Bereavement meets art

All six artists lost a close relative in military service, and are exhibiting works which made artistic use of elements taken from children’s games.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
No Game For Children (photo credit: Courtesy)
No Game For Children
(photo credit: Courtesy)
No Game For Children, an exhibit based on bereavement, debuts on Thursday at Artspace in Tel Aviv. Tied into Remembrance Day, the exhibit is curated by Merav Rahat and features the works of Oz Biri, Neta Bittan Kafri, Tamar Paikes, Merav Rahat, Michal Shachnai Yakobi and Noga Yudkevik-Etzioni.
All six artists lost a close relative in military service, and are exhibiting works which made artistic use of elements taken from children’s games.
Shachnai Yakobi exhibits plastic soldiers standing on their head, buried in local earth which clings onto them like roots (pictured); Paikes creates a commemoration ceremony, a personal ritual for those who feel uncomfortable in the commonly accepted routine of standing at attention when the siren sounds on memorial days, replacing it with a headstand; Bittan Kafri installs a “musical chairs” game in the gallery space, with chairs shaped like letters spelling the Hebrew word “Halal,” meaning both empty space and dead soldier; Biri’s work comprises a fragile army of miniature porcelain Armored Corps; Yudkevik-Etzioni has hung a series of paper-cuts responding to the image of Flora Palestina frequently appearing on the official government greetings sent out on Remembrance Day to create flowers of mourning – a monument of paper; Rahat welds plastic toy soldiers, tying them together with military issued thread creating a “chain of command” hung around the neck, prickling the exposed skin.
In the dissonance between the weighty meaning and the light playful materials, a complex picture of life in Israel emerges. A special study session on art and bereavement will take place on May 6 at 11 a.m. The exhibit closes May 11.