Three women artists, three questions

Women have been present in the Israeli art scene from its beginnings – artists such as Aviva Uri, Esther Peretz Arad, Anna Ticho, Leah Nikel, and Ruth Shlos. Their role in building the art world in Israel seems to me as significant as the impact of female pioneers (halutzot) in creating the State of Israel, the role of the first female prime minister, Golda Meir, and (up to the present day) the importance of female soldiers serving in the IDF.

However, even though the role of women has been so crucial in Israel, and the feminist art movement was not as strong as in other countries, it took female artists decades to be equally represented by galleries and museums.

Ruth Markus is a retired lecturer in Tel Aviv University’s History of Art Department and founder of the Association for Women’s Art and Gender Research in Israel. In her article “Artists: Yishuv and Israel: 1920-1970” in the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, she says that it is only since the 1990s that “the number of participants in exhibitions in the various museums and galleries was divided equally between men and women, with the women at times even in the majority.”

Today, I even dare to say that women dominate Israeli art. Therefore, especially on International Women’s Day, I’ve chosen for the Magazine three women artists who, even during the war, are constantly active. They agreed to answer my three questions:

• What inspires you?
• What do you call art?
• What, in your opinion, makes your artwork different from that of other artists?

Batia Shani

Batia Shani is a multimedia artist, emphasizing embroidery, mail art, painting, and collage. She is the mother of three and grandmother of six.

She uses materials and clothes previously used, including IDF uniforms. Shani embroiders texts, images, numbers, and amorphic shapes. Each of the garments holds images and words; for example, the names and ages of women murdered by their partners. Her art deals with social issues, violence against women and families, people in crisis, refugees, and recently, the painful silence toward the sexual victims of the Oct. 7 massacre. In her latest works, it is embroidered: “Me too. Unless you’re a Jew.”

Born and raised in Haifa to a family of Holocaust survivors who came to Israel just after WW II, Shani was expected to get an education and start a “normal job.” So, before becoming an artist, she worked as a social worker. Art was always present in her life, but it was only in her mid-thirties that she decided to focus completely on art, studying at the Royal School of Needlework in London, and later in Israel at the Hamidrasha School of Art, Beit Berl College, Kalmania.

“The studies helped me understand that embroidery was my language,” she said. Embroidery as a craft was deeply rooted in her family traditions. When she was a girl, she watched her aunts embroidering. She changed it into art.

Since the 1990s, Shani has exhibited her work at many art fairs, galleries, and museums around the world. Now she is preparing two solo exhibitions. “I Speak Gibberish to You” is set to open on May 9 in her studio at 6 Hapelech Street in Tel Aviv. A show at the University of Haifa (name not yet revealed) will open on June 2.

INSPIRATION: Everything. In general, my work is improvised; I don’t have any plan when I start my journey with my needle [there is a dress full of stories that she worked on for a year]. My inspiration comes from the piece of fabric that I started to work with, but it must be material with some history. In many of my works, I want to preserve the memory of my late mother.

I am inspired by my emotions and by what I see around me. For example, in my upcoming exhibition, I will reflect on the situation in Israel. I felt a lack of words to express what was happening in Israel [last year], so I used embroidery as ‘gibberish’ language. I thought it was the worst moment in my country: I didn’t realize it could get much worse...

MEANING OF ART: For me, as a viewer – because I love seeing art by others – it is something that touches me. Of course, it comes through the doors of visuality, but [it has to be] something that will play on my emotional threads.

SHANI’S ARTWORK: First of all, I refuse to look for something unique, something that is only mine. But, of course, it makes me very happy when someone recognizes my embroidery and envelopes – which are also characteristics in my work; these are my fingerprints.

I think maybe the amount of sensitivity to the details, maybe my ability to express sad and painful things is what makes my works different. I am a feminist artist, so I show things that cause the discrimination of women. I try not to put, as a headline, that my work is politically involved, but I have a lot to say about politics. I am dealing with catastrophes, with grief. The current war...

The outcome is very aesthetic, often very colorful, but when people come closer to it, they notice the text that I embroidered, which is very hard.

batiashani.com/

Noa Yekutieli

At a young age, Noa Yekutieli is already an internationally accomplished artist. For over a decade she has had various solo shows and participated in group exhibitions all over the world. Her works are in the collections of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and various private collections. She lives and works in Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, and New York. Her solo exhibition “No Longer – Not Yet” is currently on view at Brooklyn’s International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) through June 21. In April, she will participate in a group exhibition “Common Ground: Israeli Art Meets Archaeology” at the Israel Museum.

Yekutieli comes from a multicultural family (Japanese-American-Israeli) and uses her rich heritage in her works. She combines a diversity of materials that, she says, “echo longing for unknown singular origins and fractured notions of home.” She engages in various mediums, such as installation, assemblage, and her signature manual paper-cutting technique, about which, she said, “It mirrors my artistic essence. It embodies the Japanese concept of ‘Ma’ – emphasizing the significance of missing or what is missed. I am drawn to the unseen, reflecting overlooked narratives and the complexities of cultural assimilation. The act of its irreversibility reduction mirrors life, leaving scars that prompt reflection.”

INSPIRATION: As a multicultural artist of Japanese-American-Israeli background, I naturally seek to bridge between cultures and languages in my work. I am inspired to explore new languages or forms of expression to address traumatic and complex subjects such as the social-political reality in Israel-Palestine, immigration, and cyclic patterns of destruction. 

Through the medium of manual cut paper, I am compelled to create spaces and artworks imbued with a deliberately contrasting aesthetic. I attempt to offer an alternative language – one that is more vulnerable, feminine, and nuanced – in observing and reflecting on the harsh realities we confront. This counters the rapid pace and predominantly Western, masculine discourse that often created this reality, to begin with, and is perpetuating the continuous destructive patterns. I am inspired to create spaces that can hold more than one narrative, more than one absolute truth – to question how we tell stories rather than telling a story.

MEANING OF ART: To me, art encompasses any endeavor that challenges what we often accept as ‘the nature of things’ or ‘established perspectives.’ It’s not about resistance for its own sake but rather about suggesting and providing fresh viewpoints to comprehend the reality surrounding us. Art acts as a bubble within which I can uniquely unfold the intricacies of reality, and then reconnect with the broader world through my art again. It serves as a meditative space where my unconscious takes over, leading me to different ways of thinking about the given.

YEKUTIELI’S ARTWORK: In my perspective, what sets my artwork apart is that I am not afraid of embracing liminal spaces. Often, there’s a reluctance to engage with these spaces of in-betweenness: those that are almost, not here nor there, or unclear, even though they constitute much of our lived experience. In my practice, I am deeply intrigued by the notion of crafting environments where we collectively explore liminality, viewing it not as a mere interim state awaiting conclusions but as a novel and fertile terrain in its own right. 

Coming from a multicultural background devoid of a historically shared past – being both Japanese and Israeli – I find myself naturally attuned to multiplicity without experiencing discomfort. In a world marked by polarization, I see the creation of spaces, where multiplicity enriches rather than confuses, as a crucial aspect of the human experience.

www.noayekutieli.com/

Ella Taub

A self-taught artist, Ella Taub – in her sculptures, paintings, relief works, prints, and drawings – focuses on the nature of changes in a feminine body, also oscillating between historically appreciated shapes and contemporary beauty images. Taub explores different female roles in her art and the evolution of self-image.

Taub works with different materials, sometimes including body-like ones, and metal chains. “I collect materials for my work from my surroundings; each of my works is connected to the place and time in which I create. Often, a material from which the sculpture emerges gives the work’s narrative,” she told the Magazine.

Some of her works are very personal and based on intimate relations with herself and others. In her recent February solo show in Tel Aviv “What I Didn’t Wear,” Taub refers to her close connection with her mother (with whom, at age five, she made aliyah from St. Petersburg, Russia) but also enters into a dialogue with her future daughters, whom she might have one day.

Taub has exhibited in Israel and Berlin. Her works are on view until March 9 at the group show “Bread and Roses 18” at the Bread and Roses Gallery in Tel Aviv.

INSPIRATION: My artistic journey is fueled by the intricate dance of relationships – those between my inner self, my corporeal form, and the world around me. The allure lies in exploring the ever-shifting nuances of the feminine physique, its narrative etched by life’s twists and turns, and its resonance across diverse cultural landscapes. Moreover, personal narratives, like the potent symbolism of freedom evoked by chains in select pieces, serve as potent wellsprings of inspiration. My art serves as a mirror reflecting the interplay of inner dialogue, societal constructs, and the relentless quest for liberation.

MEANING OF ART: Art, to me, is a boundless realm where creativity intertwines with introspection. It manifests in myriad forms. Art is not merely about aesthetics; it’s a profound exploration of complex themes, a challenge to established norms, and a conduit for stirring the soul. It’s a process that transcends boundaries, beckoning viewers into a realm of dialogue, reflection, and interpretation.

TAUB’S ARTWORK: My artistic voice resonates distinctly through its intimate exploration of the feminine form and its intricate relationship with the self-image perception and body expression society. Through solitary figures and intricate symbolism, I aim to evoke themes of independence, resilience, and the societal gaze upon women – and question historical patriarchal myths by infusion of personal narratives, and materials, that are collected with a connection to the space and time. Ultimately, my art distinguishes itself through its poignant exploration of the human experience, beckoning viewers into a silent dialogue.

ellataub.com/ 