The MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program at Goddard College hosted the Peace Birds project January 30-February 1, 2024. We explored with students, "How are we responsible in times of war? What is our response?"
As the assault on the children of Palestine rages on, these potent questions surrounding art in war time provoke us to imagine justice and peace into being. Mona Shiber and JuPong Lin told our stories of family members who survived the violent occupation of our homelands, Palestine and Taiwan. On February 1, JuPong read poems by Lisa Suhair Majaj, "Watch in Full - a Poem" by Kim Jensen, and "Pantoum for Palestine". Three students then read excerpts from the Gaza genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel in front of the International Court of Justice.
The poetic words juxtaposed against the legalistic language detailing the atrocities being committed in Gaza evoked intense emotions for me. I'm grateful to those who participated in the reading for helping us hold space for the immense grief and rage at the endless suffering and senseless destruction we are all witnessing.
