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Historical images and contemporary photographs of Bethlehem are presented in “Views of Bethlehem: Then and Now/An Ordinary Life in an Extraordinary Context,” on display at the Bapst Library Gallery through Wednesday.
The exhibition comprises some 40 images and “contrasts historical and modern photographs of Bethlehem to show how the Israeli occupation, particularly the separation wall that divides it from Jerusalem, has affected the social, economic and political development of the city,” according to Matthew DeMaio ‘13, president of BC Students for Justice in Palestine, which is one of the sponsors.
The goal of the exhibition, he adds, is to foster deeper and wider awareness of the situation facing Greater Bethlehem, to promote mutual beneficial exchanges and extend humanitarian support.
“Views of Bethlehem,” DeMaio notes, was put together by the Cambridge/Bethlehem People-to-People Project, formed in 2007 to address the circumstances facing Palestinians, according to its website, which notes that “Bethlehem was chosen in response to a specific call from its citizens, facing tremendous social and economic isolation, to ‘re-open Bethlehem’ to the global community.”
The historical images on display were made available by Harvard University's Fine Arts Library. The modern images were taken by Palestinian students at the Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theatre Training Center, an independent, non-political and non-governmental association in the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem.
Other BC exhibition sponsors include the Boston College Art Club, the Arts and Social Responsibility Project, and Boston College Libraries.
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