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Interfaith mural shares common message among faiths

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

Kids from the Police Athletic League made this mural for the opening of an international traveling exhibit that features art by Muslim kids from Jordan and Christian kids from Tampa.

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By MELISSA SZUMLIC

Tribune correspondent

Published: August 15, 2009

TAMPA - They're short, froglike and serving as ambassadors to the Middle East.

Not bad for a few handmade dolls living on a mural titled "It's Not Easy Being Green." The mural is part of an art exchange program with Amman, Jordan, initiated by the Children's Board of Hillsborough County and KidzCreate, the board's traveling art gallery.

Jonathan Terrado, 12, helped craft the mural along with local artists and 40 other kids from the Tampa Police Athletic League.

Jonathan, a seventh-grader at Memorial Middle School and a member of the National Junior Honor Society, says he never expected the artwork to serve as a tool to communicate with a foreign country.

When Jordan replied by sending a thank-you mural, "I was pretty surprised," he says. Jonathan acknowledges that the Jordanian kids' mural improved his global understanding. "It tells me how they're very caring," he says.

The Tampa mural, which features squishy dolls floating on a green canvas, was designed to promote diversity and environmental conservation. Jonathan points to his personalized green doll and talks about how the art exchange also taught him diplomacy.

His recommendation: "Be nice to everyone."

Paula Allen, a former art teacher, now works as executive director of the KidzCreate Gallery at the Children's Board. "We had this mural," she recalls, "and when it came time for us to kinda pack it away, I decided that the green dolls should be ambassadors across the world."

Looking for more information, Allen searched for "art exchange" on Google and connected with Claudia Lefco, a Massachusetts preschool teacher who founded the Iraqi Children's Art Exchange. With Lefco's help, Allen shipped the mural to the Children's Museum in Amman.

"I just really felt that it would be good to have children, especially in troubled parts of the world, communicate with each other using art and so they would understand that 'we're just kids too,'" Allen says.

Jordanian children - 200 in all - were so inspired by the Tampa art project that they created a colorful three-dimensional mural called "My Place."

"I had no idea that they would respond as big as they responded," Allen says. "They had a reception with over 500 people in Amman, Jordan, last January. I had no idea that they would have such a big event."

Now, both the murals are on display at the Children's Board in Ybor City.

Since KidzCreate launched in 2004, youngsters have designed more than 100 public art exhibits that have been displayed in the Tampa Bay area. This project is its first international art exchange.

The interactive Jordanian mural allows viewers to open cloth doors, revealing the kids' self-portraits. "It's very cool," Allen says. "So the message is, 'Welcome, welcome. Come to our place. Come to our city.'"

Peter Gorski, director of research and innovation at the Children's Board, recognizes the importance of the initiative, both locally and globally. A pediatrician with a background in child development, Gorski says that healthy communities support healthy children. He thinks the art exchange program is relevant because it fosters tolerance and understanding.

"We have a surprisingly diverse community," he says. "We must break through stereotypes, uncover and highlight the many things we have in common rather than the things that distinguish us from one another."

The Tampa children noted the turreted mosques and "strange" clothing depicted in the Amman mural. Many of the aesthetic differences depicted are related to Jordan's Islamic traditions. The U.S. Department of State estimates that 92 percent of Jordan's population is Sunni Muslim and 6 percent is Christian.

Nora Zaki, 18, will be a freshman in college. She attended the grand opening of the mural exhibit Wednesday along with other members of the Muslim community.

"I'm not a big art person," she says. Still, she says artwork has the power to diminish stereotypes. "It's one of the best mediums to communicate with and to understand someone's culture."

Zaki wears a gauzy head-covering called a "hijab." The kids question her about this garment, "Aren't you hot?" "Why do you wear it?"

For Zaki and other Muslim women, the "hijab" is not a burden but an expression of faith and modesty.

"It represents a lot of things," says Zaki, "but also shows that you're proud to be Muslim."

Ahmed Bedier works with United Voices for America. He values the role children can have in diplomacy.

"For the past decade there's been a rising tension between the United States and the Muslim world, especially in the Middle East," says Bedier, a Muslim from Egypt. "The current leadership and the adults haven't found a solution. Looks like the kids are finding their own way towards peace and understanding, which is excellent."

IF YOU GO

To see the dual exhibit, visit the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, 1002 E. Palm Ave., Tampa, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information, call (813) 229-2884.

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