Depicting ‘one great colossal tragedy’
A little boy being dragged away by a trio of Israeli soldiers, a young Gazan girl sitting next to the ruins of her home shelled by the military, an explosion lighting up a smoke suffocated sky above flats in Gaza, a deluge of refugees. Just writing the subjects of the images of Zohar’s striking exhibition in Johnston Central Library is dispiriting, viewing it is deeply troubling.
However exquisite the execution of the works by the classically trained artist, the draughtmanship fades almost into irrelevance in the face of the subject matter. Each of the dozen images depicts scenarios striking in their suffering both on individual and communal levels. It is almost entirely devoid of hope for the embattled Palestinian people.
Corresponding by email, the Celt asked Zohar about the absence of hope.
“It is very true that I don’t have much hope for an outcome of peace and justice at the current situation,” Zohar replied. “The forces that control the occupation of Palestine are so great and dominant, that I don’t imagine how it can all end but in one great colossal tragedy.”
While the paintings portray the deplorable existence of the many Palestinians, perhaps the very fact of the exhibition is a meagre cause for hope: that it was Zohar, an Israeli Jewish citizen, who was willing to stick his easel above the parapet to create it.
Asked if many Israelis share his concern for the plight of the Palestinians, Zohar replies:
“Many Israelis?... Surely not many enough! But one must say that there is, and always was, a great resistance to this brutal occupation, mainly in intellectual and artistic circles.”
The Celt wondered how his work is regarded by Israelis.
“I am in touch only with Israelis who think like me... I have no idea what the others think. I hope they are clever enough to appreciate the quality of the paintings.”
Asked for his personal preference from the paintings, he decides on the painting shown above: “The first painting I painted of this collection is the ‘Old woman at the Tent’. This painting symbolises for me the whole tragedy of the Palestinian people.”
The artworks and the accompanying statements are slim on Israeli perspectives on why successive governments have pursued such strident policies and an occupation widely regarded internationally as illegal. Presumably there’s many sympathetic to the Israeli cause who will regard the collection as propagandistic in nature. At a risk of being accused of ‘whataboutery’ the Celt asked Zohar to respond to the point that he has not depicted any Israeli victims of Palestinian atrocities?
“The Israeli right wing propaganda doesn’t need me to evoke hysteria about ‘How much we suffer’. They are very good at feeling sorry for themselves. I do condemn violence, but at the same time I think that the Palestinians have the right and the obligation to fight for their freedom.”
Promoted by a group called ‘Interfaith for Palestine’, the exhibition is gradually making its way across Ireland, with the stated aim: ‘to promote reflection, dialogue and a just peace in the Holy Land of Palestine’. That’s the aspect this reviewer found most troubling - while it may prompt some Irish people to engage more with the crisis - the brutality depicted here leaves the viewer sharing Zohar’s prediction of a colossal tragedy. That we currently have what the BBC described as “the most religious and hard-line government in Israel’s history” further erodes any lingering cause for hope.
Asked if the exhibition would be welcome in any venue/gallery in Israel, Zohar replies:
“I was invited to exhibit in Jerusalem in a public gallery called ‘The Border Line’,” says Zohar. “That was a few years ago, I wonder if that attitude hasn’t changed by now.”