Netta Lieber Sheffer: Shattered Hopes and Roads not taken
Recipient of the 2023 Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realist Art
What would have happened if history had chosen different paths of Jewish existence? Netta Lieber Sheffer's exhibition visits historical crossroads associated with the question of Jewish identity and settlement before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
Via monumental charcoal drawings of boats sailing in empty space, carrying figures and symbols from the past, the artist traces ideas that have been pushed to the margins—including Herzl's utopian vision for the Jewish state; the diaspora as an ideology in the Bundist vision ("Wherever we live, that is our land!"); the yearning to return to the biblical way of life, while skipping over 2,000 years of exile; the Canaanite attempt to connect the Jewish nation to the local space based on ancient Hebraism; the roots of the link between the Jewish, Mizrahi, and Arab identities.
New Blood, 2022
Charcoal on paper, 272×593
Photo: Avi Amsalem
The exhibition and catalogue were made possible thanks to the generous support of Mr. Dubi Shiff