Art is a timeless tradition, and Israel is no stranger to keeping precious artifacts safe to stand the tests of conflict throughout the centuries. In Israel, when everyone’s world came to a grinding halt following the October 7 massacre, Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum prepared for the unknown. This meant that many ancient artifacts were removed from their displays and taken to a special vault for safety.
This provided a singular opportunity to fill those empty spaces with items from a new exhibition that would show the similarities between the suffering of Jewish ancestry and the pain of a post-October 7 Israel.
Shortly after the war broke out, the museum served many purposes. It provided a haven for the displaced, a creative workshop space for the traumatized, and a temporary school for children with special needs.
Curator Noa Arad Yairi connected with Risa Levitt, executive director of Bible Lands, and decided to make the most of the space in question. “In place of those valuable antiquities, many of which came from challenging periods in our ancient history, we now have expressions of our current reality, amplifying the past in the present moment,” Levitt said.
Walking through the exhibition titled “Splinter from the Storm,” one can see the parallels and the contrasts of the Land of Israel thousands of years ago with that of today. Though many pieces were created in 2023, inspired by the collective trauma experienced just a few months ago, a handful of pieces are older but still relevant.
One of the first pieces seen upon entering the exhibition is the statue of a golden woman lying on her back, perched atop barbed wire. At first glance, her body may appear lifeless, but her body language says, “I have experienced the worst, but I am still here.” One of the most impactful pieces, it was not the exhibition’s sole success.
One of the many impactful pieces, titled When Home Doesn’t Feel Safe Anymore, is a sculpture created by Yairi. It shows the head of a woman in a shell; a thick, hard outer layer blocks half of her face. On one side, the woman’s face is covered, while the other side, which is exposed, shows an expression of fear that only comes with living through traumatic events. On Oct. 7, homes were ransacked; people were mutilated, murdered, violated, kidnapped. It’s impossible to look at this piece and not feel the instant connection.
Among several other moving pieces is an Israeli flag with a thin line of red, sewn up like a wound. The flag is covered in gauze, symbolizing the healing of the State of Israel. Another work of art is a series of textured vases dripping in red paint, symbolizing the bloodshed. An acrylic and pencil-on-paper piece shows a person with his hand on his face while holding a phone to the ear, as if receiving horrible news.
Wow factor
Again, many pieces moved the viewer, with more than 30 original works, from plaster sculptures to Polaroid photos to electronic pieces. But just when it appeared that the wow factor had hit its peak, another broke through the mold.
Revolve looks like a ball of yarn but is actually a series of obituaries en masse, depicting the insane amount of loss that continues to shake the nation daily. This piece is continually being built upon.
It is hard to comprehend just how swiftly and successfully Levitt’s team put together “Splinter from the Storm.” Levitt told In Jerusalem that the exhibition was brought to life in just a month, which included two weeks of fumigating the pieces and a week of hanging them, in addition to other preparations. Typically, the Bible Lands Museum needs a year to put together such a display, but Levitt and her collaborators saw the need for this initiative and got to work.
“Splinter from the Storm” will remain on display through the end of April. It absolutely should not be missed. Whether you love history or art, are feeling the continued shock of the war, or are looking for something new to explore, this exhibition is more than worth it and may even warrant a second visit.■
- What: ‘Splinter from the Storm’ exhibition, a reaction to the Oct. 7 atrocities
- Who: Israeli artists, including parents of soldiers in Gaza
- Where: Bible Lands Museum, 21 Shmuel Stephan Weiz St.
- When: Now until April 30
- Why: Reflecting on parallels of ancient world and today
