New Art Installation Aims To Ease Tensions In America, Features Letter From Ghandi To Hitler
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art opens November 12, and the artist hopes it will inspire Americans to come together and promote peace. Through the haze of smoke, profound words suddenly appear. They are words that try to persuade a man of immense power to take the road to peace.
"It perhaps can speak to us now," artist Jitish Kallat told Eyewitness News.
Kallat envisioned this work almost a decade ago. He flew in from India this week to open his exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It's called Covering Letter, and it's an art installation based on a letter from Mahatma Ghandi to Adolph Hitler.
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Ghandi, in his letter dated July 1939, begs Hitler not to invade Poland. The letter was intercepted by the British and Hitler invaded Poland five weeks later.
"It's a call. It's a sort of mirror for our soul to reflect," Philadelphia Museum of Art Trustee Ajay Raju told Eyewitness News. Raju bought the work from Kallat and brought it to Philadelphia.
Kallat draws parallels between Ghandi's message and the current division in the United States. He says he hopes the piece will inspire and provoke peace in the days ahead.
"It seems rather poignant that we are reading it in a situation as we are now in this particular week in this particular country," Kallat said.
The letter inspired buyer Ajay Raju to sponsor an essay contest. High school students in the region are encouraged to submit an essay about how they interpret the letter. They could receive a $10,000 college scholarship.
