No excuses can hide the criminal actions of a Nazi fellow-traveller in this admirably objective documentary, suggests MARTIN HALL
Art vs Israeli genocide
RON JACOBS celebrates the visceral clarity of the political protest art of Peter Schumann and Bread and Puppet theatre
THE ART OF PROTEST: Two examples from the Gaza Genocide Bedsheets series
PAUL DONOVAN relishes a fascinating exploration of the leading lights of the Labour right in the 1970s
BEN LUNN alerts us to the creeping return of philanthropy and private patronage, and suggests alternative paths to explore
A novel by Argentinian Jorge Consiglio, a personal dictionary by Uruguayan Ida Vitale, and poetry by Mexican Homero Aridjis
MIK SABIERS savours the first headline solo show of the stalwart of Brighton’s indie-punk outfit Blood Red Shoes
New releases reviewed by IAN SINCLAIR
STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves
Gaza Genocide Bedsheets
Peter Schumann, Formite, £15.69
THERE are no words evocative enough to describe the horror of what is taking place in Gaza. The constant bombardment, the forced displacement of millions from their homes, the intentional destruction of hospitals and schools; the ethnic cleansing of a population, the mass murder and the defiant rejection of calls for a ceasefire by the United States.
These verified war crimes together with reports of babies left to die in maternity wards by Israeli troops, the burying alive of wounded Palestinians and the use of banned white phosphorus renders any language incapable of expressing the horror. In instances like this, the truth of the saying that a picture tells a thousand words becomes obvious.
This essential truth is what led Bread and Puppet Theatre founder Peter Schumann to paint a series of images and words on bedsheets, hung at Bread and Puppet’s property in Glover, Vermont. Like Bread and Puppet’s work since the 1960s has always done, these images are designed to provoke a response — and action.
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