Artist Statement

Simply, my art is my statement, and through art I integrate the different facets of my life, as an inter-disciplinary artist, therapist, Rabbi and activist.

It is my belief that my role as an artist is to become a communicator of socioeconomic phenomena, using my art as a tool and a stage. I focus on progressive grassroots outreach projects, dedicating my art to the people whom I have treated and collaborated with over my thirty-year career as a therapist. These collaborators, in spite of pain, trauma and difficult circumstances, had the integrity and courage to transform themselves and their role in their circumstances.

And from my experiences with them I draw the courage, when my life challenges me, to transform myself.

Ruth - 2020

AS+IF+ISM - 2016

The Lost Rationale - 2009

Continuously the war in Afghanistan is in search for a rationale while demanding a horrific waste of human life and resources. “The Lost Rationale”, along with the rest of my work, addresses social and political issues, and connects them to broader more general questions of humanity and the human condition. It is my privilege to participate in this traveling exhibition as part of the important work of AFSC, which so often communicates the voices of the unheard.

Classifieds - 2009

Classifieds reflects on a broader socio-economic phenomenon known as the Prison Industrial Complex, as well as re-entry issues of previously incarcerated people. Influenced by her work as a therapist with previously incarcerated men and women, Palombo devised the idea of using classified ads as a way to include the previously incarcerated narratives in the “daily conversation” of the Chicago paper, The Reader. There were direct, honest and brave stories of circumstances that led to incarnation, revealing the social disadvantage and lack of support system. In this piece, Granite Palombo-Amit collaborated with the poet Jan Beatty whose poem appears on one of the lenticular lenses of the piece.

An Exercise in Trust- 2007

An image of Palestinian detainees, eyes folded led by an Israeli soldier
A print on lenticular lenses 4’x1’