THE DESERT GENERATION
40 Years of Occupation, 1967-2007
Israeli and Palestinian Artists against the Occupation and for a Just Peace

On Tuesday, June 5, 2007, the 40th anniversary of the 1967 War, Israeli and Palestinian artists who oppose the occupation and continue to call for its immediate and peaceful end will open a joint exhibition at the Artists House, Jerusalem.

Two weeks after the opening in Jerusalem, the exhibition will move to Ha'Kibbutz Art Gallery, Tel Aviv.
Artists who identify with this call are invited to participate in the joint exhibition and to send an image by e-mail, to the following address: desert.generation@gmail.com
The image should be in jpg format, 300dpi resolution, for color-printing in size A4. Please save the file under artist's name in English, surname before first name, and also put this information in the subject field of your e-mail: artist's name in English, surname before first name.
All relevant information for display, such as name of artist and name of work,
should be included in the image, as the images will be printed and exhibited as received, without labels or frames.
Deadline for submission of images: May 15, 2007.
The exhibition is an artists' initiative, with no affiliation to political movements.

This is an open invitation to participate in the exhibition, chain letter style To assure our call for the end of the occupation is heard loud and far, please forward this letter to as many colleagues as possible, across the country and the globe.

Best regards
Hedva Shemesh

Dear friend,

We're coming up to year's end and the holiday season is upon us.  But while many of us celebrate, the prospects for 2007 are not bright.  In Darfur the bloodshed goes on unabated; in the Gaza Strip a shaky cease-fire is in force, but the killing hasn't stopped; in Lebanon civil conflict threatens at any moment to slide into open violence.

In this bleak outlook, it is up to us as artists to look beyond our immediate concerns and take a broader view of our tormented world. As the cannons continue to roar, the Muses must not remain silent ! Our creativity must protest at death and destruction !

Therefore please join our initiative for a permanent exhibition -  international and online - of artists against the war. Visit our website at Let-The-Muses-Speak-IAA.org and see that dozens of artists have responded to our appeal by sending in work for display. We hope you too will be inspired to take part in the project.

Join us today !

Best wishes for the festive season !

"Let-The-Muses-Speak-IAA.org"

Hedva Shemesh
IAA.org

Congratulations on a great, worthwhile and necessary website. I hope you will display my paintings which represent the political turmoil in my country, Zimbabwe. Lets hope as artists we CAN make a difference! Many thanks,

Artist: Kt Arnold
katiemandara@yahoo.co.uk
UK/Zimbabwe

Felix Varela said: ³All good people fear political parties,² and these works
explore why.  They also try to make sense of how the senseless and brutal
losses in wars and oppressive systems around the world are set into motion
by individual leaders.

Our political system is colonized by the least spiritually realized among
us, those that desperately need a sense of personal power to feel as if
their lives have meaning.  Unfortunately, the truly moral people in our
society have no such needs ­ and the public forum is left to become a
Machiavellian scrum among political parties that are morally bereft,
populated by a selection of over-engorged egos that put their own need for
self-worth above the public good.

Machiavelli proposed in his book, The Prince, that the ³ends justify the
means;² this series of paintings explores that premise, examining the
specific ³energies² that rule our public square, regardless of the
particular name of the politician or their party affiliation. The works
explore specific aspects of the lust for power.

Sincerely, Tom Block USA

MIEMBRO  de ARTAC  Mexican Committee of the IAA.

Deseo mandar mi mensaje de paz, haciendo presente este sentimiento de
dolor en contra de la guerra.

I wish send this messege of pease, showing this feeling against  the war.

Guerrero Elma

Estimados artistas asociados a ARTAC:

Estoy reenviando a ustedes una página web que puede ser de su interés para
que envíen obras con el tema de la paz o contra la guerra. Si tienen
alguna
obra de esos temas no dejen de enviarla con el dato de que son MIEMBROS
de
ARTAC  Mexican Committee of the IAA.

Con mi cordial saludo.

Sonia Calderón

Secretaria Ejecutiva de ARTAC

Elma Guerrero
Mexico

Survivors

When sixty years ago the gates of the last concentration and extermination camps were opened, among the Survivors there were traumatized children. Their needs and questions were silenced by material goods and short sighted success programs. Warnings and testimonies from Survivors of the past fascist terror were scarcely to be heard worldwide, not wanted to be heard for too many years.

Today, new states stand upon the ruins of old guilt. Politicians hasten to assure us that things are different now. But the projection of new and old images of the enemy holds sway. And even now, sixty years after the victory over fascism, too little is done to accept guilt, to make good and to beware of neo-fascist ideologies.

With my work SURVIVORS ON LIFE I bow my head to the misery and carry its breathing to you. I give this work in the hope that you will be touched and find strength to ward off and reject every new sprout of fascism. Instead of working on revenge and planning to scratch new scars onto the face of humanity, it is, in a globally connected way for today and tomorrow worthwhile to heal the injuries that still hurt and to build a peaceful future.

The interrelated oil paintings and graphics grew out of my heart as a painter, they are directly coherent with my photographic- and biographical research of the Survivors and their respective counterparts who are fifty year younger.

They will all be presented in the following four hours. While the portraits displayed in pairs keep fading in and out, their statements are scrolled continuously. Simultaneously one can hear – in an endless string – the authentic, unforgettable stories of survival, of strength and of love.

Eva Choung-Fux
Campos, Apt. 66, E-07630 Mallorca

I queried, I asked
God where art thou
in this situation in the Middle East
where ever else people art at war?
Mused I on, does he not know
what is going on
up there in Heavens above?
Is it too far removed
from our mundane matters
is God so totally good
he/she sees not "at all"?
seeing only through all the illusions
to all the Beauty of us all?

The answer finally came
in a gentle silent fashion
like a bonding of light
through the air to mine soul
to my Mind
was I given to see
the little Jewish boy
from 2nd WW
now as a picture, now as a metaphore
with his hands up in the air
grey frock, small hat, big crowd
soldiers around
probably on his way to concentration camp
the Little Jewish boy
was fatherless and so they all

feel Fatherless.
Is what I understood,
all people in a war

investing millions of coins
in mechanical means
of "strength" to fight, to find
that longed for home

Outside

yet the Promised Land
is in a Mind who finds
that "Missing Link"
inside a Heart
to come Home again.

Dearest warring fighting Child.
You never LEFT what can`t be lost
Your Inner Paradize
behind your anger, grief and hides.

Go find it there.
Let Peace reside
when bombs of revenge and hurt
have all gone flat
you cannot die anyway
go find your peace where it resides
in Hearts behind our masks
of yesteryears.

Have fun, you forgot to laugh
don`t use mechanical means
to detonate your emotional bombs
scream instead
your message of hurt and finally of
LOVE.

Liv S.M. Evensen, Oslo, Norway

DEMOCRACY ART PRECARIA?

Da qualche tempo memore delle passate e roventi polemiche surrealiste degli anni trenta e togliattiane degli anni cinquanta mi chiedevo se si può dedurre dall'arte contemporanea attuale un dato, un sunto di natura ideologica, sia esso di destra o di sinistra. E rimuginavo fra me e me che è difficile stabilire oggi cos'è di destra e cosa di sinistra di fronte all'uso democratico dei mezzi ed alla loro estensione pratica ( si pensi al grande uso della fotografia e al mercato delle macchine fotografiche, ad esempio).
Allora la domanda che mi si poneva alla mente era: i mezzi giustificano sempre i risultati? Così passando l'estate. Ma nell'ultimo numero di Juliet Art Magazine un articolo riportava in apertura una citazione di Toni Negri che trovai illuminante, lì per lì, ma che mi pareva destrorsa nelle sue conclusioni implicite.
Vi si sosteneva che " Uno dei fenomeni più stucchevoli del nostro tempo è che tutti si credono artisti, tutti pensano di possedere uno sguardo che vede al di là della superficie del mondo che ci circonda. Ma non bisogna confondere una capacità reale, una continuità progettuale, un'attitudine a confrontarsi con la realtà, con i piccoli sogni che si fanno appena c'è un po' di sole." (Antonio Negri: Il Ritorno, 2003). Ringrazio seriamente l'estensore dell'articolo per avermi regalato questa perla!
Finalmente un po' di chiarezza nella totale confusione che permea il mondo dell'arte pieno di neòfiti che ritengono tutti di essere artisti e pensano che basti possedere un pennello, una digitale, o una telecamera per sentirsi tali. Ricordo che in Sussurri e Grida, il grande Bergman, descriveva una borghesia svedese emancipata dedita a far dipingere per passatempo le proprie donne, mogli o ragazze che fossero; così come Rudolf Steiner insegnava arte-terapia ai suoi nevrastenici nelle beauty farms di fine Ottocento.
Questo "confine", fra operatività creativa a fini personali e/o arte, in questi anni di racconto intimistico si è andato perdendo a favore di un sentire pubblico emozionale dove tutti si raccontano in foto, in blog o in video, senza più quella forza propulsiva iniziale di uso di uno strumento che sentivi obbligato a indagare il diverso: l'altro, che si trattasse di te o del tuo simile, e quindi strumento forzato ad un uso rivoluzionario. (interessante a questo proposito il dialogo fra Heidegger e Junger a proposito dello sviluppo delle percezioni psicologiche nei confronti della cosa in sé in " Oltre la Linea", Adelphi editore)
Oggi, l'uso facile di droghe, così come l'esempio di un Presidente Usa che mette fra le gambe un sigaro ad una ragazza con l'imitazione dello stesso gesto da parte di chiunque porta alla conseguente perdità di senso del fatto stesso. Non a caso le religioni hanno introdotto la ritualità del culto mantenendone il mistero. Arte come religione allora?
Sembrerebbe portare a questo anche il ragionamento di Toni Negri e quindi ad una visione di destra che come discrimine impedisce a tutti l'uso e l'espansione democratica dei mezzi di attuare e progettare l'arte e la creatività fantastica propria!
Qui mi ha sorretto una lettura recente di un articolo di Norberto Bobbio, un padre del liberalismo nostrano, dove sostiene sinteticamente: "Il liberalismo è un universo di "mura", ciascuna delle quali crea una nuova libertà. Qualche esempio: le mura che sono state innalzate tra Chiesa e Stato hanno consentito la libertà religiosa ...ancora: la separazione fra vita privata e pubblica crea la sfera della libertà personale" .
Così non è nel mondo arabo o nel mondo israeliano dove l'elemento religioso permea la vita pubblica e sociale, ad esempio.
La separatezza quindi , il muro della divisione ideale, crea l'attitudine critica al progetto e la sua differenza funzionale nel sociale.

Boris Brollo - ITALIA- AIAP-UNESCO

Dear Hedva,

I think both as an Israeli and family member of the kidnapped Israeli soldier, what you are doing is highly commendable and noble.

Too often we are trapped by religious and nationalistic identity and feel pressured through a warped sense of solidarity to follow the status quo and remain silent to the misdeeds of our own people.

I am also Jewish and have found this time to be quite confronting as I have always taken great pride in my heritage and the struggles of the Jewish people.

I understand the position of a government intent on protecting its citizens from death and destruction. BUT, a line must be drawn and limits made.

Let the government of Israel and members of the Hezbollah fight their battle. But citizens of both countries should not be made to shed blood in the name of a war they have not chosen.

I am Jewish and I do not choose this war.

I am Jewish and I choose to speak rather than to remain silent.

I am Jewish and I remember a time when others were silent while millions of my people were killed.

It is for this very reason that my silence now would be an unbearable act of hypocrisy.

TO THE SPILLING OF INNOCENT LEBANESE AND ISRAELI BLOOD I SAY NO

Peace in the Middle East.

Shalom, Jessica

There should be a lot more of his going on in the world. Great to see other artists making a stand against violence.

Peter Forward
7 Raglan St, Vic Australia 3225

Dear Hedva

We want to thank you for your strong initiative calling for the
artistic community  world-wide to react to the war and destruction in
the Middle East. We are spreading your message.

For years, for a lifetime, we have been fed daily with news from the
never-ending conflicts in the region, but the latest war in Lebanon
with all its destruction and toll of human lives, has had the impact
of sensitizing us anew. A phrase that was uttered long ago about the
political situation in the Middle East has come to my mind: "It is as
if a dark cloud had settled permanently over this part of the world".
So it seems still today,  and the dark cloud may be even  thicker
now. There is indeed a crisis of vision!

When governments, politicians and legislators fail, what can we,
artists and workers in the cultural field do?  We can increase the
ability to see. We can imagine a peaceful future for all. We can give
examples  –  as yours now  –   of international solidarity!  And
plant, in our creative work, the magnetic seeds of the future, a
future based on sharing, equality, freedom and social responsibilty.

Anders Lidén
On behalf of the Swedish Committee of IAA

Dear Hedva Shemesh

Lets motivate courage to speak up many folded in our soft voices to the stony hearts of those who kindle again and again the inhuman, primitive ways to deal with problems and conflicts.

Thank you for accepting my small voice to join in. I am sure; your beautiful project Let-The-Muses-Speak, it soon will swell to be a mighty chorus sung for a peaceful future in mutual coexistence.

With respectful love and best whishes to all of you, who are brave and cross the politically manifested borders.

Awareness of reality, blended with the unbendable will to defend human dignity will in the long run – not be in vain.

Yours truly, Eva
Mallorca

Dear All,

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

With love and hope
Hanna Haska, Poland

Dear Hedva,
It could be imagined what the people around there would be feeling. The instigators of war do not bother about those who are in the battlefield but would just give orders to die or to kill. The losers are of course human beings. Where there is war there is no gain. If leaders of the world could join hands for peace...

Regards and best of
Dhyaneswar Dausoa
Mauritius

Dropping and blew out the windows of my official residence in Ramat Gan. I have so much understanding for your problems. In January 2001, after 42 years in the SA Foreign Service, I retired. Now I spend my days in the company of artists and their associates. I can only weep and pray for you, for Lebanon and the Middle East, and wish that more politicians and quasi politicians may tend to learn from artists what respect for humanity entails. Be strong! Kind regards. Anton Loubser, National President, South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA), Pretoria.

Dear Bassam, I think of you and those dear to you every day, as I watch TV and follow the media.   How are you?   Do send a word.   I pray for your safety.   Kind regards.

Anton L.

Thank you for a beautiful text.
It is all so sad, the Palestinians fighting each other as well as Israel, and in Lebanon so many had gained some hope and started to reconstruct their life and future.
I have been thinking about you hoping that all was as well as circumstances can allow. We all hope for and need better tidings than those we have received the last weeks.

Grete Marstein
Norway

Dear Hedva,
I was left speechless reading all that pain and agony in your letter and I cried for you, for the babies, for the injured and dead, for all the people regardless of nations that suffer. What I have already proposed is to put your letter in our newspaper and site. Our members should read it. I can not keep it to myself. Your voice must be heard.
My hart is with you.
Do come to Athens.

Love you, Lily

Dear Christine
Will our voices be heard?  I don't know, and I won't know till we try. 

But the real question is: even if we're not sure we can have any influence - can we remain silent?

There are already some voices of protest, not enough, but they are increasing.  Marches, vigils, rallies.
As artists, we don't do so well in demonstrations, but we can speak through our art.  And if we work together, it might offer an example for others to follow, to end the violence through a joint effort. 

Maybe it sounds naive but do we have any other way?
Let's try to do what we know the best, ART!
Here is my proposition of a symbolic way to protest

Love, Hedva

ARTISTS AGAINST WAR

In these times of bloodshed and ferocious conflict, we artists must set a different tone by speaking out against the horror.  We appeal to creative artists worldwide to call for an end to war, an end to the killing of the innocent.  This is a call for solidarity between Lebanese, Israeli and Palestinian artists, under fire and in mortal danger.

This is an invitation to an ONLINE EXHIBITION on  the motif:

Let the Muses speak, to drown out the sounds of war !

The exhibit will include video, animation,  photography, sculpture and painting.  The images should be of a size suitable for Internet publication. 
Please send exhibition material to:
hedart@gmail.com
The exhibition will be located at the website: www.let-the-muses-speak-iaa.org 

 I appeal to friends and colleagues to distribute this invitation widely across the art world.

Dear Hedva:
I wish the Muses speak to drown  out the sounds of war !

I definitely join my voice to yours, but do you think our voices are heard. Unfortunately our politicians succeed in marginalizing everything around us.

Regards, Christine

The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts,
Ashkal Alwan
Postal address:
P.O.Box: 175-268
Mar Mikhael
Beirut, Lebanon

Tel/fax: +961 1 360 251
Mobile: + 961 3 393 807
General email: ashkalalwan@terra.net.lb
Website: www.ashkalalwan.org

Let the Muses speak, to drown  out the sounds of war !

Heartfelt greetings to all my artist friends and colleagues everywhere,

These are terrible times here in the Middle East, with the citizens of our two  countries under continual threat to their lives.  The wailing of sirens, the bombs, the total destruction of everything that humanity has created and reconstructed after countless wars.  Above all else, the loss of precious lives.  Of children, of old people, of those too weak to get away and those who have nowhere to run to.

Each hour and the radio brings its grim tidings of the killed and injured.  I feel helpless and agonized.  Years of bereavement and destruction, and we seem powerless to stop it.

Who does this world belong to?

To gangs of generals? To irresponsible politicians? To militants with no conscience?

One of the captured Israeli soldiers is a member of my family.  His fate is unknown, and the pain his parents feel is the pain of all parents everywhere who agonize over the loss of a child. I identify with the pain and terror of parents on both sides of the border, as I watch the horrors of the war, helplessly.  We have been in this cruel game far too often. Nobody wins, everybody loses.

The world stands by and lets the "game" run its ferocious course.

The Middle East is in flames again: the journalists are pleased with the "action", the politicians get their kicks.  Let's watch the lads fight it out !

There will be those selling weapons to anyone who can pay, others will offer free advice from a safe distance, or fish in troubled waters. But nobody does anything to save this beautiful region and its wonderful warmhearted people, the cradle of civilization is going to hell.
My heart goes out to my brethren in Lebanon, in that awful inferno.  It is a hell we have created jointly and which we share, maybe because we didn't find a way of fighting for a different reality, maybe because we just don't have the power to achieve it.

I write with a sense of utter hopelessness, even though I also entertain the hope that something will change, because I do believe in the spirit of humanity and humanism.

I say: Start talking! Stop the destruction!  Let us live, create, survive! 

Again the sound of the sirens. Where will the rockets fall this time?  Who will come under the bombs our planes are dropping in Lebanon? How many lives will be lost?  Where can we hide ? Is there anywhere?

Let the Muses speak, to drown out the sounds of war!

To my brethren in Lebanon, I send my love from this bomb shelter.

Hedva Shemesh
ARTIST, Israel