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seminar

Fall 2003

Course #908

The painting 3′ x 4′ in size (yet to be titled) pictures the landscape of the Western Wall and Al Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. This area, a holy site for both Jews and Muslims, has been contested for more than a century. In this painting, I represent the conflict over this space by setting up a series of figures rendered in contrast to each other. Three men, drawn naturalistically with charcoal, stand facing the mosque with their arms up. This image is derived from a photograph of Palestinian men being investigated by an Israeli soldier. The other set of characters are cartoon-like and stereotypically Jewish. They march towards the wall with their arms raised, each holding a Star of David. The difference of these characters and the suicide bomber painting in the foreground reinforces a narrative plot between these individuals within this one location. The smaller painting, 2′ x 3′ in size, depicts the contrasting landscape of an ancient, religious site with a modern, secular city. In between these places, generalized figures drown in the sea, Hassidic flies swoop around the space and two helpless, bagged hostages lie in the lower left-hand corner of the composition. This work, like the previous one, sets up a landscape of chaos and tension. Both paintings avoid strict dialectical interpretations, simultaneously evoking an image of what, as Americans, we see, imagine and are not supposed to see in the territory of Israel/Palestine.

© 2023 by Laurie Beth Clark

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