Maybe watercolors and glue can bring peace to the Middle East.
Or maybe not.
OK, probably not.
But for a group of Jerusalem children, brush strokes and collages built a bridge between clashing cultures — Palestinian, Arab Israeli and Israeli — and spurred conversation, creativity and friendship.
Their works are now on display in San Francisco. Sixty-one paintings from the unique multicultural project debuted April 11 at Zeum, the children’s museum of art and technology. The exhibit runs through July 8.
“An Israeli poet once wrote that sometimes the child is the eye-opener for the adult,” said Tamar Akov, cultural director at the Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco.
“You can see in the paintings that kids are dealing with a hard reality, but also are willing to look beyond that, for a better place, to create a better future. That’s the best message I hope we can convey to people.”
Akov worked with Zeum to bring “Children of Jerusalem: Painting Pain, Dreaming Peace” to San Francisco. The exhibit is the result of a three-year project conducted by two teachers in Jerusalem. Israeli and Palestinian children first worked on a series of paintings separately, then came together to express their pain, fears, hopes and dreams through collaborative art.
The children’s paintings trace their emotional journey from fear to friendship, from suspicion to mutual trust. Their paintings provoke thought. They are dark and ominous, vivid and hopeful, and convey ideas more sophisticated than would be expected from 10- and 11-year-olds.
“Rescue Boat,” by 11-year-old Bassam Hammad, is a vibrant watercolor painting of a boat crowded with the Jerusalem skyline, on which the Israeli flag flies on the bow and the Palestinian flat flies on the stern. Doves fly above.
“Chocolate Bullets” is a collage glued upon strokes of watercolors painted by Michal Patlas, age 10. Drawings of children cut out from magazines look up to see chocolate truffles raining down on them.
In one particularly sad painting, “Caged,” Firas Al-Halawani, 11, painted a dove trapped in a cage, a Palestinian and Israeli flag hanging in the background.
“It’s inspirational to see that art can be this universal force that brings people together,” said Janine Okmin, a program director at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
Okmin helped write a “gallery guide” to accompany the exhibit. The booklet prompts adults and children to think about the exhibit’s larger themes (war, violence, resolution of conflict), and how to apply a distant conflict to conflict in their own lives.
Sound effects accompany the exhibit, triggered by infrared sensors monitoring visitors’ footsteps. Songs of peace and the noise of warfare echo through the hallway.
“Children’s perspective is often ignored in times of conflict,” Okmin said. “But it’s important to turn to them. Their voices are the most fresh.”
San Francisco is the first U.S. city to host the youth art exhibit, which previously was shown in Jerusalem, London’s House of Commons, Geneva and Manchester, England.
The exhibit made its U.S. debut thanks to a partnership between Zeum, the Consulate General of Israel, the New Israel Fund, the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Israel Education Initiative, a joint project of the Israel Center of the S.F. Jewish Community Federation and the S.F. Bureau of Jewish Education.
“Children of Jerusalem: Painting Pain, Dreaming Peace” will be on display through July 8 at Zeum, 221 Fourth St. San Francisco. Information: visit www.zeum.org or call (415) 820-3320.