PN: I made this drawing partly in Palestine while staying in Ramallah as a guest of the Al Qattan Foundation. The drawing was finished in London. It seemed a waste of time to be working in Palestine, better to look around. The following are some pictures I took in Qalqilya Zoo.
PN: The zoo was more or less without living animals. There was a kitten and a baby monkey in the same cage. It was very popular. Everyone watched the two animals fight. The majority of animals had died from fright and lack of proper care as a result of continuous incursions into the town by the Israeli Defence Force. The zookeeper was forced to become taxidermist but with little experience this often resulted in tragi-comic results. The most famous dead animals of Qalqilya Zoo were the giraffes - one of which was brought to Documenta by the artist Peter Friedl.
The next pics are ones my Grandad took duringa holiday to Israel.
PN: My Grandad (Maurice Woolfe) was a Zionist. He believed that the security of the Jewish people depended upon the existence of a solely Jewish state. He wanted to move to Israel and become Israeli. He tried to get to Palestine in 1948 to fight the British and Arabs but was stopped in Italy. Plans to settle in Israel came to nothing because my Grandma (Katie) considered herself Jewish but also very much European and had no interest in making a home in the Middle East. These photo's were taken later while Maurice and Katie were on holiday in Israel/Palestine.
PN: ... this is me in the Dead Sea.
