Bridging the empathy gap
Dairy art exhibit connects the West to the Middle East
by Amelia Ishmael (buzz@boulderweekly.com)

At the time of this writing, the five-month-long truce between Hamas militants and the government of Israel continues to dissolve into a series of air strikes and rocket launchings. This directly follows multiple declarations of cease-fire by political leaders and repeated efforts between Palestinians and Israelis to resolve their long and bitter conflict. With violence impacting so many people every day in that region, it is not difficult to understand why politics plays such a big role in the work of Palestinian visual artists.

In many ways, I am fortunate to have no immediate connection through family or friends with the events taking place there. Information about daily violence in the disputed territories is available in the papers or on television, but sometimes, due to this lack of personal connection, the issue tends to become little more than a list of unfamiliar numbers and places. My relationship to these events grows distant and abstract as I struggle to empathize with the people of the area.

Making the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians more real to outsiders is one of the goals of Secret, the collaborative exhibit between 6+ and six Palestinian women artists currently on display in the McMahon Gallery at the Dairy Center for the Arts.

Founded by six female artists who all studied art at the University of Colorado at Boulder, 6+ began as an opportunity to directly engage and exhibit with women from across cultures and to encourage new relationships. In recent years, each member has experienced the struggles of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict first-hand during visits to the disputed territories in Israel.

Containing the relatively new media components of video, photography and installation, all of the artists display work that exists within the zeitgeist of the modern era. The chosen title of Secrets serves as an ambiguous theme that allows the 14 exhibiting artists a wide range of angles from which to approach their work. Drawn together, the artists offer political and emotional insight into the concerns that surround their homeland. The works are poignant, yet approachable, touching on the timeless human concerns of family, honor, home, fear and sacrifice.

The modern scope of Secrets occurs in the wake of two recent groundbreaking exhibitions. This year's "WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution," which presents the first major touring retrospective to focus entirely on feminism. And "Made in Palestine," which succeeded in 2006 in gaining access to many contemporary art venues that had previously rejected the work of Palestinian artists.

Rula Halawani's photographic series "The Wall" attempts to address the suspicion and fear that exists between Israelis and Palestinians. It consists of a large-format slide show that invites us to witness the monstrosity and ugliness of the 20-plus boundary walls built by Israelis after the Palestinian uprising in 2000. Halawani presents her images as narratives that highlight specific cruelties found in the nature of the barrier. The resulting images are bleak and powerful. The lack of people in her images seems to present the area around the barrier as a barren no-man's land.

Less visible walls are those that are constructed to protect loved ones from the horrors of war. In "My Last Duchess," Mary Rachel Fanning presents an installation of relics. She discloses letters that were written between her newlywed grandparents during World War II. Viewers are able to interact with this precious installation by sitting at a reading table filled with her grandparents' correspondence and listening to a recording of the artist's recital of the contents.

Though it would take a large investment of time to reach Fanning's concentration in this piece, an artist statement posted next to the work asks viewers to consider the lack of war references within their letters. Instead, conversation is kept light and is full of declarations of love, well wishes for upcoming holidays and small talk about their lives. In this work, Fanning asks her viewers if, and how, the elephant in the room of both writers exists to protect the other from the strains of their realities.

Strains felt across distances is one of the themes that arises throughout the exhibition. "In This Garden" is a series of photographs that confront the tribulations that the Sama Alshaibi encounters during her attempts to protect her heritage and love for the land of her ancestors. Through a personal narrative below each image, viewers witness reflections of identity and culture. During a trip with her two cousins, Alshibi reflects on the ease with which American citizens travel across borders, the prejudices that the three experienced stemming from political and religious differences, and a determined strength and commitment to her family. In each of the images Alshaibi stands before the camera with her cousins, and they express a fierce determination to not let go of their heritage.

Though the work in this exhibition is a little somber for springtime in Boulder, it presents a rare insight into the life and concerns of Palestinian women that is often omitted by the news. I strongly advise that you view this exhibition before it closes in June.