FOMITE
Gaza; Punishing the Innocent is a collection of lino-cuts etched by Sam Kerson and originally printed by Katah at her Atelier du Livre in Quebec.
The images were created over the years, as historical incidents inspired the artist to create them. Sam Kerson was actively involved in the Six Day War as a sailor in the US Sixth Fleet, and since then has felt compelled to follow the latest developments in this ongoing series of violent encounters between the Palestinians and the Israelis.In this volume the images are accompanied by text from sources which describe the original incidents. For example, the Unite Nations investigated the 2008-2009 war and massacre in Gaza in depth; interviewing witnesses and collecting testimonies and evidence on site. All of the 2008-2009 incidents represented by images in this book are accompanied by a relevant paragraph from UN report A/HRC/12/48 is included with each image. Images from other events that seemed relevant, such as the Marvi Marmara incident in 2010, are also include.
During the recent and worst conflict we have concentrated on images of children, mothers, and people engaged in peaceful practices such as planting trees. We hope this book might be useful to those of you working for and calling for peace. Gaza Punishing the Innocent is a Dragon Dance Theatre production, published and distributed in Canada by the theatre and outside Canada by Fomite Press.
Review from Deep Green Perspective
About the Authors
Sam Kerson, theatre director, author, engraver and muralist. He is the founder and artist director of Dragon Dance Theatre, exploring visual and performing arts since 1976.
Kerson was born in 1946 in North Adams, Mass; Pagan son of a Jewish family, white off spring of America’s black history; man, born of an opinionated and outspoken woman, raised by a native American woman in an abandoned mill town; drilled in kindergarten to survive the coming A-bomb blasts; teen of the Vietnam war and acolyte of the psychedelic movement; student of the new ethics, the new men and women and the revolution in the Americas; Sandinista, Artist. Sam left North Adams when he was 17, November 22, 1963 to experience the US Navy, a misadventure that went on for most of four years, including being present in the eastern Mediterranean for the disastrous, so called, “six day war”.
Katah is the daughter of masterful baker and homemaker; she grew up between Montreal and Vermont, singing in the church choir, dreaming of the piano while studying for a career in the sciences. She traveled to Colombia before she was 20 years old where she spent months learning the language and getting acquainted with the roots of South America. She came back to Canada to complete a degree in agronomy. By the turn of the century, Katah was ready to burst from her protective shell when she met Sam Kerson who welcomed her into the Dragon Dance Theatre community. Her inquisitive nature, her industry and her organizational skills were an asset that would help her begin a new life as co-director of Dragon Dance. The dormant coals of the artist were ready to flame up, while engaging with the social issues of our times; the theatre offered such a wide range of possibilities both in the performing and the visual arts.
This book is a result of Katah’s engagement with Dragon Dance’s artist’s book projects. Now designated as, Katah’s Atelier du Livre, one of the threads of Dragon Dance activities that she has developed into a robust and creative mechanism of artistic response to the dramas of our times.