora.
Shawls have been woven in Kashmir since about the eleventh century, but the industry producing what we refer to as a Kashmir shawl is thought to have begun during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. During the fifteenth century Persian replaced Sanskrit as the official language and the world ‘shawl’ derives from the Persian shal, denoting a class of woven fabric rather than an article of dress. During its history Kashmir experienced Moghul, Afghan and Sikh invasions, all of which left their stylistic influence on the shawl.
From about 1775 Kashmir shawls were acquired by travelers, explorers, military personnel and members of the East India Company who, appreciating their beauty and warmth, brought them back as presents. A Kashmir shawl in 1797 would cost 50 guineas (£50/ $100), a huge sum. Following Napoleon’s 1798-99 campaign in Egypt. French officers returned laden with shawls as gifts. Empress Josephine owned several hundred shawls, some of which had cost as much as 12,000 francs, an exorbitant price at the time.
The Jerusalem Fund Gallery thanks Swan Ways for the magnificent examples of Kashmir shawls in this exhibition.
2009-2010
Exhibited from 22 October to 3 December 2010
The Jerusalem Fund Gallery features 25 rare silver prints, taken in the 1920’s and 30’s, of historically significant images of Palestine, such as that of uniformed Palestine Police mounted on camels, and the above image of the Graf Zeppelin dirigible over Jerusalem.
Photographer Elia Kahvedjian was born in 1910 in Ourfa, Turkey and passed away April 1999. In 1915, Elia’s family of both parents, five brothers, three sisters, uncles and aunts were massacred along with 1.5 million other Armenians. After being homeless, sold as a slave, and even chased by cannibals, Elia was rescued by the American Near East Relief Foundation (A.N.E.R.F) and taken first to Lebanon and then to Nazareth. Since his childhood, Elia had dreamed of becoming a photographer. Krik`orian and Toumaian, photographers in Jerusalem, made his dream a reality. When Elia came to Jerusalem, he was fascinated by Jerusalem’s historical places, landscapes and characters and began taking pictures in 1924.
"Memories Revisited"
Exhibited from 17 September to 3 October 2010
Memories Revisited, Ahmad Alkarkhi’s new exhibition at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery, showcases his intensely worked abstract expressionist paintings. Hot colors, dense brushstrokes and a pentimento of architectural and calligraphic references reflect his vivid memories of the Iraq he was forced to flee. These new paintings invoke strong feelings of beauty and loss, while providing a passage to the new reality of his life as a painter in the United States.
Highly successful in his native Iraq, Alkarkhi and his family were forced to flee to Syria. His successful exhibitions at the Free Hand Gallery in Damascus sustained him until he was able to acquire refugee status in the U.S. in 2009.
"The Light Thread. The Dark Thread."
Exhibited from 16 July to 10 September 2010
Time spent with the Bedouins of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, suggested the theme of artist Anna Kipervaser's July exhibit at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery. " the light thread . the dark thread" refers to the Quran’s instruction about Ramadan, "You may eat and drink until the white thread of light becomes distinguishable from the dark thread of night at dawn."
Cutting and painting her wood panels to form the shapes of her paintings, the artist interprets "the place where inbetweeness is everything, where opposites are indistinguishable, where they are one."
*Anna is also working with an international team to document the muezzins of Cairo through a multi-media project entitled Voices and Faces of the Adhan: Cairo, a documentary film, audio archive, multi-media library and art installation project about the Muslim call to prayer in Cairo.
"Born Among Mirrors"
Exhibited from 14 May to 25 June 2010
This exhibition showcases photographs of Lebanon taken 50 years apart. His father Elias Hakim's B&W photos document the young Hakim family's emigration from Lebanon to the US in 1956. Najib’s color photos explore the country upon his return in 2006 after the latest war with Israel. In his words “These photographs are not just images of a homecoming, but a heartfelt exploration of a people and a place, determined to exist.”
Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies released an article on Najib Joe Hakim and his exhibition at The Jerusalem Fund Gallery here.
See a short interview between Curator Dagmar Painter and Najib Joe Hakim below.
"What Ham Saw: Drawings from Palestine"
Exhibited from 9 April to 7 May 2010
"The stories of What Ham Saw go beyond simple sound bytes to explore the root causes of the conflict. Far from taking sides, the book will offer real stories that convey the belief that a pro-peace voice is both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli, because it advocates for lasting security and justice for both peoples."- EOG
"Hueman"
Exhibited from 5 March to 2 April 2010
Adnan Charara, born in Lebanon, attended boarding school there, then lived in Sierra Leone during the 1974 civil war in Lebanon. From his studio at the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit he has produced his unique oeuvre of paintings, drawings, cast sculpture, and found object works.
The Arab American National Museum exhibited his art in their first living-artist one-man show. His work is found in public and private collections including that of the Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington D.C.
Adnan Charara’s sense of humor, his experiences as an immigrant, and his keen perceptions of the world around him inform the work in the exhibition. The found object assemblages and digital prints are both toy-like and ironic. Like a Ballerina (My Mother) gives a gentle grace to the maternal figure made with a rotary beater, cooking and taking care of her family while poised like a dancer en pointe. Likewise, Yes, We Can offers wordplay on the Obama slogan with an oil can and the wings of a butterfly. Revenge of the Nails addresses the rising up of the oppressed.
In his envelope series, Charara examines one’s sense of place. An immigrant, once known to all in the community by his father and his father’s father, is reduced to a cipher, stamps, an address, an entirely new identity into which the old one must be drawn.
The Osmosis series of collages shows a person’s head, painted in Charara’s signature cartoon imagery, being absorbed into many different backgrounds.
The artist’s paintings (Fragile, Return to Sender is also interpreted as a sculpture at the Arab American Museum), depict humanity in all its colorful, chaotic variations, showing us all as Hueman.
Jazz Singer Lena Seikaly performing at the opening of "Hueman"
Enjoy video of Lena Seikaly performing "Love You Madly" from the opening of Adnan Charara's "Hueman" exhibition at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery on March 5, 2010.
Palestinians, meanwhile...
Photographic Images by Elena Farsakh
22 January 2010 - 26 February 2010
Click HERE for photos of the exhibit
To view a video interview with the artist, click below.
On exhibit till February 26, 2010
Jerusalem Fund Gallery
2425 Virginia Ave. NW
DC 20037 Metro: Foggy Bottom
(202) 338-1958
Hours: M-F, 9-5 or by appointment
Mental Mediations
Paintings by Ammar Qusaibaty
20 November 2009 - 8 January 2010
View Exhibit
To view a video interview of the artist from the gallery opening click below.
2008
The
Jerusalem Fund Gallery and the Center for
Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown
University present
"Photos
to Develop"
an exhibition of photographs
organized by Natasha
Hamarneh-Hall
Photos to Develop has worked all over the Kingdom of Jordan engaging children from Bedouin communities in a project that allows them to express themselves in a way that they never could before. Thus far, the project has been completed in Bedouin communities outside Amman, in the ancient city of Petra, and in Wadi Rum. By providing children with cameras and enabling them with the skills to use them, they have a voice in how their story is told. They have given us a glimpse into their world and their honesty is evident in every photograph.
Natasha
Hamarneh Hall is a former Fulbright
scholar who conducted fieldwork in Jordan on
educational development in Bedouin communities
which concluded with a
report for governmental organizations involved
in Badia development and
the Jordanian Ministry of Education. She
has worked with various NGOs,
nonprofits, and think tanks on Middle East
issues in the US and abroad
and she is currently a policy analyst
specializing in Middle East
development and foreign policy.
"Harmony"
an exhibition of paintings by Samar Ghattas
View Exhibit
"Simply Children"
Direct from Palestine, Bethlehem artist Samar Ghattas' paintings reflect on the nature of human relationships and the complex meanings of love. The paintings in Harmony use the emotional moments that take place between a couple, such as love, conflict, and jealousy, to represent all relationships on the face of the earth.
Samar Ghattas lives and works
in Bethlehem, where she teaches fine art at
Bethlehem University. Her paintings
combine dreams of escape with the horrors of
war. Trained at The Academy of Fine Arts
in Kiev, Ghattas has exhibited in Palestine,
England, Austria, Germany, Italy, and the
US.
The exhibit
will be on display at the Jerusalem Fund
Gallery from 26 September - 14 November
2008.
The Jerusalem Fund Gallery and The Bead Museum present
"Silver Adornment from Bilad al-Sham"
View Exhibit
Until the 1950s and 1960s hand-crafted silver jewelry and beautifully embroidered costumes were widely worn in Bilad al-Sham, an area that included Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Syria. Now, for the first time, splendid examples of these pieces can be seen at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery. Ellen Benson and Lynn Springer of the Bead Museum organized the exhibit; the items are largely drawn from the David and Marjorie Ransom collection.
A complimentary exhibit drawn from the same
collection, Silver Speaks, closed March 2008
after successful showings at the Arab American
National Museum in Dearborn, the Gibson Gallery
at the State University of New York at Potsdam,
the Jefferson County Historical Society in
Watertown, New York and the Bead Museum in
Washington, DC. Also, the Mingei International
Museum in San Diego displayed seventy-seven
pieces from this collection from April 2006 to
September 2007.
The exhibit
will be on display at the Jerusalem Fund
Gallery from 16 May - 12 September 2008.
"Wall Stories"
New works by Mary Tuma
28 March - 9 May 2008
Wall Stories addresses the concept of borders, barriers and access within a given space. Ironic and humiliating, right of entry exists only as the gift of the oppressor. How does one learn to adjust to the surreality of a massive gray monster that snakes up on every horizon?
Born in California in 1961, Mary Tuma began sewing and crocheting with her mother at an early age. Her love of these processes led her to begin her formal study of art as an apprentice at Beautiful Arts Hall in Kerdassa, Egypt. Later, she earned a BA in Costume and Textile Design from UCDavis and an MFA from the University of Arizona, as well as studying at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Mary's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States and Palestine and has been published in numerous journals, magazines and newspapers. She currently serves as an Associate Professor and the head of the Fibers Program at the University of North Carolina.
The exhibit will be on display at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery from 28 Mar - 09 May 2008.
"Cut Down by the Sky"
Paintings by Zahi Khamis
Born in the Palestinian village of Reineh
outside of Nazareth in 1959,
Zahi
Khamis emigrated to Europe and then to
the United States in his
early twenties. After earning his degree in
Mathematics, and studying
literature extensively, Zahi eventually turned
towards painting as his
primary form of expression. Appearing in
numerous solo shows, group
exhibits, books, and other publications, Zahi's
work is part of a
long tradition of committed art, expressing the
painful, yet luminous,
contradictions of all those who struggle for
liberation.
The exhibit will
be on display at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery
from 28 Mar - 09 May 2008.
2007
"Bethlehem Under Seige: The Decline of Christianity at its Birthplace"
30 November 2007 - 11 January 2008
Photographs by Kike Arnal
In recent decades, the Christian community of Bethlehem has decreased dramatically from around eighty percent of the total population, to less than ten percent today. Since the construction of the Separation Wall, which divides Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and the twenty or so surrounding Israeli settlements, the situation of Bethlehem's Christians has deteriorated such that many of the few remaining Christians, especially the young and educated, consider leaving their country as the only choice for their future. The images presented here tell the stories of individual Christians of Bethlehem and their failing efforts to continue to live in the land of their faith.
KIKE ARNAL is a still photographer and videographer. Originally from Venezuela, Kike has covered stories in the Americas, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. His photographs have been featured in The New York Times, Life, and Mother Jones, among other leading publications. He has directed and produced video documentaries, including Yanomami Malaria, a film for Discovery Channel about a malaria epidemic among scattered populations of indigenous people in a remote area of the northern Amazon. More recently, Kike has been documenting the impact of cluster bombs on the civilian population of south Lebanon.
FUSION
21 September - 2 November 2007
A collection of new paintings by Syrian-American artist
Kinda Hibrawi
This collection
celebrates the romance of the Arabic language.
Words have an energy force that influences our
daily life. Their impact can reshape history
negatively or positively. A hateful word has an
ugly vibration, imprinting a permanently
painful scar. A pleasing word has the reverse
effect. Its inspiring spirit can resonate
within us for years. The fourteen paintings in
this collection celebrate the beauty of the
positive verse. Through the use of color,
movement and text it illustrates a powerful
representation of each word, visually
expressing the great heritage and artistic
traditions of this script.
Of Syrian
descent, Kinda Hibrawi
grew up between Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon,
and the United States. Her formative years in
the Middle East gave her the opportunity to
study the power of the Arabic language in all
of its art forms. Through her studies she began
to expand on the ancient tradition of Arabic
calligraphy by giving it a modern twist. Her
artwork reflects the richness of the Middle
East coupled with Western diversity. She
intertwines East and West and exposes audiences
to this historic art form.
Handala and the Cartoons of Naji Al-Ali
18 May - 31 August 2007
This exhibit is being held in commemoration
of the 20th anniversary of Naji al-Ali's
assassination. The cartoons have been
generously provided by his son, Khalid al-Ali.
The late Palestinian cartoonist, Naji al-Ali,
produced over 40,000 cartoons satirizing the
powers that be in the Middle East.
Emerging from humble beginnings in the refugee
camps, for over 30 years he was an
uncompromising critic of a regressive Arab
political culture and of Western intervention
in Arab affairs. As one of the most
popular artists in the Arab world, he was loved
for his defense of ordinary people and for his
criticism of despotism and repression.
His unrelenting cartoons exposed the brutality
of the Israeli army and earned him many
powerful enemies. He developed a
stark, symbolic style in his work and is
perhaps best known as creator of the character
Handala, who has since become an icon of
Palestinian struggle and steadfastness.
Al-Ali was killed on July 22, 1987 by an
unknown assassin as he left the London offices
of Al Qabbas newspaper.
Dr. Fayeq Oweis is an Arab
American artist and professor of Arabic
Language and Culture at Santa Clara University
in Santa Clara, California. He has a
Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies with a focus
on Arabic and Islamic arts and has published
extensively and gave numerous presentations on
Arabic Language and Culture, Islamic Arts and
Arabic Calligraphy, and Arab American
Artists. His presentation,
delivered in conjunction with the exhibit, will
explore the relevance, characters and symbols
of Naji al-Ali's work.
Iraqi Portraits
19 January - 2 March, 2007
Athir Shayota
Shayota's portaits of Iraqis living in America are painted without narrative intention. Instead, psychological spaces, placement of figures, and paint application tell the story. The collection begins in the early eighties when Shayota started painting the daily life of the Detroit Chaldean community to which he immigrated in 1980. With the first and second Gulf War, Shayota's work takes on a different mood. Although portrayed with compassion, those depicted reflect the intensifying violent world in which they live. While Shayota creates referential paintings that utilize Western Modernist modes of aesthetic representation, like other contemporary Iraqi artists, his work contains direct references to the historical heritage of Iraq. With the continuation of the artistic heritage of his people, Shayota preserves, reiterates and intensifies the long and rich history of Iraqi visual culture and projects an unwavering sense of resilience.
Athir Shayota's paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums, universities and galleries throughout the United States. Shayota was born in 1968 in northern Iraq. He received his Masters of Fine Arts from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri in 1992 and now resides in New York City.
2006
Jerusalem: Between Visions and Realities
National Juried Exhibition
10 November - 22 December 2006
Rajie Cook | Marianne Smith Dalton | Roger Gaess | Niv Hachlili
Maurice Jacobsen | Michael Keating | Zahi Khamis | Suzanne Klotz
Amelie Porter | Rik Sargent | Layla el-Shair | Sima Zureikat
Every Curve, Every Dot:
The Modern Arabic Calligraphic Designs of Nihad Dukhan
8 September - 27 October 2006
Outside the Ark: An Artist's Journey in Occupied Palestine
paintings by Ellen O'Grady
21 July-25 August 2006
Souvenirs: Memories of Tunis
30 June - 14 July 2006
Dagmar Painter
Independent curator
For this exhibition, Dagmar Painter, former curator of the Jerusalem Fund Gallery, has transformed her recent photographs of Tunis, Tunisia into memories, les souvenirs, and has added layers of reminiscence with the objects, souvenirs of her life there, that have attached themselves to the images as real reminders of the recollections the photographs evoke.
Tarab ~ The Colors of Music
12 May-26 June 2006
Khalil Bendib - Nabila Hilmi - Fayeq Oweis - Helen Zughaib - Afaf Zurayk
Tarab is one of the most important terms in the musical aesthetics of Arab culture. While difficult to translate precisely, tarab refers to a state of heightened emotionality in response to music, often translated as rapture, ecstasy or enchantment, as well as joy or sadness. Using line, color, motion and space, the five artists in this exhibit explore the intersections of music and emotion with the visual image. From the whimsical, color-saturated patterns of Zughaib's precise compositions, to Oweis' calligraphic variations on a theme, to Bendib's nostalgic ceramic tile paintings of Moroccan and Algerian scenes, to the blocks of color and fluid lines of Zurayk's reflective works, to the assertive and rhythmic lines of Hilmi's drawings, the pieces in this show capture the transcendence of music and the mystery of its effects on the human soul.
"Alam Al-Mithal: The World of the Image"
a photography exhibit by Jan Kassay
17 March-25 April 2006
"The Forgotten People: The Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon"
a photography exhibit by Rania Matar
27 January-3 March 2006
2005
The Spirit of Palestine
National
Juried Exhibition
11 November - 31 December 2005
"Capacity to Forgive" Jessica
Sporn
The Subject of Palestine
Curated by Samia Halaby
9 September - 28 October 2005
"The Refugee Camp. 2000" Tayseer Barakat
photographs and text by Palestinian artist Emily Jacir
15 April 2005 - 25 May 2005
Emily Jacir asked fellow Palestinians from around the world, "If I could do anything for you, anywhere in Palestine, what would it be?" Using her American passport to facilitate a freedom of movement unavailable to most Palestinians, Jacir documented her attempts to fulfill these requests. Her journey through loss, daily struggles, and sorrow tells the story of a people confined and prevented from attending to the most basic human needs. Jacir's critically acclaimed project was described by New York Times critic Holland Cotter as "one of the most moving gallery exhibitions I've encountered this season." Kim Levin of the Village Voice said, "Her efforts reverberate with the complexities of fear, longing and travel restrictions. Read every affecting word."
New Beginnings
new
works by Iraqi Artist Leila Kubba
18 February 2005 - 8 April 8 2005
The
Jerusalem Fund Gallery and the Iraqi Cultural
Society invite you to view the exhibit of new
paintings by Iraqi artist, Leila Kubba,
entitled "New Beginnings." Kubba was born
and educated in Iraq. She studied at the
Manchester College of Art and Architecture and
the Corcoran College of Art + Design. She
has exhibited widely in the United States and
across the world. Her works are in public
and private collections, including the Abu
Dhabi Cultural Center, the National Gallery of
Jordan and the British Museum. Her latest
series, inspired by a recent visit to Iraq,
reflects on the uncertainty that lies ahead and
the women who bear the fragments of Iraq's
past, present and future. Read press
coverage of this Jerusalem Fund exhibit:
Interview on NPR's All Things Considered and
New York Times article (22 March 2005). For
more about Leila Kubba, see:
http://www.mideasti.org/articles/doc291.html
http://www.leilakubba.com
http://www.calresco.org/kawash/intro.htm
http://www.strokes-of-genius.com/
http://www.ayagallery.co.uk
Palestine: The
Exodus and the Odyssey
Reproductions of
murals by Ismail and Tamam Shammout
2004
Trees of Hope: Celebrating the Olive Harvest
13 November 2004 - 23 December 2004
"Trees of Hope: Celebrating the Olive Harvest" was a festive celebration of the role that the olive harvest plays in the traditional society and economy of Palestinians. At the exhibit's opening, Palestinian master carver Nimir Rishmawi demonstrated for the first time in the U.S. the artistry of olive wood carving as it is done in Bethlehem. Guests experienced the significance of the harvest through a documentary film and photo exhibit, and enjoyed free tastings of authentic Palestinian olive oil and olives. Traditional Middle Eastern desserts were served, and traditional Palestinian crafts, olive oil, olive soap, olive wood carvings, and various Middle Eastern cook books and music CDs were available for purchase throughout the evening. The event was co-sponsored with Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.
To view the handout from the exhibit, click here (pdf).
Do you want to set up an olive harvest exhibit at your school or community center? Check out our comprehensive Resource Guide (pdf) with all the tools and information you need for a successful event!
1 October 2004 - 10 November 2004
The Gallery exhibited the paintings of Egyptian artist Mona El-Bayoumi from October 1 - November 10, 2004. The exhibit showcased 43 new pieces reflecting on the consequences of war in the Arab World. Using iconographic imagery, saturated colors, and whimsical subtlety, Bayoumi provided a provocative and unsettling commentary on the human side of the current conflicts, most notably the war in Iraq and the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.
Calligraphy: Objects and Writings, Traditional and Contemporary
21 May 21 2004 - 30 June 2004
Art expert Dagmar Painter curated an exhibition of traditional and contemporary objects and writings.
Teaching Resource! The Jerusalem Fund Gallery has transformed the Calligraphy exhibit into a teaching resource, entitled, "Mightier than the Sword: Calligraphy of the Sixteenth Century Imperial Courts ." Explore this exciting web-based curriculum unit designed to provide a creative and interactive approach to studying many of the major empires that dominated the world stage in the 15th and 16th centuries. Using Islamic calligraphy and culture as an entry point, students learn about seven empires: the Songhay, Saadian, Mughal, Safavid, Ottoman, Ming, Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Hapsburg, from historical, literary and artistic vantage points. The unit is designed for students of World History, Literature, Arts and Mathematics. It addresses national standards for 9th and 10th grade subject areas. To access this curriculum, click here.
Stories My Father Told Me
An Exhibition of New Paintings by Helen Zughaib
02 April-30 April 2004
"Rising before dawn, they lined the edges of the ship, as they sailed into New York Harbor for the very first time." From "Coming to America," a painting with narrative by Helen Zughaib.
Of Exile and Return
Paintings by Zahi Khamis
18 February-March 30, 2004
On view at the Jerusalem Center Gallery through March, the paintings of Galilee born artist Zahi Khamis capture a deep sense of loss, anxiety and yearning for Palestine. His style has been described as follows: "Combining legend with memory, anger with beauty, and abstraction with poetry, Zahi's work offers a colorful map of the collective spirit of resistance." More information about the artist and his images can be found at www.zahiart.com . For a review of this show, click here .
Tunisia: Light of Our Sight
Photographs by Michael J Keating
15 January-17 February
2002
Traditional Embroidery, Dress, and Jewelry
Selections from the collection of Saleem Fahmawi
The rich cultural heritage of Palestine is apparent in the traditional dress, jewelry, and embroidery of the Palestinian people. For more than 25 years, Mr. Saleem Fahmawi, chief of the Palestine and Decolonization Section of the United Nations, has worked to assemble a rare and beautiful collection of textiles and artifacts from Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Gaza, Jericho, and other areas representing the diversity of his native land.
The exhibit was on display until 30 August 2002.