These works want to represent the number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces from 2000 to 2021 and also of Israeli or foreign children killed during this period.
These works want to represent the number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces from 2000 to 2021 and also of Israeli or foreign children killed during this period.
Embroidery is used for the decoration of the Palestinian thobe, a traditional dress. Each pattern identifying a specific region or meaning. In this case, the traditional motive “wide open eye” was used, with each cross identifying a killed child.
These two works consist in the presentation of the number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces represented as white on white, while the Israeli children killed by Palestinian are represented in red.
The different representation aims to cast a light on the different perception between the two groups, while they belong to the same category: they are just children.
This work represents the 547 Palestinian children from 0 to 8 years old killed between 2000 and 2021. Each transparent dot represents a single child, almost invisible to those that do not look carefully. Similarly, their death is invisible to us. Still, indifference and oblivion can’t erase them, as they shine and become visible.
In this work each different beads type represents Palestinian children of a certain age. The colourful and playfulness of the beads contrast with the meaning of the work.
- Palestinian and Israeli children’s fatalities, https://statistics.btselem.org/en/all-fatalities/by-date-of-incident?section=minors&tab=overview, Accessed 20.02.2022
- Palestinian children’s fatalities, https://www.dci-palestine.org/child_fatalities_by_age_group, Accessed 08.02.2022
- Palestinian embroidery, https://palestinianembroider.tripod.com/traditional.htm, Accessed 12.02.2022
- Palestinian embroidery, https://www.stitchingpalestine.com/, Accessed 20.02.2022
Annalisa Mercuri 