“THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY” Parallel Paths—Palestinians, Native Americans, Irish: Part 1

“THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY”
PARALLEL PATHS—PALESTINIANS, NATIVE AMERICANS, IRISH

September 6 through October 18, 2013
Opening Reception, September 6, 6-8pm

*“The Map is Not the Territory” was coined by philosopher/scientist Alfred Korzybski

Passports to Exile, ©Najib Joe Hakim, 2013

In its most ambitious exhibition ever, The Jerusalem Fund Gallery Al-Quds is the first stop for a five-year traveling art exhibition, “The Map is Not the Territory,” which looks at relationships and commonalities in Palestinian, Native American, and Irish experiences of invasion, occupation, and colonization.

Thirty-nine contemporary artists – most of them Palestinian, Native American, and Irish – explore the profound specific and unusual intersections between the three cultures with original paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, artist books, and films. They consider such topics as conflict, resistance, land, food, diaspora, identity, and persistence. 

The exhibition examines  the parallel paths these cultures have taken,  illustrating  some of the historical connections among the groups, such as their deep reverence for the land,  struggles against occupation, oppression, and colonization; starvation, disease, exposure, and forced migrations.  Contemporary connections are explored, such as that the Irish are among the leaders in the Gaza Flotilla movement, which set out in 2010 to break the Israeli blockade, and have long been involved in many other aspects of the Palestinian resistance.

The Irish have intermarried with Native Americans, north and south, since the colonial era. In the mid-20th century, Palestinian refugees landed in New Mexico and some have intermarried with Navajo, whose own forced migration west began in the 1860s on the Long Walk, not unlike the 1948 Palestinian al-nakba. During the Irish Hunger in the 19th century, the Choctaw people, themselves well acquainted with famine, sent $750 to Ireland, and in 1992, the Irish repaid them with great ceremony. 

With these and other parallels in mind, the 39 artists, whose work was juried by co- curators Jennifer Heath and Dagmar Painter, created original works that will fill the walls of the gallery.

Participants include emerging, as well as internationally renowned artists, such as Jaune Quick-to-See Smith – member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation of Montana, whose work is featured in prestigious museum collections worldwide – Rita Duffy -- one of Ireland’s leading artists, whose work has appeared in, among others, London’s Tate Modern – and Hani Zurob – Paris-based Palestinian painter from Gaza, winner of the Renoir prize in Paris and listed as one of The Huffington Post’s “10 international artists to watch in 2013.”

At the opening reception on September 6, Palestinian oud player Fuad Foty, Irish fiddler Michael Winch, and Native American musician Dawn Avery (rattles, drums and songs) will perform.  Throughout the run of the show there will be panel discussions with artists and scholars, and film showings.

Jennifer Heath, who originated the concept of the show, founded Baksun Books & Arts in 1992 as a small press and independent curatorial project, dedicated to de-commodifying the word and to creating visual arts exhibitions that address issues of social and environmental justice. Baksun’s traveling exhibitions include, among others, Black Velvet: The Art We Love to Hate; The Veil: Visible & Invisible Spaces, http://www.jenniferheath.com/theveil/, and Water, Water Everywhere: Paean to a Vanishing Resource, http://waterwatereverywhere-artshow.com/.

Dagmar Painter  is  the founder  and  curator of the Jerusalem Fund Gallery Al -Quds, the cultural program of The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development, which is Washington D.C.’s only full-time art gallery featuring the work of contemporary artists whose art centers on issues of the Arab and Islamic worlds,  with a special emphasis on Palestinian art. She has lived and worked in the Arab world for more than 12 years and has traveled extensively in the Islamic world for more than 30.


Next: Meet some of the artists in the show.

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