Jerusalem who for?
- Nurit Shany
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Who doesn't love Jerusalem?
It is at the forefront of our joys and it is at the forefront of the joys of others. A symbol of unity and life in the ancient triangle of man - faith - place and a reason for our conflicts.
It provokes friction, disagreement, it is stubborn city, heavy, eternal compared to the years of our lives. A painting of Jerusalem may not provoke a smile, but it does not provoke a quarrel. A painting of Jerusalem is good for many ends in society, religious Arabs, religious Jews, religious Christians, government offices, hotels, tourists who have traveled and are looking for memories.
And who is a painting of Jerusalem not suitable for?
For secular people who think it is for religious people and who are generally interested in contemporary art. It has not yet happened to me that a secular person, or a Tel Avivian, would buy a painting of Jerusalem from me. Their eyes in the studio flicker over them like a blind person.
I lived in Jerusalem and today I have no close friends or acquaintances there. Our secular group left for Tel Aviv in 2000. Since 2000, I have worked and painted in a satellite gallery that opened on Shlomzion Street in Jerusalem. The owners hung a sign saying "The Israeli Gallery" and I sold paintings there to French Jewish tourists. Then a large order came in for a hotel overlooking the Old City. They wanted every room to have a view of Jerusalem from the window and also to have a painting of Jerusalem above the bed.
From that large order, there were a few abandoned paintings left in my studio that moved with me from studio to studio and ended up in Tel Aviv, where art lovers bought the Tel Aviv beache landscapes from me.
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They also like to hang the view from their window in their homes.
Like orphans, for twenty years, the framed Jerusalem paintings waited for an adoptive home.
About six months ago, a group of artists organized themselves to donate to te people returning to the once Israeli war zones, North and South.
So contributing to Israelies, with all its cultures. What do people like?
An interesting experiment for the public eye, for the art loving heart, what does good to whom. A real quiz.
A direct line from the artist to the consumer. Like purchaising vegetables from the farmer. Without a midiator or an ideological intermediary or the need for curatorial unity. I chose different types and waited to see what would come back to the studio.
I know that among the returning citizens there is great diversity, we all once wanted coexistence now we are afraid, and now for some of us Jerusalem's place has grown. Not only as a city, but as a symbol of love for the land and people. I wondered if Jerusalem would do good to the hearts of the displaced.
I sent them, not knowing if they would find a home?
After they were chosen, I actually felt like talking to the homeowners who adopted them. The organizers promised that we would get phone numbers and names and talk to those who returned home, but someone along the way prevented contact.
So if these are you or you come across them. I would really love to get in touch.
Let them take pictures of the paintings displayed in their homes and send them to me. Because in the end, behind every painting there are people who love it. The artist and the one who adopted a painting into their home and into their life. The happy and the joyful.
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