University of the Arts
BFA program

Unholy Land #1 matte medium transfer, acrylic, digital collage, 28" x 40"

Unholy Land #2 matte medium transfer, acrylic, digital collage, 28" x 40"

Artist Statement

These works represent the contemporary origins and transgressions of the Israeli/Palestinian dispute.

After thousands of years of persecution dealt by the hand of many different enemy forces, the Jewish people, in 1881, formed the first organized movement to reclaim their biblically appointed homeland. A mass immigration began, as victimized Jews from all over Europe and Asia joined the World Zionist Organization in hope of finally acquiring a place where they could prosper freely in a secure and peaceful atmosphere. In 1920, under British rule of the Holy Land, the Balfour Declaration was implemented, which supported and actively carried out the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people. The Zionist view is that upon purchasing and moving into the region, the Jewish settlers were met with violent opposition from the Muslim Palestinian Arabs, presumably stemming from the Arabs’ inherent anti-Semitism. The Zionists were then forced to defend themselves, and so on to the present day.

Some historians claim that the Zionist Movement in the late 1800s, from its very beginnings, fostered aspirations for the gradual extraction of the indigenous Arab population, toward the creation of a wholly Jewish state. Palestinian Arabs claim to have occupied the land in question since the 7th cen. AD, and as they became increasingly aware of the Zionist’s intentions, strenuously opposed further Jewish immigration and land buying because it posed a real and imminent danger to the very existence of Arab society in Palestine.

From there, on-going tensions between the two inhabitants have created a significant lineage of hatred, marked by several bloody territorial wars, genocidal attempts, and thousands of deaths on both sides. Retaliation has been a consistent source of violent acts performed back and forth by both parties, in which each side feels completely justified in their actions and their means of attack.

In the present state of affairs, the primarily Palestinian-populated territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem have been occupied by Israeli peacekeepers since they were acquired by Israel in the 1967 victory of the Six Days War. Under the occupation, Palestinian refugees have limited civil freedoms due to the enforced security employed to protect Israeli settlements against continuing attacks. Israeli brutality toward Palestinian civilians produces, yet is also caused by attacks on innocent Israeli civilians. The Palestinians dispatch legions of suicide bombers to pressure Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories, while Israel returns with military force, striking at the centers of this type of organized terror. It is an unrelenting cycle of death and degradation.

Decades of internationally mediated peace talks have yielded nothing but more violence and deception. The situation is escalating at a disturbing rate with alleged mass murdering of civilians in several refugee camps, along with a multitude of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians in crowded religious, recreational, and tourist areas. As of now, there seems to be no end and no peaceful solution in sight, as daily militant actions on both sides serve to inflame tensions more and more.

With all of this destruction in mind, I pose a question to those involved or interested: how holy can any piece of earth be, if there is no one left to praise its sanctification?



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