Horrific art that breaks your heart
The heinous terrorism on October 7 inspired artists across the globe to share Israel’s story
Artwork commemorating October 7 has taken many forms. Empty buggies in Parliament Square. Marcel Knobil’s lovelock bridge at JW3, and the long Shabbat table with a place set for each hostage in Tel Aviv.
These installations, together with all the paintings and sculptures in cities around the world, amount to a huge body of work that has been crafted in support of Israel. And the need to depict the horror of the Hamas invasion was immediate.
Kyiv-born Israeli artist Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi began drawing scenes for what became the series October 7 2023 just days after the massacre. She had temporarily fled to a friend’s apartment in Berlin with her young daughter, bringing along art supplies she knew she would need to process the tragedy. Her gut-wrenching works have since been exhibited at Jewish museums in New York and Vienna.
In Berlin in January, to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day 2024, the Unsilenced Brushes exhibition was held for one night. Featuring work by 40 artists from Israel and Europe, it marked the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, the now iconic red-headed baby boy who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz with his parents Shirel (Shiri) and Yarden, and four-year-old brother Ariel .
Depicted in oils, watercolours and clay, the work is as harsh as it is beautiful and a reminder of the loving family stolen by terrorists, who have since claimed the children are no longer alive. Although the Israel Defence Forces says there is no evidence to support this, there is also no evidence of their whereabouts. For now, there is only art.
Outside Tel Aviv’s Museum of Art, the open plaza now known as Hostage Square is the meeting place for those who want to bring home their loved ones. It is there that David Swissa’s Shabbat table stands as a permanent beacon of hope fractured by the ever-decreasing number of chairs required. His idea inspired artists and supporters globally and was replicated in London, the USA, Australia and across Europe.
Away from the lamentable table, art abounds on Israel’s streets, where graffiti has always been a fixture, notably by the country’s answer to Banksy, Benzi Brofman, whose exhibition of wall art Look Them In The Eyes demands that you do. The faces are of surveillance soldiers Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Naama Levy, who are still being held in Gaza.
Benzi showcased his work in London in November 2023, when his “Bring Them Home” messages were writ large in Camden Town, Shoreditch and Waterloo. Fortunately they remained unscathed.
The vandalising of posters and art is one of the few things Israelis don’t have to worry about and, in south Tel Aviv’s Florentine neighbourhood,much of it is created by Artists4Israel, a group fighting anti-Israel bigotry with creativity.
Soldiers Rotem Zamir and Yuval Peler painted a girl hugging a soldier. Both men belong to a group whose IDF service is to paint motivational graffiti on military bases. One of the most significant works was done by Roman and Andrei, Ashkelon artists who created Don’t Panic and equating the IDF with the krypton strength of Superman is appreciated by locals.
After 9/11, artists and writers struggled to make sense of what happened and art was almost taboo. But they did, in time, as the bloodshed and chaos of terrorism creates images to which artists respond instinctively. “In such moments, you don’t believe art can change anything,” says Zoya, who fled Ukraine for Israel in 1991, before the Soviet Union fell. For the past two years, her art has been about war and now October 7. “I saw it moving people, so I kept going because I want it to be everywhere.”
This is also true for Israeli artist Nadav Brill, who reimagined Girl with a Pearl Earring, replacing Vermeer’s pensive woman with a scared bloodied girl, and populism drove Netherlands-based Anat Zehavi to put Lisa Simpson at the Nova Festival .
‘Black Saturday’ inspired the darkest work, but some artists dare to hope for a better future. In Rome’s Jewish quarter, Lediesis, two anonymous feminist street artists, envisioned peace between Israel and Palestine with “In unity we believe” – two hugging girls wrapped in flags.
American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin believed in unity and liked art. Taking pride of place in his bedroom is a painting of the Holy City. His parents, Rachel and Jonathan, shared the photo of his room on their Instagram page, Bring.hersh.home. But Hersh never came home.
He was found by the IDF in a tunnel in Rafah on 31 August with five other hostages; Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino had all been brutally murdered by Hamas. But Hersh left a message for the world through the art he chose for his room.
Emblazoned across the painting are the words ‘Jerusalem is everyone’s’. Hersh Goldberg-Polin knew the power of art.
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