Artist Kites for Gaza at South Willard

At South Willard in Chinatown, 18 artists were given paper kite kits and tasked with making them into unique art objects. The exhibition is specifically organized around providing mutual aid for Gaza — kites, of course, have become a powerful symbol of Palestinian freedom and resistance. The exhibition was organized by the Palestine Book Club, a reading group that is run out of LACA that has been meeting since 2021.  

Rochele Gomez’ kite, Garfield Reads Necro-Politics, pictures just that — a studious pencil-drawn Garfield inspects the book by political theorist Achille Mbembe. Edwin Arzeta’s kite has garlands of silk flowers that form a sprawling, elegant tail, while Christian Vargas’ kite sits as a sail atop a small makeshift raft. All of the works are being auctioned off with proceeds going to Gaza Mutual Aid Society and Flo.pure, who is working to provide clean water to the area. 

Ignacio Perez, organizer of the book club and exhibition, told me that the “curation of the show came from a need to go beyond political education and be able to make a concrete impact on the ground. While this is an amazing list of artists for a group exhibition regardless of the context, it developed quite organically from a network of Los Angeles-based artists that have been unequivocal in their solidarity with the people of Palestine.”

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Photo: Artist Kites for Gaza. Photo courtesy of South Willard.