After creating the blog and growing it into a website encompassing a wealth of information to do with the connections between Arabs and Jews, I am constantly being contacted about dialog, partnership, initiatives and connections. It warms the heart, but truthfully, I don’t always know how to help and connect, so I offer the plethora of information that we’ve amassed through the website as a source for independent search, sometimes a little guided, I may bring up some name or other. But mostly it comes down to the initiators themselves, and some are even successful and share their stories. Calanit Sossover asked me to help her contact someone from a neighboring village to start an art initiative in the Arab community. She was able to build something out of nothing with her partner from Umm al-Fahm, Hanaa Gabaren.
Calanit, tells us how the initiative came to be
After living for ten years in Katzir in the Wadi Ara area, and having daily contact with the Arab community, I’ve met some lovely talented Arab women, some of them physically disabled and some in economic distress. With little hope of accessing people from the Jewish community, I understood that my challenge in wanting to help them, was to find a partner and together empower them and give them hope and pride in themselves and their works.
Thankfully, I met Hanaa Gabaren from Umm al-Fahm, who works at empowering women. After an emotional first meeting with Amal Shibli who has MS, I understood that the connection was forged and that we could find a way to empower through art girls considered to have special needs because of their physical disabilities. ‘Hope’ in Arabic is ‘Amal’, which gave rise to our project’s name while also referring to Amal Shibli.
What is your and Hanna’s model?
The artists go through a group process, they come from different places and each one is supported by the others while creating her own products.
After group processes and workshops in the different communities, the artists all support community agendas by displaying their products at the “Winds of Hope” center. Here you can see two paintings by Amal Shibli, a very talented artist despite having MS.
What is the main purpose of the initiative?
The main purpose is empowering women who are limited either physically, economically or both. “Winds of hope” gives Arab women artists a platform to to voice their individuality and allows them to feel pride in who they are and their creative accomplishments. Through the group processes they create enough products that they can display in the gallery. The gallery is centrally located, and this enables the public, both Jews and Arabs, to view their products. This is the reason why the initiative gives space and a platform to disabled women artists in the Arab community. It turns them into a creative group. The artists receive the opportunity to meet as peers others who may be disabled physically or economically just like them, as well as members of the Jewish and Arab public that come to view their work.
What is the main purpose of the initiative?
The main purpose is empowering women who are limited either physically, economically or both. “Winds of hope” gives Arab women artists a platform to to voice their individuality and allows them to feel pride in who they are and their creative accomplishments. Through the group processes they create enough products that they can display in the gallery. The gallery is centrally located, and this enables the public, both Jews and Arabs, to view their products. This is the reason why the initiative gives space and a platform to disabled women artists in the Arab community. It turns them into a creative group. The artists receive the opportunity to meet as peers others who may be disabled physically or economically just like them, as well as members of the Jewish and Arab public that come to view their work.
Are the gallery exhibition and the meetings ongoing?
I hope so. We came up with an idea and created a model. We would love for there to be an ongoing exhibition and art sale in Shibli and possibly in other places as well. The Winds of hope gallery in Shibli could be an example for other such galleries elsewhere. We have learned from these women that they are happy to be partners in the process of creating art with the goal of exhibiting it, this empowers them greatly. To sum up, we are very happy to have opened the first gallery in Shibli and hope to eventually open more galleries.
Is the center in Shibli only a viewing gallery or is the art for sale?
This will be a permanent center wher you can visit and purchase art and traditional artisan work. We will also hold artist workshops in the gallery at later dates.
