Cologne photo exhibition ‘ inside out’ documented everyday life in Bethlehem Cologne/Bethlehem – I can make not unlike yelling in the face of these barriers, every day a battle. I am Palestinian, but they tell me that do not agree because of my Israeli identity card “, commented the young Sara his photo on the he screaming presses against a glass wall. “The photo is part of the exhibition inside out”, which is to see since last Saturday in the courtyard of the Town Hall of Spanish construction in Cologne. Sara’s face reflects a mixture of anger and despair. This sense belongs to the everyday life of Palestinian youth. They are stateless and are restricted by a wall that separates the city of Bethlehem from Jerusalem. “Many of them face their life situation fainted, many of them feel they have no influence and to be forgotten”, as the initiator of the photo exhibition inside out “, Ingeborg Tiemann. The German specialist in the civil peace service of work community for Development aid (AGEH) works at the University of Bethlehem.
Together with the students and the photographer Andrea Merli, she attended the Bethlehem refugee camp of AIDA and asked young people living there, to let himself be photographed so their feelings according to then they should write an explanatory text. “For me as a specialist in the civil peace service of the AGEH political and religious conflicts are a natural part of every social life together once. The goal is not to suppress conflicts or to avoid, but to edit them non-violent and constructive”, as Tiemann. A sustainable conflict resolution could work but only if the person concerned first consciously perceive their experienced feelings and thoughts through introspection. Such a possibility of the non-violent expression was a crucial experience for young people. It is therefore as a sign of hope, that young Palestinians despite initial resistance to could overcome their Feelings verbally and visually to go outside. Many are not used in their everyday lives. But their enthusiasm has grown increasingly over the course of the project.
We hope that they will maintain a similar peaceful dealing with conflict situations and develop and disseminate this understanding in their private and professional lives. The project that does not collapse the wall, but it breaks their ominous silence”, as Tiemann finally. The exhibition is open until October 30, 2008: on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 8 to 16: 00 on Tuesdays from 8 till 18: 00 and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 12 P.m. in the courtyard of the Town Hall of Spanish construction, Town Hall Square, 50667 Cologne. Editorial NeueNachricht Gunnar Sohn Ettighoffer Strasse 26 A 53123 Bonn Tel: 0228 620 44 74 fax: 0228 620 44 75 mobile: 0177 620 44 74 E-Mail: Web: