About
Alongside the Govett-Brewster’s presentation of the Stitching Solidarity: Artists for Palestine quilt, join Marilyn Garson, Ruakere Hond and Tahseen Othman for a conversation reflecting on the role artists play as agents of political change and the responsibilities we hold in Aotearoa to enact solidarity with Palestine in the face of ongoing genocide.
Garson, Hond and Othman will offer personal responses to selected patches which make up the solidarity quilt. Together, we aim to open space to consider relationships between systems of settler colonial violence playing in Palestine and those that have shaped contemporary Aotearoa, and build hope for a future built on justice and self-determination.
Entry to this event is free, but space is limited. Please RSVP to secure your spot.
Marilyn Garson spent nearly two decades working with war-affected communities, much of that time establishing arts-based, locally owned non-profits. Her contribution to the Stitching Solidarity: Artists for Palestine quilt incorporates the embroidery of women in Afghanistan and Gaza.
Since returning home to Aotearoa, she has written two books of Jewish perspectives on Palestine, Still Lives—a Memoir of Gaza, and Jewish, not Zionist. The latter tells the story of Marilyn’s exclusion from Aotearoa's Jewish institutions and the construction of a liberatory Jewish identity—both activist and spiritual. She is the co-founder of Sh'ma Koleinu - Alternative Jewish Voices of Aotearoa NZ.
Marilyn is Tangata te Tiriti, an immigrant descended from refugees. Speaking alongside Māori and Palestinians has been an education in the long vision of Indigenous social justice, here and there. Marilyn believes that creativity is essential to the work of justice.
For over 30 years Ruakere Hond has worked and taught in Māori language immersion programmes for adult education and in community-based reo development projects working to re-create Māori speaker communities. Much of his activity has been to enhance the use of immersion learning with Te Ataarangi and in revitalising regional language with Te Reo o Taranaki and Kura Whakarauora. His views have helped influence New Zealand’s language revitalisation strategy as a past member of Te Taura Whiri and Te Mātāwai.
Currently, Ruakere has multiple roles in the community, while also a sitting member of the Waitangi Tribunal. Within ‘Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori’, a Ministry of Education project, he has a leadership role in the delivery, content development and strategy of this immersion reo programme for school and early childhood teachers through the Manawatū, Whanganui, Taranaki region.
Tahseen Othman was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan to a family that was forcibly expelled from Palestine during the Nakba in 1948. Growing up in Jordan, he studied at UNRWA schools and later pursued higher education, earning a master's degree in agriculture.
In the years that followed, Tahseen moved to New Zealand, where he built a new life. In 2004, he married Sawsan Masoud, and together they have three teenage sons. Despite living abroad, Tahseen remains deeply connected to his Palestinian roots and actively supports the Palestinian cause.
Image: Stitching Solidarity: Artists for Palestine, detail, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, 2024. Photo: Cheska Brown.