Emily Messer | 210SA Noah Simblist, a Fort Worth artist and assistant prof at SMU in Dallas, translates history through fiction.

In November 1994, Noah Simblist was leaving a downtown Jerusalem movie theater with a friend when three Palestinian gunmen dressed as Orthodox Christian priests removed machine guns from their robes and opened fire on the streets.

Listen to a conversation with Simblist

That night was a turning point for 33-year-old Fort Worth artist Simblist, whose exhibit, “The Protocols of Zion,” currently is on display at the Cactus Bra Space.

The exhibit weaves fact with fiction. Simblist created a fictional organization of Christian Zionist college students at Southern Methodist University in Dallas called the New Elders of Zion for the exhibit.

The exhibit combines series of posters, silk screens, two abstract drawings and an audio recording. Simblist also included texts about the works written by Dr. Nisim Hosblat, a fictional art historian whose name is an anagram of his own.

Simblist, an SMU assistant art professor, creates art as a contribution to the dialogue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which for him is personal. Simblist says he was raised in a Zionist environment, but is currently not religious. He has traveled to Israel more than 25 times, most recently after the 2006 conflict with Lebanon.

Exploring conflicts between religions, especially involving the turmoil in the Middle East, creates its own challenges.

“These issues are so polarizing that you can start to lose friends over them,” Simblist said.

Simblist's art does take risks. The text from the prints is extracted from the fictional group's manifesto and contains statements such as “SPREAD HATE FOR AND MISTRUST OF ARABS,” though Simblist says he himself doesn't advocate hatred or bigotry. Simblist's fictional exhibit draws on reality and history. His influences range from Russian revolutionaries to contemporary collaborative art groups.

“In a lot of ways, I am interested in looking at the present through different moments in history,” Simblist said.

Emily Messer | 210SA