Courage and Compassion in the Holy Land
A Slide Show and Talk
Award winning photographer Pat Westwater-Jong is available for speaking engagements in the Sarasota/Bradenton and Tampa/St. Pete areas from February 15th to 29th. Special arrangements can also be made for her to speak in other areas in Florida. (See calendar).
In the Photographer's Words:
Courage and Compassion in the Holy Land is a project with a multi-faith focus, bearing witness to and documenting Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others working nonviolently for peace and justice in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
- This work bears witness to the peacemakers' nonviolent responses to difficulties, helping to support them to continue their work with courage and integrity.
- I promise the people I document that I will share my photographs and their stories with as many people as possible. Knowing their actions have an audience outside of Israel and Palestine helps peacemakers to keep their commitments to nonviolent work for peace.
- With their stories, which are not usually reported in the mainstream US press, I am able to offer Americans a more complete picture of the current situation in Israel and Palestine.
- I believe that these people are nurturing the soil where peace can germinate. I hope my photos will be part of the historical record of what made peace possible.
Although the project documents a political situation, I approach it from a spiritual perspective. The Jews, Muslims, and Christians in my photographs are practicing a tenet common to all religions, to treat others as one would like to be treated. They are all working in significant ways, in spite of great injustices, and sometimes at risk to themselves, to treat members of other religions with compassion and respect, even if they, or their loved ones, have been treated violently by them.
Calendar & Confirmed Engagements:
Ms. Westwater-Jong will be Florida from February 15-29.
Please contact Laura Robinson for further details or to schedule a talk..
Friday, February 24th at 2:00 informal chat with Pat Westwater at the Four Winds Cafe at New College in Sarasota, FL.
Saturday, February 25th slideshow 6:00-8:00 at the Teaching Auditorium at New College in Sarasota, FL
Reviews:
"The stories told through these photographs are unforgettable. They tell a history of heartbreak, of passionate activism, of friendship and forgiveness. By exposing a common goal of three faith traditions, Pat Westwater-Jong does not water down or ignore important differences. Rather she chooses to focus on those elements that bring neighbors in these communities to a common humanitarian vision."
Rebecca Kline Esterson,Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School
Pat's work has received an award from the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop. She has shown at the Austrian Hospice/Hotel in Jerusalem, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, and in churches around the country.
Download the program from Pat's Harvard show. See more of her photography at her
web site. |
