WOMEN'S LENS - Un coup d'oeil féminin: Return of the Soul: 3,000 Palestinian Souls Take Refuge in Edinburgh

August 4, 2008

Return of the Soul: 3,000 Palestinian Souls Take Refuge in Edinburgh

View of the installation. Photo by Malcolm Crowthers.

EDINBURGH.- Return of the Soul by Jane Frere has found itself the centre stage of controversy even before the first of the 3,000 figures that form this installation is hung for its western debut at the Patriothall Gallery at WASPS during the Edinburgh Art Festival.

Artist Jane Frere lived and worked with Palestinians in refugee camps in the Middle East to prepare the work, which depicts a mass exodus of refugees and includes first-hand recollections of Palestinians, who fled their homeland. Many, mere children at the time, tell stories of massacres and atrocities, violence and hardship endured on their road into exile. Many of the events, now regarded as war crimes and ‘ethnic cleansing’ by historians, have been confirmed by Israeli academics researching the military archives.

“People who have seen this installation in Jerusalem and the West Bank tell me it has been quite cathartic for them. But it has been a totally cathartic experience for me too,” said Jane, from Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire. “I have become a collector of tears. So many people wept as they recalled what happened. It was genuinely shocking. And many people who came to the first showing at Al Hoash Gallery in East Jerusalem also broke down in tears. For them it represents a gaping wound that has not yet healed.” more>>

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Very little is known about the second exodus of North Africa's Jewish community from Egypt. Fewer people know that a thriving Jewish/European community existed in Egypt until the middle of the twentieth century. With this in mind, Women’s Lens was created to inform and present a woman's voice to the Diaspora. I explore anti-Semitism, Israel, socio-economic issues and their effect on women worldwide. We also look at culture, not only our own, but the ones that have had a great effect on our traditions. Since, for a lot of us, French was our native tongue, many posts on Women's Lens are in that language. Inevitably, there will also be narratives peppered with some Arabic, Spanish, Ladino and any other language that may have enriched our lives.

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