BOTHNESS
Bothness tells three stories, each told through windows that cross two divided sides. Two women pray for peace- one in Hebrew, one in Arabic- as they remember their respective fallen through the bulletproof grates that cradle Abraham’s tomb. Two teenage girls mix and match sneakers across battling blocks, pull courage from a street pole memorial, and refuse to give in to another cycle of revenge. Two pregnant mothers hold their bellies, stare across an ocean, and imagine children-to-be as butterflies, no papers needed. Each of these stories I have lived in, and each has tugged me across painful divisions. And in each I have witnessed shared memories of pain both drive divides deeper and stitch people tenderly back together, depending. Are we willing to face our shadows, illuminate their edges, surrender to the possibility of beauty after pain? Are we willing to see the us in them, and the them in us?