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The Parents Circle -Families Forum took up the difficult challenge of organizing a caricature exhibition titled “Pius” (“Reconciliation”). This posed a challenge because peace, reconciliation and tolerance seem unattainable in the early morning hours, closer than ever by noon and totally impossible by evenings end. It posed a challenge because this circle of families, having endured such suffering, chose an inherently radical artistic medium in order to deal with a sensitive and complex issue.
Caricatures by their very nature are known to be blunt and abusive, funny but also painful. A medium that manages to strike at our soft underbelly because it exposes the truth with a few strokes of the brush.
It was challenging for the organizers as they agreed to present difficult works next to less loaded interpretations, a reflection of the Forums brave and openhearted approach to life.
Challenging for the artists themselves who approached the subject without pity, and sometimes with great cynicism. A few tried to breach the subject with humor, others with painful questions. The result is a mixture of optimism and pessimism exquisitely articulating the maelstrom of feelings these parents and families must undergo.
Challenging also for me personally because I cannot help but feel empathetic to these bereaved families, several of which I had personal acquaintances with.
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together / Sergei
I was surprised by their open-mindedness and the rare quality had of taking an outside look into their personal trauma with candidness and humor.This powerful quality goes to show that in the end the desire for life surpasses all others.
This is why I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the project and for the parents circles trust in me. I thank the Israeli Cartoon Museum in Holon for their unconditional professional support. All that remains to be done is to take my hat off to the Parents Circle -Families Forum and hope that the smiles will give them strength on their path to reconciliation.
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