Integrating human rights and the visual arts: a peace education summer project for Israeli and Palestinian students

This paper describes the author's role as an artist/art educator-in-residence at three peace and human rights education summer camps for Israeli and Palestinian teenagers. More specifically, it discusses how the camps' collaborative art making activity, the creation of a large-scale mural, contributed to the larger goal of teaching the students about human rights and facilitating interaction in a supportive environment. The paper also provides a context for the camps by briefly outlining approaches to peace and human rights education, with an emphasis on Allport's (1954) contact theory. The concluding discussion elaborates upon future directions for the camp murals and mural-related activities regarding their potential for further integrating human rights education with collaborative art making.