The Oasis Gallery did not have any exhibit from October until May, as bringing Palestinian and Jewish artists together, as well as dealing with the terrible emotions brought down on us, was especially difficult. But Dyana did not stop working and thinking about an exhibit that could speak not only about atrocities, but about peace and a better future.
One of the projects we participated in was the Seattle Project. The primary school kids chose pieces they had created in the art studio and sent them to an exhibit halfway around the world. These works of art expressed optimism and hope, and we felt the importance of showing the world these kids’ positive outlooks through their creative work.
Dyana Shaloufi-Rizek was a guest curator of a special photo exhibition in Nazareth: “Nazareth through the eyes of its photographers.”. The photos were taken from a book, Visual Memory,” written and by Dr. Khaled Awad, director of the Association for the Preservation of Culture and Heritage Center in Nazareth The first photos were taken by a local photographer was in the late eighteenth century, so, in a way, the scope of the exhibit is one of Ottoman rule, the Nabka and military rule. The last photo was taken in 1967.
The exhibit opening, May 17 at Nazareth’s Cinemama, included the screening of a documentary film “Photographers of Palestine,” by village member Marwa Tibi Jbara, which was produced for Al Jazeera.
Dyana: “I considered this as an opportunity to bring attention to our village and the Oasis Art Gallery, itself. Nazareth is my home town; my husband and I were born there, and our families roots extend back to beginning of the sixteenth century. It is a place of beautiful and great memories.”
The Oasis Art Gallery served as the setting of an exhibit that opened on June 1, The exhibit, sponsored by the School for Peace, was called “Mish Awadi – Abnormal,” and it displayed a series of photographs taken by Palestinian women in the city of Lod, showing the city and highlighting the environmental injustice that plagues their surroundings.
