31 October 2019

Tel Aviv Museum of Art marks the Jewish new year

By hanging three works by artist Tigist Yosef-Ron, depicting three Ethiopian-born Israelis: Yehuda Biadga z”l, Yosef Salamsa z”l and Avera Mengistu

Three tragic cases that attest to the relationship of the Ethiopian community with the Israeli public. The three drawings, on loan from the artist, were hung between the two Israeli art permanent display galleries at the Herta and Paul Amir Building.

The hanging of these works joins the social and civil issues that the Museum has recently placed on its agenda, in changing exhibitions as well as in its permanent displays -among them censorship and freedom of speech (“Forbidden Music”), civic duty and climate change (“Solar Guerilla”) and women’s status in Arab society (“Samah Shihadi: Spellbound”).

Agernesh's son charcoal on paper 2019 70x50 - © Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Tigist Yosef-Ron: “Yehuda and Yosef were young Israelis killed by police violence, and Avera Mengistu is a young Israeli who is being held by Hamas for over five years. The series was created from a deep sense of frustration that these sad cases and the families’ pain do not move the Israeli public to action. It bothers and hurts me that the cry remains within the Ethiopian community. Against this background, TAMA’s approach to present these works and to treat the issue gravely serves as a source of consolation and hope.”

Mamye's son charcoal on paper 2019 70x50 - © Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Fernos's son charcoal on paper 2019 70x50 - © Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Doron Rabina, TAMA Chief Curator: “TAMA presents the best modern and contemporary art, but is also well grounded in the here and now, and emphasizes containing and dealing with issues that are troubling and ought to be placed on Israeli society’s agenda. A museum formulates a social and ethical stance, in addition to a cultural one. It is of great importance to us that our hundreds of thousands of visitors throughout the year, among them tens of thousands of children and pupils, are exposed to a credible and thought-provoking mirror of the reality in which we live.”

A solo exhibition by Tigist Yosef-Ron, winner of the 2019 Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realist Art, will open at TAMA later in 2020.

Edited by Nicolò Villa

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