SCHOOLCHILDREN from Belfast are being encouraged to write a poem or submit a piece of artwork to run alongside a special exhibition that will take place in St Comgall’s in May.
Moon Tell Me Truth is a collection of work by children from Gaza, who were asked to create an illustrated poem in response to two paintings by Palestinian artists as part of a competition run by the Hands Up Project. Visitors to St Comgall's will be able to see the two original artworks on display by Malak Mattar and Layla Mohammad Ibraheem Al Haj Abed and submit their own poem or piece of art – or both – for a competition to be judged at the end of the week by Leah Davis, artist in residence at The Duncairn, and Niamh McNally, Belfast-based poet.
In a collaboration with local schools, pupils from Holy Evangelists Primary School and St Louise’s College have recorded many of the poems from the children in Gaza and these will be heard as part of the exhibition.
Most of the students featured in the exhibition are now displaced and their schools have been damaged or destroyed as a result of the latest Israeli onslaught on Gaza. Two students were killed by Israeli airstrikes in October 2023 – Obada Mohammad Abu Oda, 14, and Fatema Saidam, aged nine – whose illustrated poems will be featured in tribute.
Sean Mullin, whose pupils in Holy Evangelists Primary School in Twinbrook recorded some of the Gazan children's poems, is involved in bringing the exhibition to Belfast.
"When October 7th happened, the impact in the classroom was immediate," he said. "We sometimes fault our children for being self-involved, insular or clueless about the world, however the ten and 11-year-olds in my class immediately felt empathy from the bereaved families in Israel and the hostages taken into Gaza, and immediately expressed fear and sorrow for the children in Gaza, when the ferocity of the Israeli response became apparent.
"Children recognise the wrongness of violence, especially when it affects those who are not involved in carrying out the violence.
The Waiting by Malak Mattar
"I introduced the kids to some of the poems from the Moon Tell Me Truth book, but the poem that had the biggest impact was Fatema Saidam's poem. The class took her poem as inspiration to write their own.
"They looked at the senses and how we experience the world. They talked about right and wrong and how we see things, how we use our hands, how we use our voice and how we play. The poems they wrote were based on the structure and meaning of Fatema's poem."
Moon Tell Me Truth will be on display at St Comgall’s, Divis Street, from Sunday May 5 to Saturday May 11.
Those wishing to take part in the poetry and art competition must be aged six to 16 to enter.
Submit your name, age, address and a phone number with your entry.
Entries must be submitted by 3pm on Saturday May 11.
Entries can either be submitted to St Louise’s College, Belfast, for the attention of Mairead Robb or emailed to Maireadrobb@hotmail.co.uk
There will be prizes for first, second and third in each category.
