Fold BIRDs for Peace
Upcoming events updated in the Peace Birds Blog.
Thank you for your interest in contributing to this project! printable patterns are in the Dropbox folder and updated instructions in this Document.
The PeaceBirds Project is a community engaged art action that integrates shared stories of grief and renewal amidst the anguish of the repeated erasure of the people, culture, history, Land and Water in what is left of Palestine. What is happening to Palestine parallels the continual nation-building, ongoing land-grabs, “slow violence” of colonization and collective massacres worldwide. And what is happening in Palestine opens up a crack, a liminal space in which all kinds of disruptions and syncopations can occur.
This project grew out of a shared desire of two artist friends, Mona Shiber and JuPong Lin, to transform the agony of witnessing atrocities happening around the world. Our people come from lineages of occupation and struggle for sovereignty, from Palestine and from Taiwan; both lands and peoples that have suffered from the “monstrosity” of colonization, empire-building, enslavement and bondage of living beings. This project invites all to fold doves and cranes to befriend our monsters, to transform the monstrosities of modernism.
We actively fold doves and cranes for a vision of peace, a future of love and friendly antagonism. We fold birds for every life flown too soon, aiming to gather many hands and hearts to fold over 35,000 birds, honoring each life taken in “the” genocide (acknowledging the number continues to increase, acknowledging that the counting of bodies only includes the deaths that get documented, as the genocides continue to increase). We continue to fold birds to match what’s being reported, at the same time, keenly aware that the deaths of the unaccounted for exceeds the methods of data collection. The 6,000 birds we have folded cannot come close to quantifying the loss of life. We continue to fold as prayer, as a ceremonial act of peacemaking and peace-dreaming.
Our project has traveled as installation, workshop, and lectures in Vermont and Massachusetts and soon, Maine. The installation birthed a play called “Phoenix in the Holy Land,” based on poetry and the verbatim transcripts of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. We envision the project taking flight and multiplying into all kinds of carnivalesque, disruptive, syncopated spaces.
We are starting a movement: hundreds & hundreds of people sharing in the folding of thousands & thousands of doves & cranes. Will you join us in starting this movement in your own circles?
Ways to help:
form circles to fold for peace, cranes & doves, together with others.
fold many birds to be added to the evolving installations.
string together folded birds
More opportunities to fold together will be posted on the News page.
Please use the contact form above to offer help with stringing the folded birds and the installation, stay updated or to request the address where cranes can be mailed.
Phase two continues into 2024; we encourage local communities to host paper folding circles and create regional installations. Hundreds of thousands of people folding hundreds of thousands of peace birds everywhere all over the world!