A Child’s View from Gaza in Fredericton

The Fredericton launch of the exhibition, A Child’s View from Gaza, will occur on Friday, April 26th at 5:00-6:30pm at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre’s Penny Gallery. The exhibit will be on display for a month, until May 26th.

A Child’s View from Gaza is a collection of 75 paintings created in 2009 by the children of Gaza who witnessed the destruction of Operation Cast Lead and who participated in after-school children’s therapy programs. “Cast Lead,” Israel’s December 2008/January 2009 attack on a virtually unarmed Gaza, killed 1,400 Palestinians, including 320 children. The exhibition in Fredericton will include some of the paintings done by the Gazan children as well as pictures from the 2008/2009 assault on Gaza.

Susan Johnson, the exhibit coordinator, who worked with the children in an art therapy program, says that “Children are unusually honest. They depict what happened during Operation Cast Lead – the horrors of it. The children’s feelings [and]emotions jump off the page.”

A Child’s View from Gaza has been shown all over North America, with venues in art galleries, museums and libraries, including most recently at the Aberdeen Cultural Centre in Moncton and the United Church in Riverview.

The Fredericton exhibit is being organized by Fredericton Palestine Solidarity, Jews for a Just Peace Fredericton, Fredericton Peace Coalition and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. The national tour is being organized by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.

Cinema Politica Fredericton will screen Budrus at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre’s Multi-Purpose Room on May 2nd at 7:00pm. The short films, Samouni Street and Gaza Did You Know, will be screened before the feature film. Budrus tells the story of a father and daughter who unleash an inspiring non-violent resistance movement to the occupation of Palestine.

Contact: info@frederictonpeace.org.