Dr. Jacqueline Casale Taylor Basker

The Project

This project was conceived as a reaction to the killing of the nine Turkish volunteers on the ship the Mavi Marmara that attempted to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge the Israeli blockade.

Images of the nine men were gathered from the Internet, reassembled into collages and then transformed into paintings.  The paintings are small but powerful images that evoke the individual personalities of these men.  The artist researched each one and integrated images related to their unique lives.  Their stories are told both through the images and through the text of the book.

Jacqueline Taylor Casale Basker, Ph.D., whose home is in New York City, taught at New York Institute of Technology, an American university in Amman, Jordan and coordinated its Fine Arts/Computer Graphics program.  She will be teaching in the School of Architecture of the German-Jordan University in Amman for the summer of 2014.

The Israeli blockade on Gaza was established in

2007 although declared illegal by international law.  As a result the people of Gaza have been deprived of basic necessities for life.  After the bombing of Gaza of 2008-9 the need for cement and construction materials, school materials, books and medical supplies became critical.  The Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and the Humanitarian Relief Foundation organized the Flotilla.