Three new exhibitions with the title THREADS

Nava Harel-Shoshani – HEROINES WITHOUT CROWNS curated by Rina Gnosov
Maria Arendt – INSIDE OUT curated by Naomi Gordon-Chen
Revital Arbel – DEFLORATION curated by Ray Sommer-Tal

Revital Arbel is an artist as well as a gynecologist. As an artist she works primarily by combining photography and embroidery. As a doctor she specializes in gender reassignment surgery (sex change operations), surgery to restore virginity and pelvic floor recovery following childbirth – sensitive issues that inundate her artistic creations as well.

In the exhibition, adapted to the library space, the artist displays “Tapestries” that were created by hand embossed medical seals once used to signify the location of pathological findings and by embroidery on photographs taken by the artist. The series of photographs also depicts processes and images from the world of medicine: a placenta, a fetus in the womb, and a belly showing a surgical scar concealed by a tattoo. These photographs are difficult to view, and the artist has used embroidery to embellish them by adding capillaries, emphasizing internal organs, and attempting to intervene in medical procedures. An exception can be seen in the work Defloration, at the center of which are flowers photographed by the artist during a family trip to Portugal. Nevertheless, the word “defloration” usually refers to the act of depriving a woman of her virginity by rupturing the hymen through sexual intercourse. A close look reveals that the pastoral photographs of flowers is actually a collage in which some of the flowers are actually photographs of hymens that have been surgically restored. Embroidered flowers are interspersed with the bare embroidered hymens.

Revital Arbel has also built a special installation for the library space. In which she uses sterile sheet and gown from the operating room and attaches embroidered photographs to them. The installation represents an artistic atempt to introduce the spirit of the operating room into the library museum space.

As a surgeon, Revital Arbel specializes in fusing, repairing and healing human ruptures. As an artist she has chosen to continue using needle and thread to generate intervention and repair.

Raya Zommer-Tal
Exhibition Curator

For the first time in Israel, a wide-ranging exhibition of male and female creators will be presented, each examining in his own unique language the connection of his art to the subjects of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. In addition, artworks dealing with disabilities related to the use of the senses will also be presented. The artists’ forum “Think Forward” was established about five years ago and includes artists with academic degrees, who come from a wide variety of fields, among others from the worlds of medicine, physics, biology, archeology, psychology, art, education and more. The project in Amiad brings together the men and women of the academy, the scientists and artists, and will include an exhibition of painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video art. Among other things, meetings of scientists and artists, guided tours of the exhibition, movement and music shows, films and open dialogue with the audience will be held as part of the exhibition. The producers of the project: The “Artists’ Museum” organization in cooperation with “Thinking Forward Forum” and in cooperation with the International Museum of Artists and the Segol School for Brain Research are producing a project that links art and the senses. Among the participants in the exhibition: Tamar Schhouri, Aden Hevroni, Avi Shaferber, Yehuda Roth who deal with the connection between art and smell. Daniel Landau who deals with virtual reality, Lior Zalmanson who writes art for new media, Avi Rosen who is connected to cyber art, Amos Blass who deals with material theory, Oded Ravei who deals with the N.I., Eben Belin from the world of psychiatry, Michel Efergan who develops pharmaceuticals, Omari Goren who writes fashion design for memory art, Shahar Davis creates a new animation, Michael Lazar connects land and sea to sensors and sounds, Michel Platnik deals with new body mutations, Elad Zada ​​heals by touching objects, Nitsa Gnoser examines the powers of magical femininity and more.

International Women’s Day 2022 – fighting violence against women as part of the social work of Avraham Hostels and Tours, we asked our team what social, community or environmental issue they think is appropriate to promote during the year 2022. The topic “The status of women in Israel” was chosen by the majority of votes.

As a first step, we issued a call for creators to submit a proposal for a poster on violence against women, which will be displayed on the front of the hostel building in Tel Aviv. Among dozens of exciting, personal and touching proposals, the work “There are silent plagues” by Livnat Yafet, architect, designer and illustrator from Mahod-Hasharon, was chosen. Livnat says: “In light of the current reality, I felt compelled to connect the issue of violence with the complex times in which we live. In the shadow of the plague, it sometimes feels as if the other “plagues” are being pushed aside, even though they are present, painful and claim more victims than ever before.”

We decided to combine all the other works into a poster exhibition, which will be another platform as part of the fight against violence against women. From the voice calling: While November 25 is designated as a day to mark the fight against violence against women, the reality of all the other days feels the opposite; Reports of cases of violence against women are a daily occurrence, an inseparable part of every news release or headline, and a routine experience during the life of every woman in Israel. physical, sexual, verbal or mental violence; Between spouses, in workplaces, between commanders and female soldiers, between celebrities and lesser knowns; Violence against Jewish women, against Arab women, against immigrants, against heterosexuals, against gays, against transgender women, against secularists, against ultra-orthodox women, against young or old women. The problem of violence against women is a phenomenon that crosses social classes, cultural circles, religious or geographic affiliation, age or cultural background. With the aim of increasing our activities to eradicate the phenomenon of violence against women and in the pursuit of gender equality, Avraham Hostels and Tours appealed to creators to submit a proposal for a poster on the topic of violence against women, to be displayed on the front of the hostel building in Tel Aviv. More about the Avraham poster project: On the front of the “Abraham Hostel” in Tel Aviv is a huge period poster, which has become the symbol of the organization.

The poster, measuring approximately 10 x 15 meters, is replaced every few months with the aim of utilizing the unique and central location as a stage for art with various community and social aspects, with a distinct emphasis on the values ​​of tolerance, equality and freedom of creation and expression. The posters are created out of collaborations between Avraham and local artists and designers, and express a common point of view for the creative artists and the network regarding what is happening in Israel. Especially for the opening night of the exhibition, we will host the performance show “Chapel of Joy” by the artist Hadar Alfasi. The show will take place in the small gallery at 20:00. The entrance is free. About the show: Makfelat Simcha – between Hasidic music and origami Origami, the art of paper folding that originates in distant Japan, requires concentration, precision and a degree of obsession. So is prayer. In a show that consists of movement pieces, singing a melody and origami, the artist seeks to trace the course of her life and that of women wherever they are. In search of precision, beauty and predetermined order of actions required of a religious woman, sometimes even at the cost of her life. Hadar Alfasi is a multidisciplinary artist from Jerusalem. Graduated from the acting school ‘Beit Zvi’. Owner of the origami brand Origamli. Photographer, songwriter and performer. Avraham Tel Aviv The Gallery in Avraham (1st floor)