Drawings created by Israeli and Palestinian children are currently being exhibited at Brown University, offering insight into the experiences of young people living amid conflict. The exhibition, titled “Innocent Knowledge,” is the result of a project developed in a Fall 2024 public humanities course at Brown called Israel-Palestine: Public Humanities.
Nearly 400 children from 15 communities across Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza contributed artwork using crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Their images include scenes such as flowers blooming next to tanks and demolished houses beneath shining suns. A selection of 62 drawings collected between October 2024 and June 2025 is on display through February 20 at Brown’s Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.
The exhibition was first shown last fall at Central Synagogue in New York. It is free and open to the public with required reservations.
Katharina Galor, an associate teaching professor of Judaic studies who co-curated the exhibition with undergraduates Canaan Estes and Taher Vahanvaty, explained: “We are hoping not only to engage the Brown community but also to bring in the larger public, as this exhibition can be of interest to anyone who is concerned about what happens in the Middle East — no matter their personal views or identities — and how it impacts our community here in the U.S. and in Rhode Island.”
Students in Galor’s course were tasked with developing a scholarly yet accessible project proposal related to Israeli-Palestinian relations. Estes conceived of “Innocent Knowledge” after being inspired by “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” a book featuring children’s drawings from Terezín concentration camp during World War II. Although initially intended as a class proposal, student enthusiasm led Galor and her students to make it a reality by inviting submissions from children ages 5 to 14 focusing on family, home, or events from the past year.
The exhibition features digital images rather than originals; these remain with their creators. To preserve anonymity, artworks are presented without names and organized by themes such as “Family and Home,” “Violence and Loss,” and “Hope and Identity.” They are not grouped by geography or religious identity.
“Each drawing, created by children who are living under very different conditions, speaks from a world marked by violence, rupture and displacement, but also by memory, endurance and the instinct to make meaning,” said Galor.
Visitors can use QR codes displayed on gallery walls to access further information about individual works via a website available in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. Galor added: “We can look at the images created by children in this distinct geography as direct testimony of what happens in their lives. Of course, we can contextualize and examine these drawings as scholars using different disciplines, from psychology to human rights to law and political science, but we can also engage with these images at a much simpler level and just let them speak to us.”
A panel discussion about the project took place at the Simmons Center on January 28. An opening reception accompanied by a concert will be held on Sunday, February 8 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., rescheduled due to snow; advance registration is required.
