About Life Illuminated
Life Illuminated is those moments of awe, those sparks of wonder, those striking encounters, those subtle or profound incidents that give us pause--those experiences that do something to us.
Life Illuminated Travel offers that. It draws you out of your familiar spaces and and enables awareness of what is, that reality right in front of you or right within you, which so often gets cluttered over with the debris of chattery thoughts, busyness, and an over stuffed schedule. Life Illuminated Travel brings you to those thresholds of encounter, providing you with opportunities for immersion, exploration, reflection, and transformation.
About Me
Greetings!
I'm Katie Archibald-Woodward. Born and raised in southern California, I went north to study at Willamette University in Oregon followed by a move to Atlanta, Georgia to earn my Master of Divinity at Columbia Theological Seminary. Formative travel experiences and a growing desire to help connect people through visual and voiced storytelling led me to a certificate in Digital Photography at Emory University and a certificate in Spiritual Companioning through the Shalem Institute. I focus the majority of my energy on being a connector between the United States and Palestine and Israel through storytelling, speaking engagements, and pilgrimages. My aim is to help spread awareness about the daily life of our neighbors in Israel and Palestine and partner with them in their pursuit of freedom, equality, dignity, and peaceful coexistence.
Visual and Voiced Storytelling
Since 2017 I have been touring my multimedia project "Through The Checkpoint", created in partnership with the Creative Visions foundation, to provide vision and voice to life lived amidst occupation in Palestine-Israel. In November of 2018 I began creating “Children of Bethlehem” in partnership with Dar Al-Kalima School in Bethlehem and the Creative Visions foundation. The project was initiated in response to witnessing depression, anxiety, and other trauma among Palestinian youth primarily caused by being among four generations in Palestine-Israel who have only known life under military control and colonial power. Through photographs and conversations, "Children of Bethlehem" expresses the daily life, emotions, fears and dreams of Bethlehem’s youth at the pivotal ages of 12-13 years old and invites perspective on how their current reality is shaping them as the future influencers of the region.
"Through The Checkpoint" and “Children of Bethlehem” are both virtual and live exhibitions. Find out when they are coming to your community! Not there yet? Contact me to host either collection, a combination of the collections, or a smaller pop-up show!
Travel With Me!
After numerous trips to the Holy Land over the last seven years building rich friendships and strong partnerships, and ever-increasing in my desire to help usher in an equitable, sustainable, peaceful coexistence, I am eager to bring others to Israel-Palestine with me! Together we will explore the land and history, meet resilient, hope-filled people, grow in awareness, and pursue positive transformation of our global community and ourselves. I invite you to join me on an in-depth educational pilgrimage. Contact me for more details!
Through travel, spiritual formation, and art I endeavor to raise awareness, motivate action, and contribute to increased equality, freedom, and wholeness in our world. I hope you will join me!
For more, check out my interview with AIJCast! (Art - Inspiration - Justice Podcast)