Presented at PecanBerry Farm in Hartbeespoort, 15-18 December 2023

Inspired by South African Reconciliation Day, MuseumHer hosted a four day exhibition in collaboration with Yalla Shoola! Gallery from Haifa in Hartbeespoort

The goal of the exhibition was to facilitate conversations that imagine peace using the artworks of eight Palestinian and Israeli artists.

The exhibition was open to the public for four days to dive into thinking collectively about the power of art to shape and re-imagine current social tensions. Using the theme of reconciliation and South Africa as an example, the curators Valeria Geselev and Carlyn Strydom ask: how can art and creative practice help us imagine sustainable peace and reconciliation for Israelis and Palestinians?

It was an interactive exhibition where participants had the opportunity to speak freely about their feelings surrounding situation in Palestine and Israel and to offer insights into their own experiences with moving from a space of violence to a space of peace here in South Africa. The exhibition brought together many people of different backgrounds and offered a wonderful opportunity for inter-generational, inter-faith, and inter-cultural dialogue.

It was a rare opportunity for the South African public to view contemporary Israeli and Palestinian art, and hear the various artists’ stories. Local collectors had the opportunity to buy original paintings, prints, collages and photographs by prominent contemporary artists from the city of Haifa. The artworks were selected by Yalla Shoola! Gallery from eight artists: Abed Abdi, Ada Rimon, Anna Lukashevsky, Maria Zaikina, Nasrin Abu Baker, Rachel Anyo, Tair Zargary and Yigal Feliks. 

Yalla Shoola! Gallery was established in 2023 by curator Valeria Geselev in downtown Haifa after a decade of curating public socially engaged art projects. It features a diverse collection of contemporary art by local independent artists. The gallery acts as an island of relational aesthetics. In November 2023 Valeria packed in a suitcase about 60 small artworks from the gallery’s eight featured artists. In the spirit of Haifa – a mixed Jewish-Arab city, the suitcase serves as a capsule for the possibilities of peace among Israelis & Palestinians.