Art Knows No Borders strongly supports Palestinian artists and their struggle for freedom from walls, occupations, and borders. We can no more ignore the plight of the Palestinian people than we can deny that the suffering of one is the suffering of all. It is through this understanding that we are united in our grief as well as our hope.
The principle that guides us in our work is that the commonality of our humanity must transcend the boundaries of circumstance. As a drought ignores borders, as polluted air remains unhindered by walls, as a refugee crisis ignores national divisions, so we believe that the only path forward is one which discards divisions of “us” and “them.” As art communicates our subjective experiences without regard to the limits of language, so too does it speak to our universal one.
It is this understanding that insists upon both our opposition to the occupation and the inclusiveness of Art Knows No Borders. As we refuse to be beholden to borders, internal or external, so do we follow our principles in all aspects of our organization. Our team comes from many national backgrounds; German, Chilean, American, Jordanian, Russian, Palestinian, and Israeli. We come from a single soul.