Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 27, 2021

Under the shadow of the clashes in Jerusalem, the operation in Gaza and the sirens in much of the country this month, Or Segal, a fourth-year visual communications student at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, decided to do something about it.

I wanted to work in a way thats quiet and strong, that wouldnt inflame things even more, she tells Haaretz. I chose to do so through brotherhood, using the tools that Im familiar with illustration and design.

With the help of fellow students Yael Volovelsky and Noa Peled, she asked students, lecturers and longtime illustrators to produce an illustration in memory of a child who had been killed in the most recent hostilities between Israel and Gaza. Over 65 children were killed from both sides over the course of the fighting, the majority of them Palestinian.

Everyone felt deep-down that they wanted to help and do something, Segal says. They posted the works of art on social media, and now the students are deciding what to do with them next.

The project calls for solidarity and recognition of the pain the current situation is causing in Gaza and in Israel, says Segal. The situation cant continue this way. The illustrations come from different places; some commemorate the child, some focus on the life he could have had, or on a better environment. Some are full of hope, and there are illustrations that grant the children a wish.

For example, Amit Trainin, an illustrator with a long history of teaching the visual arts, dedicated his illustration to Zaid Mohammed Talbani, who was killed two weeks ago in Gaza by Israeli fire. He was four years old. His sister Miriam was also killed in the strike, and his mother is still listed as missing. Its a childlike picture, made up of simple and colorful lines; in the center is an elephant with a boy laying on it.

I wanted to make an optimistic illustration, Trainin says. His death, as well as the way he was killed, is a violent and political issue that to me is irrelevant to the style. Hes a child, and he didnt experience much nature or freedom during his childhood.

As an illustrator, I chose to give him what I would have wished for him if hed lived. As if this could be his last memory not bombing and destruction, but the exact opposite freedom, nature. And I chose an elephant because its an animal of peace.

Illustrator Itzik Rennert, who leads Bezalels Masters in Design program, said that he couldnt choose just one child. That was too macabre for me, he says, so he drew a silhouette of a collective child in dark hues on a blue background.

Illustrator and comic book artist Hila Noam produced a digital illustration, in shades of red and yellow, featuring two unspecified children. They each carry a building on their back, from which each side is shooting at the other. As the endless violence continues, both children cry.

Excerpt from:

Israeli illustrators commemorate the child victims of the Gaza war - Haaretz

Category: Israel
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