Exhibition Dates: February 17 - March 30, 2026
Library Gallery
Why We Record: Defying Fragmentation and Erasure in Palestine invites visitors to the exhibit to witness the truths of the past, the heartbreak of the present, and the possibilities for a future without oppression in Palestine. The exhibit includes a collection of data visualizations, archival photos, and excerpts from published stories on the themes of fragmentation, displacement, return, and future visioning.
St. Kate’s Library is grateful to the Justice Seekers of Carondelet Village for sharing the exhibit with the campus. This exhibit is part of the 2025-2026 One Read for Racial Justice.
The team behind the exhibition
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) works for a just, peaceful, and sustainable world free of violence, inequality, and oppression. Since its founding in 1917, AFSC has joined with people and partners worldwide to meet urgent community needs, challenge injustice, and build peace. This work is guided by Quaker values and principles that support the implementation of international human rights and humanitarian law, including the implementation of refugees' right of return. AFSC has had a continual presence in Palestine since 1948.
Visualizing Palestine (VP) uses data and research to visually communicate Palestinian experiences to provoke narrative change. VP envisions a liberated future for Palestinians in a world free from oppression. VP has produced over 300 research-based visual communication resources over the last 13 years, serving the Palestinian liberation movement, educators, journalists, and others with accurate, compelling, accessible, and visually stimulating information about Palestinian reality and narratives.
Why does this exhibition matter?
The exhibit’s creators deeply believe that the injustices experienced by Palestinians will end, and that people of conscience all over the world have a role to play in realizing an end to oppression. They share a deep respect for the storytellers who narrate the painful realities of Palestinians who cannot yet live in dignity and freedom.
Too often the historical context to the present-day genocide in Gaza and ongoing Israeli colonization of the West Bank and Jerusalem is missing in our mainstream news and public spaces. After viewing the powerful visuals and stories in this exhibit, we hope audiences will deepen their understanding and consider what they might do to challenge the ongoing attempts to erase Palestinian history and presence on their lands.