Thomas Pringle TD

The Palestinian Paintings come to Áislann Chill Chartha tonight

The Palestinian Paintings come to Áislann Chill Chartha tonight

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, has welcomed the exhibition, The Palestinian Paintings, by Jewish-Israeli artist Zohar, which will open this week at the Áislann Chill Chartha.

The official opening of the exhibition is at 7pm on Tuesday, January 9th, at the Áislann. Refreshments will be served and all are welcome.

Deputy Pringle said: “The Palestinian Paintings is a powerful reminder of the daily brutality the Palestinian people have experienced under the apartheid Israeli regime. We cannot be silent as we see the horror of the genocide taking place in Gaza, and the Irish people continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

The Palestinian Paintings is a series that Zohar began in 2017 to address the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The exhibition statement says that as a Jew growing up in Israel, Zohar had an informed position to witness the Six Day War in 1967, the subsequent occupation of territories, and the ongoing displacement of Palestinian citizens. The paintings were borne of an anger and frustration at the continued and ongoing fear, humiliation, and horror that ordinary Palestinians experienced on a daily basis.

Zohar uses his art to promote peace, and The Palestinian Paintings is a peace-building, cross-border, cross-community exhibition promoting good relations across Ireland.

Born in Kazakhstan in 1945, Zohar is a classically trained painter and a graduate of the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. He has lived and worked in London since 1987.

The exhibition statement describes these works as “his witness as an artist and a human being”.