Tanenbaum Peacemakers in Action Dr. Ephraim Isaac, Dr. Sarah AK Ahmed, and Dr. Yehezkel Landau at Tanenbaum’s Divinely Inspired Art Auction
Tomorrow is World Art Day. Art and peace go hand-in-hand.
Recently, I was moved by the Iraqi art featured at Tanenbaum’s Divinely Inspired Art Event. The paintings evoked feelings of conflict, transformation, and peace. As I sit with these reflections, I think of the Peacemakers in Action in our Peacebuilding program, who show us that artists are storytellers.
Ask Peacemaker Dishani Jayaweera and she will tell you how art can help a community in Sri Lanka heal. Peacemaker Friar Ivo Markovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina knows the power of music as an art form; he leads Pontanima, an interfaith choir with a message of hope and peace.
For Peacemaker Dr. Sarah AK Ahmed, art is a restorative process that reinspires and recenters her, as she recently shared at Divinely Inspired:
“We are all here gathered to celebrate peace and what better way to do that than through art? Whenever I want to escape reality, or alter how I feel, I paint, I look to artists, and I browse paintings online.”
Art has the capacity to center us, restore us, heal us, and maybe even move us towards peace, one moment at a time.
Wishing you an inspiring and peaceful World Art Day.
In solidarity,
Rev. Mark Fowler and the Peacebuilding Team