Roger Cook’s “Thinking From Inside the Box”


	Artist Roger Cook Photo by Thomas Francisco (courtesy Roger Cook).

By Delinda C. Hanley

THE WORK OF internationally acclaimed graphic designer, photographer and artist Roger Cook was on exhibit throughout November at the Palestine Center in Washington, DC. Cook, whose Arabic name, Rajie, derives from the word for hope, lives in Washington Crossing, PA, and is the son of Najeeb and Jaleela Cook from Ramallah, Palestine.

His sculptural assemblages somehow capture the sorrow of the Palestinian Nakbah. When asked why he chose to tell the Palestinian story using small window boxes, he explained, “As in the theater, where performers work within a three-dimensional environment to convey comedy or tragedy, I am creating miniature (silent) theaters to express the same. Within a three-dimensional space (which I construct) and with the use of found and fabricated objects (the performers), I am trying to share my innermost feelings with my audience.”

Many of the “Boxes” Cook has created are an expression of the artist’s deeply felt concern for human rights and for the tragic conditions in the Middle East, and to articulate the circumstances and experiences he encountered during the 10 years he has served on the Task Force for the Middle East, a group sponsored by the Presbyterian Church, USA. He has traveled with the Task Force on fact-finding trips to Israel, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. On these trips the group has met with Israelis, Palestinians, Christians and Muslims, legislators, soldiers, settlers, professors, physicians and peace groups—the entire range of those involved in the Middle Eastern situation.

Cook finds the objects and doll parts he uses for his art work in flea markets. He also creates boxes featuring happier themes, like his wife’s valentine gift, and other subjects that touch him.

Cook’s work was featured in the “Made in Palestine” exhibition at the Station Museum in Houston, TX, described in the November 2003 Washington Report, as well as numerous other exhibits focusing on peace and Palestine. As president of a graphic design firm he founded in 1967, Cook, now retired, produced all forms of corporate communications—including corporate identity, advertising, signage, annual reports and brochures. In addition to his work for major international corporations, in the 1970s he and his partner designed the symbols now used by airports around the world to direct travelers. Cook’s works may soon hang in the Smithsonian, and his poster of a keffiyeh and peace signs can be found in rooms around the world. (To order a keffiyeh poster call the AET Book Club 800-368-5788 #2.)

In the Palestine Center exhibit, the poetry of Nathalie Handal, one of the Palestinian Diaspora’s most highly regarded writers, is featured alongside Cook’s work. Named one of 10 Arab writers of note by the San Francisco Chronicle, she currently is working on various theater projects, and her latest book of poetry, The Lives of Rain, is forthcoming.

Recalling an art teacher who once told him that an Egyptian word for sculpture means “one who keeps alive forever,” Cook said he hopes his boxes create a greater public awareness of the Palestinian issue to people today and in the future.

People can express their opinions verbally, through discussions, debates and even yelling matches, the artist observed, but “It’s hard to argue with a box.”

For more information or to schedule an exhibit of Roger Cook’s work, e-mail <rajie@aol.com>.

Delinda C. Hanley is news editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.