I originally thought that I was going to return to Beit Hanina for a second mural in that city. That is not how things worked out. Beit Hanina is a suburb of Jerusalem. As it turned out, I returned to Jerusalem to paint my final mural (for this trip) in the Old City. Yep, that’s right. I stayed in, and painted in, historic Jerusalem’s Old City.
The destination was the Terra Santa High School, a Catholic school near the New Gate. I’d walked so much of the Old City and was stunned by what was behind some of the old limestone walls that I passed. There were so many buildings, courtyards, and passages that I never imagined.
As usual, I had no idea what the mural theme might be when I walked under the archway to the school grounds. I sat down with the principal of the high school to brainstorm some ideas for Mural 73. He had a bookmark that said “Peace” with a 60’s hippie vibe, and it was his inspiration for the design. Instead of the word “Peace”, we would use “Terra Santa” which means “Holy Land”. I’d never done anything in this style before. He had suggestions for the images he wanted me to include. In the upper left quadrant are an angel, the Christian symbol of the fish, and much of the Jerusalem cross.
In the upper right corner is a design from pottery, a Peace dove, the Bethlehem star, and a woman wearing a traditional Palestinian dress. The bottom left corner shows another pottery design along with a small section of the Old City’s wall. In the final corner, the bottom right, is the rooftop of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Scattered around the entire design were some flowers and fruit.
Needless to say, there is the number 73 hidden in the Mural design. However, I learned somethings about how numbers are written in the Holy Land. They write like Europeans. Their number 1 is not a straight line up and down (the correct way). No, it has a little flag at the top that could make it confusing with the number 7. However, they make a 7 the correct way and then put a dash through the middle of it. When I asked people to find the hidden number, I learned that I had to explain what my numbers looked like. You know, the correct way.
I don’t actually know where this mural will be displayed. Many of the school walls were beautiful limestone. Nobody was painting on that. We painted on two boards that would eventually be framed and mounted in the school – after the artist had left the scene. The last rumor I heard was that it would be near the reception where everyone could see it. (That’s way better than an unnamed place that stuffed their panels in a closet.)
My volunteers to help me paint were seventh, eighth, and ninth graders. I was so pleased that enough of them spoke English that I could communicate. There was one boy that all faculty, staff, and students knew was the artist inn their midst. On the first day that I showed up, he had artwork to share with me. I don’t know if I drew that well when I was twelve. I was impressed. He painted with me more than any other student. I called him my “Artist Habibi”.
Talk about perfect timing. I finished the mural on the day that I was scheduled to leave Israel. There was no panic, though. I finished the mural in the morning, and I didn’t need to be at the airport until midnight. There was plenty of time for a visit by friends at the U.S. Embassy and Father Ibrahim, the Catholic priest over the Holy Land. Everyone wants me to return to this part of the world for more murals. Of course, that includes me, too.