Internal Exile:
Palestine/Israel, Indian Country/USA, Mexico/California
November 19 to 30, 2007
San Francisco, CA – As the majority of North Americans celebrate “thanksgiving” this November indigenous communities are marking the centuries of genocide, displacement and internal exile that their communities have endured at the hands of past and present colonial nations.
In solidarity with indigenous communities’ on-going struggle for full recognition and equal rights, Break the Silence Arts and Mural Project (BTS), a two-decades-old arts and justice group, presents Internal Exile: Palestine/Israel, Indian Country/USA, Mexico/ California, a multimedia art exhibit showcasing the works of Israeli, Palestinian, Native, Chicano and Latino artists. Their art makes connections between the experiences of indigenous people in colonized nations, who, despite separations of great distances, share legacies of survival and resistance against being rendered invisible in their own land.
“I assembled a photography project that makes use of artistic, media, educational and social tools to bring the story of the unrecognized Bedouin to the attention of wider audiences in Israeli society and beyond, said Tal Adler, Jewish-Israeli photographer and contributing artists to Internal Exile. It is terribly important for me as artist and activist to do joint exhibits like this, especially when displacement and internal exile are still part of the reality for many native communities.”
Internal Exile features a wide range of artistic styles by artists from and a myriad of cultural and political backgrounds. For example:
- America Meredith’s art reflects the influences of her mixed heritage: Cherokee Nation, Swedish and Celtic heritage. Meredith’s painting and mixed media negotiates the space between the Native and non-Native, the urban and rural worlds.
- Zeina Barakeh is of Palestinian descent and was born and raised in Lebanon. She works intuitively and spontaneously, constantly rotating an arsenal of styles and aesthetic experiments in her self-reflective art. Barakeh uses the mediums of painting, drawing and mixed-media.
- Favianna Rodriguez uses art as a tool for liberation, reflecting national and international grassroots struggles, inspired and informed by the stylistic and radical impact of Chicano artists. She uses the mediums of silkscreen, offset,installation, graphic design and mixed media.