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August 1, 2003
Dispute over art exhibit
Bulletin "complicit in war crimes," says Hanna
Kawas.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
The Jewish Western Bulletin is complicit in war crimes,
according to a local Palestinian supporter. In reaction to a story
last week on an art exhibit by local artist Carel Moiseiwitsch,
the Canpalnet news group e-mailed harsh criticism of the Bulletin
story to an unknown number of recipients.
"The local Zionists in Vancouver are attacking Carel Moiseiwitsch's
art exhibit for exposing the truth about Israeli brutality against
the Palestinian people," wrote Hanna Kawas, chair of the Canada
Palestine Association. "Carel is an ISM [International Solidarity
Movement]-Vancouver member who visited the Palestinian occupied
territories in March of this year and her paintings reflect what
she saw and what she experienced while she was there.... The Zionists
are desperately trying to muffle the truth. By doing so, they are
complicit in these war crimes and Jews and non-Jews alike have the
responsibility to expose, condemn and isolate those who are covering
up for such Israeli practices."
The accusation follows coverage in last week's paper ("Israeli
violence in art," page 1; "Art show vilifies Israelis,"
page 14) describing aspects of the exhibit at the grunt gallery,
titled Life in Occupied Palestine, which includes drawings and writings
depicting Israeli military violence and Israeli soldiers revelling
in the humiliation and murder of Palestinians.
The exhibit was also accompanied by a small, photocopied chapbook
presented as a "travel guide to occupied Palestine" and
which depicts hook-nosed caricatures of Jewish soldiers and citizens
as blood-thirsty murderers ready to shoot anyone, blow up schools
and destroy homes. The chapbook's origin is a mystery, since the
gallery's administrator says it was brought in by Moiseiwitsch and
Moiseiwitsch won't talk about it.
Moiseiwitsch at first agreed to be interviewed by the Bulletin
then later changed her mind. However, contacted at home, she offered
some terse comments before hanging up abruptly.
She said she had no comment on the chapbook, wouldn't say where
it came from, who its artist (named Xero) is, or why it was included
with the exhibit.
"It's just a donation," she said. "No comment."
Moiseiwitsch criticized the Bulletin, saying it is an apologist
for the Zionist cause.
"I've checked your Web site," she said. "I find it
very prejudiced."
She said there are not two justifiable sides in the Israeli-Palestinian
dispute.
"I don't have any empathy for the Zionist position," she
said. "There's no argument on this planet that can justify
what the Israeli army is doing."
Moiseiwitsch accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of negotiating
in bad faith and taking land that legally belongs to Palestinians.
Though she said she empathizes with Israeli victims of suicide bombers,
the number of victims of Israeli violence, she said, are far more
numerous than Israeli victims. Israel, she added, has the fourth
largest army in the world and spends "12 million f---ing dollars
a day" on its military. She added that the Israeli system is
akin to apartheid.
She did have kind words for some Israelis, though.
"Some Israelis are being very, very courageous," she said,
referring to activists seeking rapprochement with the Palestinians.
Hillary Wood, administrator of the nonprofit gallery, said she had
glanced through the chapbook but hadn't read it thoroughly. Asked
by the Bulletin to comment after reading it, Wood declined.
"I'm feeling rather strange about doing that," she said.
Exhibits are selected for their artistic merit and passionate perspective,
but it is not the role of the gallery or its staff to analyze the
content from a political perspective, she said. To comment on an
exhibit or a parallel item accompanying an exhibit could jeopardize
the relationship between the gallery and its artists, she said.
"I don't want to alienate our artists."
To the suggestion that someone at the gallery must take responsibility
for the content of an exhibit, Wood said that many artists present
ideas that are contentious and it would be a sort of censorship
for the gallery or its staff to determine what can and cannot go
into the gallery based on political criteria.
The chapbook was not mentioned when the exhibit was first planned.
Wood said it is something that Moiseiwitsch brought during the set-up
of the drawings. But, Wood stressed again, it is not the policy
of the gallery to limit the artists to strict guidelines nor to
micromanage an exhibit's content after an artist has been approved
for an exhibit.
Personally, Wood said, she has some opinions about the exhibit.
"As an individual, there are certain things I don't like,"
she said. But as an arts administrator, she added, her opinions
about the content are largely irrelevant, regardless of the topic.
The grunt gallery's mandate is to provide a venue for art with a
"passionate position," which means a lot of the art that
comes through the door is going to challenge somebody's worldview.
"A lot of what people say is very contentious," Wood said.
Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and
commentator.
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