Alice Walker Mural in Gaza

"Boats in the Flotilla sailing to Gaza," was the theme of the mural the Maia Mural Brigade painted at the Beit Hanoun Kindergarden in Gaza City where writer and activist Alice Walker generously purchased a water filtration system so that the children have fresh, clean water to drink EVERYDAY.

As I have shared in previous blogs, the problem of water is at crisis proportion in Gaza. The Maia Mural Project is helping to bring awareness to this issue and help bring about funding for more water filtration systems to all the schools and kindergartens.

Alice Walker was on the Flotilla which was destine for Gaza as an expression of Solidarity except that Israel would not allow the ship to pass to the shores of Gaza.

The Flotilla was made to turned back by Israel.

Here is the mural....

Sunday Sketches

I am back from Gaza!

Attempting to assimilate the experience of my adventures and being part of the Maia Mural Project.

Here is one of the sketches I created as I was gazing out the dinning area window of the Adam Hotel in Gaza City, Gaza.


The people of Gaza depend heavily on fishing to provide for their families as well as income. I was privileged to go out fishing with the fishermen of Gaza on the "Olivia", which is the international boat that keeps the Palestinians safe from the Israeli warships which harass the fishermen.




The Israeli warships make waves so that the fishermen cannot fish. The Olivia moves to where the Israelis are harassing the fishermen and the harassment stops for the time being until they isolate another group of fishermen. The Oslo Accords allows the fishermen 20 nautical miles from the coast, but these photos were taken around 3 miles from the coast of Gaza which Israel has illegally imposed.




It is very unraveling to have the guns pointed at you!

Read more about the Civil Peace Service Gaza boat "Oliva".

Healing Mural

In 2004-2005 the group, Breaking The Silence, worked with the Amer family, including five children, to paint a 8' x 40' mural on the Aparthied Wall built by Israel, that surrounds the family's home on four sides.

The father of the family told Breaking The Silence (BTS) that after the Mural was completed his children played outside for the first time in a year.

He said: “When you come here and paint with the children it makes them feel like they can live.”

Testimony to the power of art!

The children had a fantastic time
working on the mural.



This is the Palestinian and North American crew that worked on the Amer Mural. At one point during the project, the Israeli settlers living illegally next door, complained to the Israeli military that the mural was an act of incitement towards them.




This is Munira Amer standing in her doorway.

Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project (ORSMP)

The Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural is an inter-disciplinary, interactive, multi-site public art project that will innovatively make use of new media and social networking technologies to increase the strength and visibility of movements organizing for social change in Palestine, Israel, the US and the world.

ORSMP crosses borders, recognizing and exploring the relationship that exists between the people Olympia, Washington, the people of Rafah, Occupied Palestine and all people who struggle and work for justice. ORSMP will move from the local to the global by bringing people together across social justice movements. The images in the mural will articulate how the social and political struggles in Palestine and Israel connect to local and national and international issues that include environmental justice, racism, colonialism, rights of indigenous people, and anti-war movements, to name a few.

ORSMP uses creativity in public space to cope with and mourn traumatic losses in resilient and transformative ways. Inspired by Rachel Corrie, an Olympian killed in the Gaza Strip in 2003 in a non-violent act of civil disobedience, the mural serves as a reminder of the thousands in Gaza and elsewhere lost in struggle, and, also, as inspiration for those who carry on quests for justice and for the unity and peace that the olive tree represents.

For more information about the project