Pop-up Exhibition: Alien Sketches in the Holy Land

Covid-19 made us creative once again: in order to show the sketches made by Florence Plissart, a painter and traveler born in Belgium, we came up with the first Pop-Up Exhibition in Abu Tor. With the support of Holy Local Aliens, we exhibited sketches from the Holy Land for two days at the front of our center, and invited visitors to participate in a workshop and get sketched.

Florence Plissart uses her drawings and paintings as a bridge connecting with others. Encounter, discovery and travel are the common thread in her artistic projects. Here she describes herself: “I’m not a Christian, not a Jew, not a Muslim. Neither an exchange student, NGO worker, theologist or archeologist… However, I lived mostly in Jerusalem for the past 21 months. We were brought here by my husband’s work, and felt strongly attracted by the intensity of the Holy City. Finding my place here has often been a struggle, since I belonged to no community. Two things eventually helped me to find my place: sketching the beauty of the city and its people, and meeting the Holy Local Aliens, an amazing community that brings people together beyond walls.“

The first pop-up exhibition in Abu Tor showed seven sets of sketches from Jerusalem, Acre, and the activities of Holy Local Aliens. Due to the current restrictions, the drawings were displayed on the wall along the street in front of the Willy Brandt Center. Around 100 visitors passed by during the two days, many of them from the neighborhood.

During both days, Plissart also sketched children from the neighborhood and the participants of the workshop that was organized by Holy Local Aliens.