A&E: Children’s art on MH City Hall Plaza promotes promise of peace

Local youngsters honor lives of Gaza’s youth at “Soul of My Soul” exhibit

The South Valley community gathered to remember Palestinian children who have died in the violence in Gaza. Photo by Marty Cheek

By Marty Cheek

Photo by Marty Cheek

The Civic Center Plaza in Morgan Hill transformed into a powerful tribute to the children of Gaza the afternoon of May 18 as part of the “Soul of My Soul” Children’s Art Exhibit.

Organized by a diverse group of South Valley women, the four-hour event aimed to provide a platform for children from Morgan Hill, San Martin, and Gilroy to express their thoughts and feelings about the ongoing violence and loss of life in Gaza through various art forms.

The exhibit’s “Soul of my Soul” theme came from a Palestinian grandfather who lost his grandchildren in the violence. “He said, ‘My grandchildren were the soul of my soul,’” said Noshaba Afzal, who helped organize the outdoor exhibit through the Soul of My Soul Super Team.

The Gilroy resident and educator explained the motivation behind the exhibit: “This is an organic group of women, mothers, grandmothers who come from a variety of backgrounds. They’re a very diverse group who come from a variety of professions, different circumstances. One called another and said, ‘I’m most distraught. I don’t know how to process this.'”

Similar exhibits have shown children’s art in Pleasanton, Lafayette, and Livermore. Morgan Hill’s exhibit was divided into several sections, each highlighting a different aspect of the children’s expressions.

The “Hope for Gaza” section featured drawings by children pinned on a clothesline, expressing their wishes for the children of Gaza. Dioramas and three-dimensional exhibits made of Legos and clay showcased the creativity and empathy of the young artists. Instead of writing their own names, the children chose to dedicate their art pieces to a child who was killed in Gaza, often matching their own age, with “In memory of” inscriptions.

One of the most striking displays was a banner in front of the plaza’s Harmony Tree mobile sculpture showing the first 2,500 names of the children who lost their lives, some less than a year old. Nearby, 300 small Palestinian flags were planted in the grass. Each represented 100 orphaned children in Gaza, with the total number of orphans now exceeding 30,000. The lawn around the Peace Pole was surrounded by a “Graveyard of Children,” featuring photos and stories of the first 230 children killed in Gaza. Amnesty International has referred to Israel’s war on Gaza as a “Graveyard of Children,” and the exhibit aimed to honor and celebrate their lives.

Photo by Marty Cheek

Deana Hsu, a former Morgan Hill resident and one of the organizers, emphasized the importance of the Soul of My Soul art exhibit to promote peace in Gaza by showing the human side of those who have been killed by the bombing and violence since October.

“This is to raise the voices of the Palestinian children who haven’t been heard.” She added, “I’m not religious. I’m not Muslim. I’m not Arab. To me, it’s not really a religious issue. It’s a human issue.”

The exhibit also served as a way for local children to cope with the trauma of the violence, Afzal said.

The exhibit provided the youngsters with a creative outlet using mediums such as clay, paint, and Legos in whatever way they wished to express their feelings and process them in a positive way.

The tone of the event was somber, yet powerful. Attendees, including Soraya Alavi, a 19-year-old from San Jose, found the exhibit to be a beautiful way to grieve for the children and humanize them. “Palestinians in the media only get recorded through war and death,” she said. “I think they should be remembered for the people they are.”

Her friend, Sarah Nakhoda, a 19-year-old from Mountain View, was emotionally moved by reading the stories and viewing photos of the children who died in Gaza. “It’s important for (American) kids to see that they are privileged and they can fight for things like this because they need our help,” she said. “And these little kids would love to see other kids fighting for them. I think it’s beautiful to see kids making art.”

From Redwood City, Omar Abdelkader came because his fiancé is from Morgan Hill and he helped her in setting up the exhibit. He believes it’s important to show a peaceful way to bring attention to the current violence in Gaza because people can easily become desensitized to so many deaths and so much destruction they view in the news.

“It’s showing the symptoms of what can happen when you let hate into a community,” he said. “It’s educating people and making them aware. It’s putting faces and names to the numbers and making the people real.”

Several local Jewish people were involved in the project and helped set up the exhibit, Afzal said. Among them was a woman who believes her religion does not justify the deaths of Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza who pose no threat to Israel.

Afzal believes the Soul of My Soul Children’s Art Exhibit served as a powerful reminder of the human cost of the conflict and the importance of coming together to honor the lives lost and advocate for peace. Many South Valley youth  have faced a tough time dealing with the recent violence in Gaza and Israel because they have Palestinian friends and family members who have been killed, Afzal said.

Collectively, residents of Morgan Hill have lost more than 500 friends and family members in the conflict. She believes the number is higher in Gilroy.

“This art exhibit was put together not by one organization,” she said. “It’s a bunch of community members who thought we needed to do something to bring the community together and honor the lives of those who are no longer here and to give a voice to those who are voiceless.”