Artist Reception: Laurie Wohl - "Birds of Longing: Exile and Memory"

The acclaimed fabric artist Laurie Wohl's current interfaith project - “Birds of Longing: Exile and Memory” - interweaves Christian, Jewish and Muslim poetry and spiritual texts from the period of the Convivencia in Spain (eighth through fifteenth centuries) with those of contemporary Middle Eastern poets, particularly Palestinian, Syrian and Israeli. The project consists of 19 pieces, completed between 2010-2016. Through research into the period of the Convivencia and into the wealth of contemporary Middle Eastern poetry Wohl found the themes that constitute my “Birds of Longing: Exile and Memory” project - the poetry of spiritual love, often couched in the language of secular love, the poetry of exile, a poetry of nostalgia for Andalusia, poetry referencing Old and New Testament texts, and the Qu’ran, and poetry speaking of mistrust of enemies, yearning for reconciliation.