Murals

A new art expression for me......MURALS!

This July, thirteen artists, art therapists, teachers, organizers, and psychologists from Olympia, San Francisco and beyond will be traveling to Gaza in order to collaborate with Palestinian youth and artists to design, paint and document, A Tale of Two Cities - The MAIA Mural Project!

We will begin our trip with an orientation and training throughout Israel and the West bank, where we will meet with Jewish Israeli and Palestinian artists and activists.

The MAIA Mural Project will be a series of collaborative murals focusing on environmental justice, specifically water or ‘maia’ in Arabic. The group will work with youth and artists in Gaza to paint murals at sites of the water purification units that the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is installing at schools and kindergartens. The quality of water in Gaza has been eroded, particularly in the Israeli assault of 2008-9, creating a severe health hazard to which children are most vulnerable.

You will be able to follow The MAIA Mural Project as it unfolds on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr! You will find uploaded video interviews with Palestinian partners, giving you a real sense of our experience and all of the amazing individuals involved. This extensive documentation will become part of a growing global conversation about resources, water, solidarity, cross-movement building and non-violent resistance to oppression.

Example of mural in Olympia which will be incorporated into the project.

The leaf near the upper right corner with the bird of peace, OM, and world is the one I created.

There are many ways that you can support this unique endeavor! Donations of any amount will help towards airfare and paint! All donations are tax deductible and can be made at www.olympiarafahmural.org – click, MAIA Murals.

If you live in Olympia.......The MAIA Mural Project Café and One Big Drawing will take place on Saturday, June 18th from 5-10pm at Mariah Art School, 1403 Garfield Ave, NW, Olympia WA. Come enjoy a nice meal and drinks, and live acoustic music will begin at 7pm. Susan Greene, director of ORSMP and Ziad Abbas, director of MECA will introduce the project and share images from past projects in Palestine as well as the process of ORSMP and the MAIA Water purification units.

This will truly be life changing experience!

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