(Hannah and Dunya sent out this announcement of their exhibit…but keep reading…someone didn't want that exhibit to happen after all…the Editor)
Dear all,
We're very excited to let you all know that our most recent Re-Plugged exhibit will be showing at a public library in Boston for the next 6 weeks! We worked this past winter with children from Balata refugee camp in Nablus, and they had their own exhibit and opening in the camp in February. We left one copy of the exhibit with them and made another copy to bring home, and now you can all see it!
Read below for details.
The exhibit will also be up for one night (this Thursday, April 12) at Harvard during a screening of short films by Palestinian children, coordinated by good friends of ours. Visit their websites at www.bostonpalestinefilmfest.org and www.tawassul.org for more info.
Thanks so much for all your support and for helping to make this possible. Please visit the library if you're in the area, and especially come to the opening this Saturday, April 14, at 2:30!
Lots of love,
Hannah and Dunya
www.birthrightunplugged.org
P.S. Let us know if you want to bring the exhibit to your city!
Return to Yafa
The Yafa Cultural Center and Birthright Unplugged present an exhibition entitled "Return to Yafa" with children's photos of their journey to Jerusalem, the sea and their ancestral villages.
Birthright Unplugged is an education and movement building project that offers two travel programs. One of these programs is the Re-Plugged trip for Palestinian children living in refugee camps. In two days, the group visits Jerusalem, the sea and the children's ancestral villages, which is nearly impossible for most Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and outside of Palestine. The children document their experiences with cameras and create exhibits, films and radio programs. The project contributes to the collective memory of the camp community and shares the childrens' stories with people abroad.
The Yafa Cultural Center is a community center based in Balata refugee camp in Nablus, Palestine that offers programming for children and families. Birthright Unplugged worked with the Yafa Cultural Center to plan and run the Re-Plugged trip from Balata camp in January 2007.
The Honan-Allston Branch Library will host the photography exhibit April 14, 2007 – May 25, 2007.
The exhibit opening will be held on Saturday, April 14, 2007, 2:30 – 4:30. A short video on the Re-Plugged program will be screened at the opening event only. All are welcome.
Library address:
Honan-Allston Branch Library
300 North Harvard Street, Allston, MA 02134
Tel: 617-787-6313
Hours: Monday 12-8, Tuesday 10-6, Wednesday 12-8, Thursday 10-6, Friday & Saturday 9-5
Directions: http://www.bpl.org/general/directions.htm#allston
(and then…)
Dear Birthright Unplugged friends,
We have an unfortunate follow-up to our communiqué of a few days ago: half of the Re-Plugged exhibit was stolen from the library where it was hanging.
Details are below in the form of a press release. Please pass around to people who might be interested – especially any media folks you know. We’re sorry this message is a bit impersonal, but we’ll be in touch again soon with any follow-up about the exhibit and ways that you can support Birthright Unplugged. For now we’re busy getting the exhibit re-printed and hung as quickly as we can!
Thank you as always for your support.
Best,
Dunya and Hannah
BIRTHRIGHT UNPLUGGED turning education into action
PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CHILDREN’S ART STOLEN FROM LIBRARY
Organizers Suspect Political Motives
Boston Public Library Branch Reports First Time Ever Theft Of Art Exhibit
Contact:
For Immediate Release
April 25__Boston__On April 19, 2007, eighteen photographs were stolen from an exhibit documenting Palestinian children’s journey to Jerusalem, the sea, and their ancestral lands. The exhibit, which opened on April 14, was hanging in the Honan-Allston branch of the public library, and was scheduled to remain there until May 25.
The exhibit was created by children from Balata refugee camp in Nablus, West Bank. In January 2007, the Boston-based organization Birthright Unplugged took the children on a trip to areas that their grandparents were expelled from and that their families have been prohibited from returning to since Israel was established in 1948. The children documented their experiences and created an exhibit.
“An important part of our work is the ability to bring Palestinian voices to people in the United States,” says Birthright Unplugged co-founder Hannah Mermelstein. “This is a sad reminder that members of our community will resort even to theft to silence these voices.”
While the thieves of the artwork are unknown, Birthright Unplugged organizers suspect that the motives were political. The Honan-Allston library confirms that this is the first time a theft of this kind has happened there, although they often display art exhibits.
“We are grateful to the Boston Public Library for allowing us to share these children’s images and words,” says Birthright Unplugged co-founder Dunya Alwan. “We are working with library staff to replace and re-hang the photos as soon as possible.”
Birthright Unplugged has taken more than 80 children on these “Re-Plugged” trips since January 2006, and more than 60 North American people, mostly Jewish, on 6-day “Unplugged” trips through the West Bank since July 2005.
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