Maybe an answer?
Reply
Dan Walsh to eyalweiser
show details 10:40 AM (12 minutes ago)
Shalom Shalom Eyal,
Such an eloquent note...I will try to respond in kind.
For starters I have added Ruth's name and web address to the site.
I LOVE HER WORK!!
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/where-are-you-israeli-tales
I have already sent her poster and web address to my network. Such a rich and magnetic style...so intimate and clear-eyed. I imagine her as a person who looks the world eye-to-eye and overpowers it with a calm intense creativity. Yes?
She has the title "Where Art Thou" for the poster/play ... should I change it to that?
One of the great benefits of my work (the PPPA site is my masters thesis project at Georgetown University ... you can read a bit about it here:
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/content/about-the-palestine-poster... ... this is from the site)
is that I get to see some of the great art being produced on the issue of Palestine/Israel. It is so exciting to introduce the work of artists such as Ruth and yourself to a wider American audience. As an artist myself this is doubly rewarding because I get to not only see/share art from new worlds but I also make a great many new artist friends (the best kind!)
So let me turn to your very courageous and completely non-egotistical question which I will cherish forever and which you wrapped up by saying: "I'd appreciate it if you prove me wrong"
With this statement I became completely disarmed. No kidding. Thanks for granting me the possibility of having thought things out and for having granted me the benefit of the doubt. This has never happened before. Let's see if I can honor your question.
I admit that i have some question about your archive definitions
First of all i definitely do not define myself as Zionist artist and even though i write about the terrible and cruelty consequences of the Israeli occupation, I admit, with all the complexity that I still live in the state of Israel and define myself, often with a great shame, as Israeli.
Ruth's poster, and all posters by/about Israel and/or Zionism are organized in their specific Wellspring, -
"Zionist and Israeli artists and agencies". You do not surrender your nationality when your posters are included at the PPPA. I will get to the name of the project in the next few sentences. What I want to be clear about is that I do not usurp anyone's national identity. I say this here because I think you think that because the name of my project has "Palestine" in it that that must mean everything in the site is "Palestinian". No. Not at all but I understand your initial response. Please stay with me here.
If you read the research parameters that I had to create and get approved by Georgetown University before I started the work of the PPPA you will see a definition of a "Palestine" poster:
For the purpose of this research project, I have arbitrarily defined a “Palestine” poster as:
1) Any poster with the word “Palestine” in it, in any language, from any source or time period;
2) Any poster created or published by any artist or agency claiming Palestinian nationality or Palestinian participation;
3) Any poster published in the geographical territory of historic Palestine, at any point in history, including contemporary Israel;
4) Any poster published by any source which relates directly to the social, cultural, political, military or economic history of Palestine; and/or
5) Any poster related to Zionism or anti-Zionism in any language, from any source, published after August 31, 1897.
Maybe I am wrong but It seems that your project definitions generalize under the title "Palestine" also Israeli art and for me this act miss to recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a country and better understanding the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
My site and my research are completely apolitical. I do not speak to the questions of national identity or legitimacy. Why? Because I am trying to get Americans to actually LOOK at the posters and to contemplate and consider their messages. It would be counter productive for me to politicize the site and if I did, great Israeli artist such as David Tartakover would never have agreed to be on the Advisory Board.
Here is the essence of the issue as I see it: For the first fifty or sixty years of the Zionist movement the JNF, World Zionist Organization, Hashomer, Keren Hayesod and all the early Zionism-building organizations created "Palestine" posters. In other words, they designed, printed and distributed posters with the term "Palestine" on them.
Look here at a few examples (there are many):
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/visit-palestine-1935
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/land-of-the-bible
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/come-to-palestine
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/berl-katzenelson-memorial-c...
My site is not dedicated to "Palestinian" published posters (those are in their own wellspring) or any particular strain of posters but rather to a GENRE: The Palestine poster. This genre pre-dates Zionism and pre-dates Israel and pre-dates Palestinian nationalism. You can see the actual emergence of the genre in this graph:
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/historical-timeline-of-the-...
Many Israelis artists and intellectuals write to me that they are wrestling with this exact issue. They are uncomfortable (at first) seeing their works being subsumed under the term "Palestine" because they conflate that with "Palestinian". This is not the case. If the early Zionists had not actually created the vast bulk of pre-1948 Palestine poster art there would be no issue today. The demands of scholarship and integrity demand that the early poster art tradition of Zionism which is almost entirely dedicated to building/promoting/emigrating to/redeeming and identifying with not "Israel" but "Palestine" must be included in any honest survey of the genre. I accommodate contemporary Israeli poster art via the Israeli/Zionist Wellspring. But the name of the project "The Palestine Poster Project Archives" is an accurate and scholastically valid identifier even if it confuses some Israelis.
Does this make sense now?
In essence, I don't what to "prove you wrong" because yours was an honest and straightforward answer. Rather, I hope to have shown that there is a nuanced and legitimate rationale for the way I have named, organized and presented this incredible body of art.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
fraternally,
Dan
Begin forwarded message:
From: אייל וייזר
Date: November 23, 2011 8:26:46 AM EST
To: Dan Walsh
Subject: Re: Having seen this poster...
Shalom Dan
Thank you for you interest and i hope one day you could come and see one of my show:)
The name of the poster illustrator is Ruth Gwily, I attach her website.
http://www.ruthgwily.com/
I admit that i have some question about your archive definitions
First of all i definitely do not define myself as Zionist artist and even though i write about the terrible and cruelty consequences of the Israeli occupation, I admit, with all the complexity that I still live in the state of Israel and define myself, often with a great shame, as Israeli.
Maybe I am wrong but It seems that your project definitions generalize under the title "Palestine" also Israeli art and for me this act miss to recognize the legitimacy of Israel as a country and better understanding the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I'd appreciate it if you prove me wrong
Sincerely yours
Eyal
2011/11/23 Dan Walsh
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/where-are-you-israeli-tales
Shalom Eyal,
...and read some of the reviews I now want very much to see some of your plays.
I'll add more of your posters if you like.
Who is the artist for the above poster? What shall I put in for the publisher's name.
Bravo...great work...
Dan Walsh
--
Eyal Weiser
Sutin St. Tel-Aviv 19/11
972.54.7003333
http://www.eyalweiser.com
OK...I found it...everything please
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Dan Walsh
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/translation-in-progress-nov...
1:46 AM (11 minutes ago)
Reply
Yoram E. Shamir to me
show details 1:52 AM (4 minutes ago)
Title: Where are you? Israeli tales
Sub: Written and Directed by Eyal Weizer.
Timna Ensemble
Dan, In small letters: list of the staff of this production
From: Dan Walsh [mailto:ppparchives@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 8:46 AM
To: Yoram E. Shamir
Subject: OK...I found it...everything please
http://www.palestineposterproject.org/poster/translation-in-progress-nov...