Argentina
Statement
To whisper. Not shout. To suggest. Not determine. To ask – without expecting finite answers. To paint images which the viewer can relate to from their personal, ever-changing point of view. All this drives me when I am creating. The topics that arise in my art are related to the daily actions we take in society, which in turn, dictates its rules upon us. It begins with family relationships and dives into the female image in patriarchal society, identity and gender perception. Things which are swept down the carpet of the family dinner, reappear in my works on the table itself. My inspiration often comes from films, children’s stories, costume catalogs, old photos, social media posts, and more. I work with diverse surfaces such as canvas, cloth, cardboard, tablecloths, old books and plastics applying oil paints, acrylic, charcoal, colored markers and varnish.
Being an immigrant artist and a child who kept travelling back and forth between Argentina and Israel, I feel that in order to read and interpret my work, one has to think of the term ‘translation’. When we use a certain term or reference in different languages, it takes on new baggage and connotations. I see the act of painting as an act of meta-lingual translation. An act that transmits a variety of cultural contexts through the same ‘word’ – or in my case – the same image.
When I approach the painting of a family scene, for instance, I create it with contexts of different patterns that are not dichotomies but rather – fluid. The same goes for the way I refer in my works to the topic of gender. In the same image, I try to encompass a rainbow of identities and meanings, not reducing it to one single sense. My visual vocabulary also incorporates a process of abstraction and converses with both figurative and expressive painting. In addition, although my work carries an ongoing dialog with forms of representation & painting which are common to each of the cultures that I am part of – I remain a spectating outsider.
Profile
GlogauAIR resident from July 2019 to September 2019
GlogauAIR Project
Family Snapshots
Family snapshots– a project about a family during a tempestuous period in history
My current project explores the “truths” about the historic figure of Magda Ritschel-Friedländer Goebbels, and the vast gap between her public image and her personal story. I perceive her as an exemplar of the tangled, complex relationship between people – and ideologies.
Ideologies create sets of rules that must be totally believed and absolutely obeyed at all times. However, from a historic point of view, ideologies tend to come and go: what is considered the “ideal” in a certain time and place, may become the complete opposite once this ideology loses its grip.
During the Nazi regime, Magda Gebbels embodied perfect Arian beauty, loyalty, and motherhood as a partner of one of the most powerful men in Nazi regime. Notwithstanding, today, this image appears in a different light, as the ideology she represented with her own body is despised by most of the liberal world. Her story is one of painful obedience – to her own husband, as well as to Third Reich’s set of rules. Disobedience was probably not an option for her, when she decided to murder her own six children and commit suicide in the Fuhrer’s bunker in Berlin once the Third Reich was defeated.
My perspective of the image of Magda changed as I read her biography two years ago. As a Jewish child born and raised in Argentina, I was highly aware of the horrible deeds of WW2 and have always pictured the Nazis as inhuman monsters. Somehow, Magda’s story evoked different kinds of feelings within me, such as compassion and confusion. I’ve learned that Magda used to be an enthusiastic Zionist who was involved with Haim Arlozoroff and could have ended up in a Kibbutz in Palestine. Once she was engaged with Joseph Goebbels, her life took a different route as she became an emblem of Arian values. Suddenly, I felt that the narratives we are used to accepting as absolute truths can be challenged and can acquire different shades of meaning and interpretation.
The personal and the national intertwined. History and memory collided. I started to draw Magda and her children from snapshots that documented the Goebbels’ family happy moments, captured in Nazi propaganda. By doing so, I started to wonder whether Magda was really in control of her own life when she chose to live by an ideology that dictated who can live and who should die.
I addressed the question of choice through everyday material. I turned to Nazi posters and recreated them on cardboard, tablecloths and disposable plates – simple, conventional substances that can be found in every family home.
I now wish to take my ongoing project forward by creating the next works in Berlin, where it all happened, where the origin of the ideology is. I intend to explore the city’s open markets, and second-hand, memorabilia shops and to use actual materials that Berlin has to offer. I plan to acquire used tablecloths, plates, old books and other materials that are both meaningful and original. In my eyes these objects hold actual memories within them: they belonged to someone, and were part of their household for many years. By using them in my work I can give them new life and add new layers of meaning.
I also wish to attend Berlin’s archives, libraries and museums to search for letters, old photographs and documents, personal diaries and papers from those days. I’m moved by the idea of looking at these pieces of history first hand, and their contribution to my understating and practice is priceless.
Creating the next works in this vast project in Berlin is highly meaningful to me. It is the ultimate location for me to explore the question I’m focusing on, regarding free choice, social norms and expectations and the nature of the fine line between people and nation. In my opinion, Magda’s story, as well as Berlin’s local history, carries a great political, historical and humanistic importance – as the ultimate materialization of the suspended tension between the personal and public.
CV Summary
- 2005-2009 Artist Diploma, “Hamidrasha”, Beit-Berl Art College
- 1995-1998 B.A. in English Literature & Linguistics, Tel Aviv University
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- 2018 “Fun Fair” , 4 Floretine Art Space, Tel Aviv, Israel. Curator: Jennifer Bloch
- 2017 “Passe Partout – painted conversations”, Ruben&Carla project space, Berlin, Germany. Curators: Silvia Spacchetti and Gianluca Quaranta (“The Context”)
- 2013 “Controversial”. Chlenov 3 Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel. Curator: Gali Timen
- 2012 “Secrets and Lies”. The Zaritsky Artists’ House, Tel Aviv. Curator: Arie Berkowitz
- 2012 “Every mother needs a girl”. Zadik Gallery, Jaffa. Curator: Hana Coman
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- 2018 “Not a word”, Rishon Lezion Artist House, Curator: Jennifer Bloch & Ruth Orenbach
- 2018 “Motion”, Cuckoo’s nest, Tel Aviv, Israel. Curators: Beenee Sarid and Udi Itzhayek – Zooza Gallery
- 2017 “Another Space”, Takt Kunstprojektraum, Takt A.I.R, Berlin, Germany. Curator: David Kantounas
- 2017 “Paula Elion / Yun Nam¨(joint exhibition), Rasch Gallery, Kassel, Germany. Curator: Tobias Rasch
- 2016 “Iran, Iran”, Kaye Academic College of Education Gallery, Beer Sheva, Israel. Curators: Nir Harmat and Israel Ravinovich
- 2015 “On the face”, Zadik Gallery, Jaffa, Israel. Curator: Hana Coman
- 2012, 2013, 2014 “Bread & Roses”, exhibition for the rights of Arabic women workers in Israel. Tel Aviv, Israel
- 2014 “Money”, Zadik Gallery, Jaffa, Israel. Curator: Hana Coman
- 2014 “Paper Whispers”, drawing exhibition, Muza Plus Gallery, Jaffa, Israel. Curator: Liliana Orbach
- 2014 Third International Watercolor Biennale, Belgrade, Serbia. Curator: Pedja Asimovic
- 2013 “Your body is a battleground”. International group exhibition. Pristine Gallery, Monterrey, Mexico. Curator: Raul Zamudio
- 2012 “The Lunch Box Project”. Group exhibition at the Water Institute, Givataim, Israel. Curator: Gali Timen
- 2012 “On a small scale”. Zadik Gallery, Jaffa. Curator: Hana Koman
- 2012 Second International Watercolor Biennale, Belgrade, Serbia. Curator: Pedja Asimovic
- 2012 Exhibition for Gesher Theatre. ST-Art Gallery, Jaffa, Israel
- 2011 “Nisuy Kelim Festival No.8”, Tel Aviv. Curator: Arie Berkowitz
- 2011 “Taboo”, “The Independent Salon”, at the former central bus station, Tel Aviv, Israel. Curator: Yael Ben Shalom
- 2010 ” Memory tricks” (joint exhibition with Vered Aharonovich) Haddasa Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel. Curator: Ofra Zucker
- 2010 First International Watercolor Biennale, Belgrade, Serbia. Curator: Pedja Simovic
- 2010 “Tree of Knowledge”, Haddasa Gallery, Jerusalem, Israel. Curator: Ofra Zucker
- 2010 “Freedom”, on line exhibition. Curator: Dorit Pokatz
- 2010 The Heder Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel. Curator: Neta Gal-Atzmon
- 2010 “Salon des Refusés”, Jaffa, Israel. Curators: Yael Ben-Shalom, Michal Rivlin
- 2010 “Artists for Amutat Tamar”, Herzlilinblum Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel. Curator: Anat Ahuvi
- 2010 “Ex-Territory”, Urban Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel. Curator: Sigal Kashkash
- 2009 Secret Art 4, Bank Leumi. Curators – Esti Drori, Doron Polak – Artura
- 2009 “Agalogia” – ecology and women in modern society, Kfar Saba Art Gallery. Israel. Curator: Aya Bernhard
- 2007 “Family Ties”, Zionist of America House. Tel Aviv, Israel. Curator: Doron Polack
- 2006 “Apropos les Damsels”, Petach Tikva Art Museum . Petach Tikva, Israel. Curator: Gilad Meltzer
SELECTED ACQUISITIONS
- 2012 Private collection ST-ART exhibition (for Gesher Theatre)
- 2011 Private collectors (Hanina’s and “Bread and Roses” exhibitions)
- 2010 Urban Gallery, Tel Aviv
- 2009 Bank Leumi Collection
- 2009 ST-ART Collection, Serge Tiroche
